Have you ever wondered what it was like to work on a big time Division 1 baseball field? We had the pleasure of visiting Chris May, Director of Athletic Grounds at Georgia Tech to see just that. We followed Chris and his crew around to see what a typical day taking care of Russ Chandler Stadium was like.
A Fresh New Look for the Upcoming Season
The DuraEdge calcined clay line is changing. We’ve listened to our customers and helped to streamline our calcined clay offerings with a fresh new look and new features.
January Newsletter – Renovation Season Begins
January is often a month where a lot is going on behind the scenes in the baseball and softball world. In professional baseball, it’s often tied to free agency. In college, winter workouts and scrimmages. In high school and little league, tryouts and workouts as well. Also, many field managers are either preparing their fields for play or starting to think about what projects will need to be finished before long. It’s a time for trade shows, like the SFMA Conference, among other local and regional clinics too. Although it isn’t always a big month for playing the game, it is no less important. Behind the scenes, we are fielding phone calls, visiting fields and our Homefield Crews are hard at work renovating ballfields in the warmer reaches of the United States as crunch time is here for places like Florida, with players soon arriving for Spring Training. We’re going to dive in with updates on some of the projects our Homefield Crews and friends have been up to.
2023 MiLB Symposium Recap and History
In the fall of 2015, Tom Burns and Luke Yoder began discussions with a small group of seasoned MiLB groundskeepers to gauge their interest in an annual Symposium that would provide them the opportunity to gather as a group. Tom attended the first MLB Symposium in the year 2000 and every one after that until the year 2006, when he was with the Texas Rangers. Luke attended his first MLB Symposium in 2001 representing the Pittsburgh Pirates and every one after that through 2015, ending while he was with the Padres. Tom and Paul Zwaska (formerly with the Orioles) helped coordinate that first Symposium. Luke eventually took the lead and coordinated successive ones for several years following Bob Christofferson’s (retired from Seattle Mariners) lead and then passing it onto Bill Deacon (New York Mets). Attending those meetings provided valuable insights on many aspects of professional development and groundskeeping. It also provided the opportunity to strengthen existing relationships and develop new ones that would last a lifetime.
SFMA Field of The Year Clean Sweep
Every season, the Sports Field Managers Association (SFMA) organization, awards Field of the Year honors. For the awards, it includes not only baseball and softball fields from various levels, but also soccer and football fields as well. Within the baseball and softball communities, there is a Professional Field of the Year, a College Field of…
Spotlight Install: The University of North Florida
This time of year, baseball and softball are usually on the backburner. However, in warm climates things are starting to ramp up in preparations for the upcoming seasons. Our Homefield crews are spread out across the Southern and Western U.S. getting fields ready to play. One of our crews are currently down in the Sunshine State, working to help get these fields ready for the fast-approaching season. Most recently, they just finished up an overhaul at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. Their Superintendent of Athletic Grounds, Corey Levine, shares his experience:
Restoring a Piece of Baseball History
Every infield project we work on is unique. Whether it’s the people you get to work with, the location, the logistics, there’s always something special and distinctive about the projects we take on. One renovation we worked on recently outside of Detroit in Hamtramck, MI was particularly special. Hamtramck Stadium is a historic Negro League ballpark that…
Tips & Tricks for Midseason Maintenance
We hope your season is off to a great start! Even if you came out of the gate strong with a high-performing infield, it is always a good idea to take stock of how your infield is performing midway through the season. Former MLB Groundskeeper and one of our resident DuraEdge Field Experts, Luke Yoder,…
A Former Groundskeeper’s Guide to Building a Quality Infield
BY LUKE YODER Fewer rainouts, reduced injuries, reliable hops, less maintenance are all achievable in your current venue. It won’t happen overnight, but improved consistency in your field quality is possible in the near term. Getting there means getting real about what’s being done to your field by nature and your grounds crew. The next…
2022 DuraEdge Bass Fishing Experience
Do we dare say we’re out of the COVID pandemic yet? Thankfully, in 2022 we were able to connect with a lot of friends, colleagues and customers from our on the water office, the DuraEdge Phoenix bass boat. From the Southeast to the Northeast, we had the good fortune to hit the water with some great folks.
Over 100 Years of Groundskeeper Experience: Get to know our experts
At DuraEdge Products we are fortunate to have a great business development team which includes four individuals with career backgrounds as professional groundskeepers in the MLB and MiLB ranks. Their collective wealth of experience creates the foundation for our success in the infield mix realm and provides field care perspectives that only each of them…
Q&A with Paul Zwaska
We recently caught up with our newest DuraEdge employee, Paul Zwaska, to get some more insight into some of his interesting background and experience working in groundskeeping and the sports turf industry. Q: What drew you into the soil science/sports turf field? Growing up in Wisconsin back in the 1970s, like a lot of kids,…
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