Thursday, August 28th, 2008

Field of Dreams: Students take care of Hoglund Park

Five University of Kansas students work up to 30 hours a week during baseball season to make sure the field is up to the fans' and athletes’ standards.

The crew hopes to win the Sports Turf Managers Association award for turf field of the year.

By Tyler Passmore (Contact)

Tuesday, April 15th, 2008

For baseball fans, part of the spectacle of attending a baseball game is the field. Most fans remember the first big league or college baseball game they attended and can remember the field and how manicured it was.

Baseball fields don’t naturally look like that and this also holds true for Hoglund Ballpark. Five University of Kansas students devote endless hours to make sure Hoglund Ballpark look the way it does.

The LeBron James of the group, head groundskeeper Andy Beggs, Wichita senior, runs the staff. Just as LeBron James is nicknamed King James, the grounds crew members have a name for their leader: Peanuts. Beggs gained his experience by working with the Wichita Wranglers for four years during high school.

This year will be one of the biggest for Hoglund Ballpark and the crew who work on the field.

“We are entering the STMA (Sports Turf Managers Association) sports turf field of the year this year,” Beggs said. “Nebraska won the whole thing last year and it gives these guys an extra little bit of motivation while they’re out here.”

The formula for winning a championship is the same in grounds keeping as it is in anything else: it takes a team. This year the crew has more members than in the past, and Beggs said it was the best crew in his tenure at the University.

“These guys do a lot of work out here,” Beggs said. “They do absolutely everything for me and are the best grounds crew I could have.”

One of those members is Mark Thompson, Wichita freshman. This is Thompson’s first year on the staff and he entered college without any previous experience in the field.

After putting in around 30 hours a week during the summer and baseball season, the new guys lose the rookie status fast.

“It wasn’t that hard,” Thompson said. “They showed me how to do pretty much everything. There are some things that are a lot harder to do than others, but they have made it pretty easy.”

The cohesiveness is evident when watching the crew do its job. Even if there isn’t a game that day the crew still works hard.

They start by taking tarps off the mounds, plates and bullpens. Once that is complete, the crew will go around and fix clay areas on the base paths, while Beggs nail drags the field. With that done, the sprinklers then water the infield as the crew cleans the dugouts. Once the dugouts are complete, the crew heads to work on the bullpen mounds and takes care of the hitting cages. While the bullpens are being taken care of, other members are working on cutting the outfield and infield grass. This is all in an off day, when the players won’t even step foot on the field.

“We are just always looking for ways to make the field better,” Alex Sandmoen, Overland Park freshman, said.

The crew doesn’t waste time, and completes their tasks like clockwork. The constant attention they give the field takes numerous hours and a lot of hard work.

“I really do love it,” Sandmoen said. “You get really attached to the field. I am out here almost five hours a day and it becomes your baby almost. You just want to make it perfect.”

Although the crew will never get the chance to play in a game, they are the biggest Kansas baseball fans there.

“You are way more connected to it,” Sandmoen said. “Your almost part of the team, we have team dinners together and it has made me a bigger fan.”

Making the team better by creating a perfect playing surface, the members of the grounds crew are truly members of the team. And part of another team, who much like the baseball team, is in search of a title.

— Edited by Patrick De Oliveira

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