No. I'm not talking about another flag football gunfight nextdoor.
A turf infield.
That's right, I said turf. Now I can hear all the old baseball purists groaning all the way across the interwebs. Not turf. Anything but turf! Well, I may be the first ABL fan blogger to tell you this (disregard the fact that I am the only ABL fan blogger on the internet, that we know of anyway), but what the hell. I'll go out on a limb here. I like it.
Yes, at a time when Major League stadiums are phasing out their artificial surfaces in favor of good ol' grass, I think the folks in Anchorage made the right move by installing a turf infield. There are a few good reasons why Mulcahy will be better with the new rug thrown down.
First of all, this isn't the old stuff that someone whipped up when those geniuses down in Houston realized you can't grow grass indoors. The new-school FieldTurf may still be turf, but it's good enough for 21 NFL teams to practice and/or play on (according to FieldTurf's totally unbiased website). It actually looks pretty cool; I don't know if it's as good as real grass but it seems about as close as the fake stuff can get.
Second of all, it looks SHARP. Let's face it, Anchorage doesn't have the best growing season, and Mulcahy's grass was often a little patchy and tore up looking. I know that these college coaches like to send their golden boys up to Alaska to toughen 'em up a little bit, but they deserve a uniform playing surface to work with here. The new field looks like a pro stadium, at least in the great photo album that the Bucs put up.
Third, there's resource management issues here. We're talking about time and money not spent on mowing, watering, trimming, whatever. What do you do with this new stuff? Pull out the Kirby and vacuum it? Whatever it is, I'm sure it's a little less intensive. Plus there's the green angle, with the new turf being made of recycled tires and saving water.
I realize I probably haven't won everyone over, and that's fine. The outfield is still grass. If you prefer grass, get a seat down by the bullpens. See? Everyone can be happy now.
What do you think? Do you like the new turf surface?
I like the idea. I have no idea how Alaskan summer weather is, but I'm assuming the winter isn't great for a team that has to revive a grass surface in time for summer ball. Yeah, turf isn't what baseball was "meant" to be played on, but players can still benefit. For guys who will be playing road games at places like Texas Tech or Wichita State, this is definitely an intriguing opportunity to gain experience.
ReplyDeleteYeah you're pretty much right NECBLFan...the upside is that the AK summers are mild enough that grass doesn't get as dried out as it does in other parts of the country. The downside is that the growing season is short, which I imagine makes it hard to even out patchy spots. And baseball fields are meant to be played on, right?
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