Thu, Oct 02, 2008 page19

• Mowing patterns: The word from MLB’s grass addicts

  • NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE
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  Mowing patterns in major league baseball run the gamut, from San Francisco’s AT&T Park, where the grass is mowed in one direction so no pattern appears, to Boston’s Fenway Park, where the groundskeeper David Mellor is renowned for his grass-cutting creativity. Here is what fans can expect to see when the playoffs begin.

  AMERICAN LEAGUE

  BOSTON RED SOX, FENWAY PARK

  Mellor planned a relatively sedate backdrop to start the playoffs, with large squares and triangles, and none of his well-known hose-drawn flourishes like a capital “B” or the two-socks Red Sox logo.

  But if Boston advances, stay tuned.

  TAMPA BAY RAYS, TROPICANA FIELD

  Playing indoors on Field Turf prevents mowing, but not patterns. The groundskeeper Dan Moeller said his crew brushes the turf with brooms in a different way every day “to get it to fluff up,” but does not create patterns.

  “Not on purpose,” he said.

  LOS ANGELES ANGELS, ANGEL STADIUM

  Barney Lopas mows the outfield so that each fielder stands among stripes pointed toward home, to help balls roll straight rather than “snake.”

  The infield is a popular variation of checkerboards and stripes.

  Lopas’ hopes for the playoffs: “Just green grass and no snaking.”

  CHICAGO WHITE SOX, US CELLULAR FIELD

  The US Cellular groundskeeper Roger Bossard’s grandfather spent decades with the Indians, and he took over from his father with the White Sox in 1983.

  Tradition, plus a small crew, is why the White Sox play on plain back-and-forth stripes running through both the infield and the outfield.

  Minnesota Twins, Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome

  When set up for baseball, the Metrodome’s FieldTurf is presented with a distinctive touch — concentric circles, like a target, around the pitcher’s mound. Such designs can be done with brooms or vacuums, just like on a carpet at home.

  NATIONAL LEAGUE

  
  

  CHICAGO CUBS, WRIGLEY FIELD

  The Cubs often have a classic box cut in the outfield — half the stripes mowed parallel to the third-base line, the other half parallel to the first-base line. The infield is another classic: checkerboards near the bases and stripes along the paths.

  PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES, CITIZENS BANK PARK

  Patterns usually alternate between a box cut and a distinctive diamond cut in both the outfield and the infield. Flourishes, like a scripted “P,” are not the Phillies’ style.

  “Some actually push over the grass intentionally,” the groundskeeper Mike Boekholder said. “We take the philosophy of, ‘Let’s get it standing as upright as possible.’”

  LA DODGERS, DODGER STADIUM

  The Bermuda grass at Dodger Stadium is usually cut to one-half inch (1.3cm), about half the length of the rye and bluegrass fields of most northern stadiums, but enough to create patterns. The Dodgers usually have a check/stripe infield, like the Angels and the Cubs, but the outfield is often lined in simple straightaway stripes.

  
  

  MILWAUKEE BREWERS, MILLER PARK
  

  A retractable roof and less sunlight curtail some mowing creativity. The groundskeeper Gary Vanden Berg has settled on a big checkerboard pattern — “four mowers wide,” he said — with smaller squares in the infield.
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