MLB Heads West, Connects With WCTA
By Jerry Rousseau
Out of left field, Murray Cook, Major League Baseball’s Field and Ballpark consultant, sent me an email in early May to let the WCTA know about a three-stop educational series MLB was planning for western Canada the week of May 12th.
The field days, perhaps obviously, had everything to do with ball field construction, layout and maintenance. The educational opportunity was designed for both municipal staff and little league volunteers and was a joint effort between Major League Baseball and Baseball Canada along with on-the-ground support from each of the host province’s amateur baseball associations.
About 25 people attended the Vancouver stop on May 12th, hosted by WCTA member Tom Archibald and his assistant, Trevor Sheffield, at Nat Bailey Stadium. David Laing of Baseball BC coordinated everything from breaks, resource material handouts and even take-home gifts for participants.
Chad Olsen, MLB Field Construction Consultant, works with Vancouver Canadians Head Groundskeeper on the pitcher's mound at Scotiabank Field. Image credit Jerry Rousseau.
Sponsored by Covermaster and Turface Athletics, much of the full day clinic was instructed by Chad Olsen, MLB’s field construction and maintenance guru from Dallas, Texas. A wide range of topics were covered including mound construction, base layout and field dimensions, baseline edging, infield preparation, turf agronomy, drainage and more.
An entertaining and informative powerpoint presentation was given by Murray Cook in the afternoon. It turns out the duo travels the world, consulting on ball field construction and maintenance for all the major baseball events including the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games in Athens and Beijing respectively.
Most recently, Cook and Olsen spearheaded field preparation for Major League Baseball’s season opener between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Arizona Diamondbacks that took place in Sydney, Australia this past March. One of the world’s most iconic cricket grounds, Sydney Cricket Ground, went through a 20-day transformation into a baseball field fit for big league players with staff working around the clock to ensure the venue was up to the incredibly high standard. Even the infield clay, close to 300 tons of it, had to be imported from San Diego as the proper mix could not be found on the continent.
The 2014 MLB Opening Series games at the SCG proved a massive success with crowd attendance of 38,266 and 38,079 respectively for Saturday and Sunday for a total of 76,345 fans across the MLB Opening Series weekend. Famed Los Angeles Dodgers announcer, Vin Scully, stated from his broadcast box in the SCG, “I love the ballpark. I can’t believe this was not a baseball field (before); they’ve done such a great job.”
Jason Pick, WCTA Director and Turf Management Instructor at Olds College attended the May 14th stop at Centennial Park in Edmonton and reported another successful event with about 50 people participating. Unlike the Vancouver version where many of the attendees were little league volunteers, most of the Edmonton crowd were local municipal employees.
On behalf of the WCTA, I would like to thank Major League Baseball and the provincial amateur baseball associations for bringing this opportunity to our region and we are happy to have forged new relationships with these groups. The level of education was at the highest level and we sincerely hope we can help coordinate similar events in the future.
