Why are we doing this to our baseball field?

[dawg80]

some of you can complain about anything....

Tech baseball? How 'bout this....WIN!

everything else is meaningless crap.

[qng001]

I think it looks good. Once the field starts greening up in the spring and lines drawn, this will look nice. I think it's more practical to put turf down all the way to the back stop than just a the typical halo. That area probably gets a lot of wear and tear from equipment and traffic.

ByQ820xCQAEhx2l.jpg

[PawDawg]

That area probably gets a lot of wear and tear from equipment and traffic.

Attachment 11750

Probably gets very little afternoon or early evening sun either.

[maverick]

Not nostalgic and not against facility improvements, but the logos had been redone since that pic in your link. Just not a fan of how they did this. The reddish plastic turf they put in isn't aligned with the dirt, and the red-orange plastic coloring is way different from the tan dirt coloring. That's the worst part about it. There's also a difference between the green plastic and the green grass. It just looks really fake, especially with that plastic "dirt." Maybe our field will get better over time, and maybe I should wait to reserve judgment until opening day. But what Auburn did with just the circular area looks MUCH better than what we are doing right now. I don't get covering what appears to be a third of the field from that vantage point with plastic turf. It's looks like they wanted to put in synthetic turf over the entire field but didn't have enough money.

I've spent my fair share of time at the Love Shack--the newer logos did not look much better than those in the picture I linked. I agree with you about the red--I don't care much for it. But those home plate-to-backstop "aprons" fade quickly. Few of them are a perfect match for the grass, so for the most part, they tend to look fake--nobody's trying to fool people into thinking it's real grass.

Greg and his staff have been working hard on the field and I appreciate it. Their enthusiasm is infectious. That doesn't mean they get a pass on everything, but I'm willing to see how this, and their other projects, develop before going negative.

[LABulldog]

Here are two pictures that show the previous layout around the plate.



This is from the 2010 season.


and this is from the 2013 season but I believe it was installed for the 2012 season.



This insert looked great when it was first installed but with time (and game play) it became dirty and was never the same. Don't know what it would have taken to clean/brighten it up (power washer?) but it was never done.

[Dawg06]

The grass (and dirt I assume) behind home plate looks great in both of those pics. Here's another one from last season.



Here are some more ballparks we played in last year. They all use the semicircle halo.

Southern Miss


Rice


Florida Atlantic


UTSA

[qng001]

Dawg06, the turf is laid down and finish. Nothing we can do about it. Aesthetically, I prefer grass. If it is needed for purposes of drainage, wear and tear, etc...I see no problems with the expanded halo.

[Dawg06]

Dawg06, the turf is laid down and finish. Nothing we can do about it. Aesthetically, I prefer grass. If it is needed for purposes of drainage, wear and tear, etc...I see no problems with the expanded halo.

I realize it's done, but isn't the purpose of a message board to discuss these things? As an LTAC member, I think it's a poor use of very limited funding. Of all the problems/excuses we've heard about our baseball program over the years, the area behind home plate wasn't one of them. Not only do I not think we will get any bang for the buck by doing this, I think they made it look worse. I think our baseball program should be more "surgical," as McClelland said, in its expenditures. I just don't see any value in plastic turfing that entire area.

[Tech77]

I can envision that turf factoring in on plays at the plate.

[GermDawg]

I realize it's done, but isn't the purpose of a message board to discuss these things? As an LTAC member, I think it's a poor use of very limited funding. Of all the problems/excuses we've heard about our baseball program over the years, the area behind home plate wasn't one of them. Not only do I not think we will get any bang for the buck by doing this, I think they made it look worse. I think our baseball program should be more "surgical," as McClelland said, in its expenditures. I just don't see any value in plastic turfing that entire area.

Actually I see this as a very smart "surgical" decision, this will reduce maintenance costs, both from lawn cutting as well as from drainage/flooding issues; in the end this seems like you have an aesthetics issue with it, I and others don't and in the end it's in the eye of the beholder.

[Dawg06]

Actually I see this as a very smart "surgical" decision, this will reduce maintenance costs, both from lawn cutting as well as from drainage/flooding issues; in the end this seems like you have an aesthetics issue with it, I and others don't and in the end it's in the eye of the beholder.

Reduce maintenance costs? I don't buy it. It'd take less than 2 minutes to mow that area while they are mowing the rest of the field. It may actually take more time to mow now that they have to go around that plastic area. Drainage/flooding issues? Don't you think that would have been included in Sim's litany of problems and excuses or been brought up before? We've heard it all from Sim, but we've never heard this one. They did this without any communication other than, "Hey, here's a pic of what we've done!" with no explanation. It doesn't seem strategic at all from my point of view. What's the ROI? Don't we have a master plan due next month? Aesthetically I think it's awful, yes. But also as I said, I think it's a poor use of very limited funding. Anytime someone uses the budget excuse for not having enough salary, scholarships, recruiting, scheduling, uniforms, travel, equipment, stuff, etc., I'll just point to our new plastic territory.

[mentechsters]

I think it looks good but I haven't seen it in person. From experience, the area around home plate is always the hardest place to maintain because of traffic.

[HoDo-Tech70]

D06, your concern right now is about the product on the field. There's a different product to be placed on the field in the near future that's far more important than the plastic turf.

Winning in the spring will bring dividends that will far more than pay for the plastic product being put on the field this fall.

[79trueblue]

Reduce maintenance costs? I don't buy it. It'd take less than 2 minutes to mow that area while they are mowing the rest of the field. It may actually take more time to mow now that they have to go around that plastic area. Drainage/flooding issues? Don't you think that would have been included in Sim's litany of problems and excuses or been brought up before? We've heard it all from Sim, but we've never heard this one. They did this without any communication other than, "Hey, here's a pic of what we've done!" with no explanation. It doesn't seem strategic at all from my point of view. What's the ROI? Don't we have a master plan due next month? Aesthetically I think it's awful, yes. But also as I said, I think it's a poor use of very limited funding. Anytime someone uses the budget excuse for not having enough salary, scholarships, recruiting, scheduling, uniforms, travel, stuff, etc., I'll just point to our new plastic territory.

I don't see this coach making excuses about budget or anything else for that matter. I'm more interested in the product we put on the field, not the field itself. We have a great facility.

[Dawg06]

D06, you're concern right now is about the product on the field. There's a different product to be placed on the field in the near future that's far more important than the plastic turf.

Winning in the spring will bring dividends that will far more than pay for the plastic product being put on the field this fall.

You are correct about the product on the field being most important, but I just hope the opportunity cost of this project doesn't have a negative impact on winning. I think there are a lot more alternatives that would produce a greater impact on winning.