Dirt Blunders to Avoid

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2 Jim Reiner, Groundskeeper, Publisher, Editor, presents 21 Dirt Maintenance Blunders And Other Baseball Field Maintenance Goofs This information in the Special Report is for education purposes only. It is not professional advice and is not intended to replace the advice or attention of sports field professionals. Consult your local sports groundskeepers before beginning or making changes in your field or maintenance program, for diagnosis and treatment of diseases and problems, and for advice regarding solutions. Jim Reiner, Groundskeeper, Publisher, Editor, Author, Transforming Your Baseball Field into a Winning Field Page 2 of 15

3 Dear Friend, Do you hate the bad hops on your field can t stand the poor footing and are just plain embarrassed when others see your playing fields? Are you confused by all the sports field information and misinformation you come across everyday? Are you sick and tired of seeing sports field problems and not knowing what to do? Well, join the crowd. There are thousands, if not hundreds of thousand of people around the world that are just putting up with mediocre sports fields. But that s why I ve spent years studying and discovering precisely what sports field maintenance practices work best what techniques and practices distinguish the best sports fields from the mediocre and those that are horrible. But first, let s take a look at dozens of different time-robbing, money-wasting, ineffective dirt maintenance blunders that are supposed to help your sports field (although the awful truth is, they don t). In fact, some of these practices are not only sabotaging your efforts, but are contributing to your player s injuries and poor performance! It s time to expose these blunders for the goofs they are, and identify the best ways to really provide premium performance for your players. Now, did you know that adding another truck load of brick dust to your field might be the biggest goof of all time? Yes, even brick dust has a dark side. Dirt Maintenance Blunders to Avoid When asked to picture a typical field maintenance program, you see yourself mowing and dragging for hours each week (and hating it!). Heck, that s why so many people give up so quickly, or don t even bother to do it in the first place. And did you know launching into a heavy field maintenance program is the last place a beginner should start? Because many newbies to sports field care are often unprepared, blunders with the infield dirt predisposes their players to muscle and joint injuries, especially when doing repetitive running, stopping, and ground ball practice on a daily basis. Imagine if you will someone that is a new head coach or league president. They inherit a field with loads of dirt and turf problems from neglect over the years. Send them out to start making field improvements and I guarantee you they ll be over their head soon enough. They re just isn t ready for it! With each attempt at improvement they could actually be wasting time and causing more problems. Page 3 of 15

4 So instead of getting a premium quality sports field, jumping into adding more brick dust can often knock you right out firm footing and true bounces for your players. Yep, brick dust is like good ol' water torture...because looser footing and inconsistent bounces over time, will break your players down. So where should absolute beginners start? If you are a beginner, or you are working with beginners, you should start with the field assessment checklist on page 12 of the baseball field maintenance handbook, Transforming Your Baseball Field into a Winning Field. You ll use a comprehensive ballpark audit checklist to assess your entire ballpark and prioritize your efforts for improved safety and playability. And then you can move into more-effective, projects to improve your overall baseball experience for players, coaches, fans, and even umpires. Take your field improvements one step at a time... "As a new coach, and highly skeptical of quick-fixes, I learned of the Baseball Field Maintenance Handbook and decided it was a program which made sense. It's about making sensible plans, working hard and smart, and getting results. I found the efficiency of the material to be appealing. The projects and on-going program are manageable on a busy schedule. It produced not only a better experience for our teams, but also got us some notoriety as visiting teams had great things to say about our field. I have recommended the handbook to many coaches, booster clubs, and league officials who are seeking an efficient, wellrounded, program for sports field care." John Reid, North Carolina Now before we take a look at the effective methods used in the Transforming Your Baseball Field into a Winning Field program, let s take a look at other, ineffective dirt maintenance blunders. Page 4 of 15

5 Baseball dirt maintenance blunders ruin your efforts Each day, I see the same people doing the same field maintenance practices (or lack thereof ) as they did yesterday. They go to the same tools and use the same process as always. And do you know what I see the next day? The same old ballpark. No change. Next week? No change. Same maintenance practices, same sports field. For months and months and months on end (if not years). I apologize if it sounds like I m describing your progress, but it is all too common. I'll admit it. I wouldn't have been able to create this list unless I had first-hand experience with dirt maintenance blunders and goofs myself. I try to avoid these now. So should you. Ready for the list of blunders? Here goes: Top 5 Mistakes That Are Ruining Your Base Paths 1) Raking across the base path. After each game you might see coaches or parents raking out the chalk line from the game. They want to get rid of the line and smooth out the base path for the next game. Or maybe the field was left unraked by a team the just finished practice. The base path is full of heel marks. So, coaches want to smooth it out. Unfortunately, most people rake back and forth across the base path to smooth it out or to get rid of the base line chalk. Pushing dirt to the grass edge eventually creates a lip or bump at that point. It can get quite big 3 to 4 inches high and even a foot wide. And raking across the base path causes a low spot to develop in the middle of the base path. Instead, rake the long way to smooth out the base path. And if you do have to rake back and forth the short way to get rid of the chalk line, then don t go all the way to the grass edge and finish up with raking the long way. 2) Pushing water out of the basepath onto the grass. So you know raking the dirt sideways will cause lip build up. But it gets worse. The low spot will fill up with rain water or sprinkler water. Then the water is Page 5 of 15

6 pushed sideways onto the grass making the indent even deeper. And pushing not just water but also baseball dirt onto the grass. Do this a couple times after a series of storms and you will create a lip the size of a speed bump in no time flat. Instead push water out onto the broader dirt area for it to soak in or dissipate. Or push the water the long way off the field through the home plate area or a coaches box. And realize that even if you push the water off or out, you will eventually have to do some raking when it is dry to do so some leveling. 3) Neglecting the base path. What do you think? What would your base path end up looking like if you totally neglected raking and care of the base path? It's important to keep your base paths firm and level. The firmer the path, the faster players can run. It s best to maintain as much of the base path by hand as possible. Use field rakes or small nail drags or small drag screens. You can also use lawn rollers. And remember, base paths include not only home to first and third, but also the path between second to first and third base. 4) Neglecting to edge and level the grass on the base path. You'll end up with bad hops and maybe players with sprained ankles. The player with this next injury took over a year to really heal. He was a junior and his high school team traveled 63 miles away to play a school in a small town. He was an infielder and the third man in the pitching rotation. The infield grass edge all around third base had a lip. A very big, bad, 3-4 inch lip. It was a combination of dirt buildup at the grass as well never adding new infield dirt and just dragging the infield to death. This player was a fielder at 3B that game and charged a slowly hit ball down the line. He hit the edge of the lip with his right foot. His ankle rolled over so badly he Page 6 of 15

7 crumpled to the ground. He somehow finished the game, but once he sat still for the ride home, his ankle swelled so bad he was hardly able to walk. This isn t that difficult. Walk the field regularly to see what is happening. Level the dirt and edge the grass. And rake out the dirt that gets kicked onto the grass. 5) Using a sod cutter too deep & too often when edging. A sod cutter can be a great tool for removing ragged edges or overgrown edges. Typically you would want to use the shallow setting through. Sod is actually quite thin compared to the thickness cut by a sod cutter. So, if you repeat use of the sod cutter be aware that you are cutting down a little more each time and eventually the dirt level will be lower than the turf. You want to fix lip buildup, not make it worse. After using a sod cutter to get turf cut to spec, you can often maintain the proper edge there after with a simple three wheel gas operated lawn edger. So What Does Work for Fast & Efficient Baseball Dirt Maintenance? To have a great baseball field, you have to do what the average person won t do. You have to use the right equipment, use it the right way, and be consistent to get results. And if you do this, you ll not only have a quality field, but you ll cut down on your maintenance and renovation time. If you take steps that few are willing to take, you ll see amazing changes in weeks or even days, just like Mark I decided to build a nail drag. Man, did it work great! Talk about turning a dry, hard infield into a reasonable playing surface! The parents and coaches all thought I brought in new dirt. This was last spring. This fall, someone else took the initiative and made a bolt drag. Combined, these two items have made such a difference in our program it has to be seen to be believed. On behalf of the 350+ players ages 5 to 12 let me say THANK YOU!!! Mark, North Carolina These are the types of results you get from a professionally structured plan. But planning field maintenance takes effort. And going through an effective maintenance activity takes even more effort. Page 7 of 15

8 But you get out of it what you put in. That saying goes for just about anything in life, especially for sports field management. So the choice is up to the coaches and parents at the park I guess. If they stay in their comfort zone, it will be easier on them and their mind in the short-term. But over the long-term, they'll probably drop out of the youth sports scene as they find they never get the results they want. Or they can put in the short-term effort, researching the best practices for their program. And with this approach, you get the long-term payoff of success. I invite you to join the path to success. I've put over 10 years of brain exercise, research and planning into my Baseball Field Maintenance manuals and thousands of hours on the baseball and softball field practicing what I preach in my own field maintenance and with parents and coaches. Baseball Field Maintenance In the last 10 years, research has shown us precisely what sports field maintenance practices work best what techniques and practices distinguish the best sports fields from the mediocre and those that are horrible. In-depth research and direct experience with of dozens of highly successful (and not-so-successful) field maintenance habits were identified. Dozens of coaches, players, and parents baseball fans like you studied under professionals and put these ideas into practice while renovating over a hundred sports fields. Here's what we found: Better fields do indeed result in better play Field maintenance success is based on best practices You can model and replicate these techniques on your own sports field and achieve similar results. By combining this research to save you time and money, I've built the Baseball Field Maintenance Handbook, which according to other experts is... "Full of all kinds of great advice and resources that are hard to find anywhere. As a head varsity baseball coach, I know that how my field looks and plays is a large part of my program's pride. Thank you again." Brian, Ygnacio Valley Baseball Click below to get the Best Baseball Field Maintenance Program Page 8 of 15

9 The Importance of Dragging Your Infield Dirt and Warning Track There are basic steps for proper baseball dirt maintenance. The turf gets a lot of attention because it is so noticeable to anyone looking at the field. But most of the infield action happens on the dirt area. Attention to the dirt areas provides players with the best footing as fielders and runners. The nice thing about improving the dirt areas is that you don't need to interrupt play and you get immediate results you benefit from. So, unlike turf maintenance which can interrupt play or you have to wait to see the results, there are things you can do with the dirt areas that players immediately benefit from. Top 5 Mistakes You Are Making When Dragging Your Field 1) Always entering and exiting the field at the same place with the drag. Notice the big hump at the grass edge near the foul line just behind first base? Ever wonder how that got there? And if you walk on that hump and look closely you notice that it s really just a hill of baseball dirt with scraggly grass growing on it. How did that get there? That lump or high place behind first or third near the foul line is where the drag always stops leaving a build up of dirt. You have to stop somewhere when you drag. Right? Try varying where you stop when you exit the field and you eliminate the big old hump from forming. 2) Not dragging before or after games and practices. Players leave heel marks all over the field after practices and games. Then at night the dew leave moisture on the ground. Next, the sun comes out and dries out the field. Those heel marks are now hardened a bit. Then you play on it again that afternoon leaving more heel marks. Repeat this process a few more days and it doesn t take long before you do not have a safe and playable field. So, drag it. Page 9 of 15

10 3) Driving too fast when you drag your field. We are a society in a hurry and often with little patience for things. But, if you pull a drag behind a tractor and drive too fast you cause problems. Not only does tend to not smooth out as the drag bounces along, it also causes dirt to fly out on the turns. This is especially bad at the infield dirt / outfield grass edge where you will create a build up that soon looks like a speed bump. So, drive slower and just drag it once. 4) Dragging past the dirt onto the grass. This is most often part of the problem with dragging too fast not controlling where the drag goes. If you pull the drag over the grass edge especially on the base cutouts you are dragging dirt onto the grass. Do this a few times and you have an instant lip. It is just waiting for a bad hop or a twisted ankle. 5) Ignoring your warning track. What can I say? The warning track is way out yonder and it s easy to ignore it. Soon it is overgrown with weeds and grass. Then it no longer serves its purpose - a warning track. Dragging Conclusions: So you can name any (legal) supplement you want, and I ll guarantee that it doesn t have any benefit to your fat loss program. It s all a lot of hype, wishful thinking, and looking for the easy way out. Supplements just aren t magic pills when it comes to fat loss. Heck, even pharmaceutical fat loss pills are marginally effective (and who knows all the side effects that come with those). Yet even with all I know, I m still in the same boat as you. I want to believe that someday, an honest company will develop a fat loss pill that really works. One that is healthy, works quickly, and gives you energy that doesn t cause you to crash. But until that day, if it ever comes, we ll have to be satisfied with getting those benefits from exercise. Save your money on worthless supplements, and get real, lasting results from Turbulence Training. Click below to get the Best Baseball Field Maintenance Program Page 10 of 15

11 Top 5 Mistakes You Are Making With Your Mound and Home Plate 1) Ignore home plate care. The home plate area used by the catcher and the batters takes a beating in games and practice. I think a lot of coaches in little league and PONY league never batted or they wouldn't possibly expect their players to use such bad batter boxes. It seems to be common when a field is shared by many teams and leagues. It is critical to maintain the batting stance area properly to reduce the potential for injury. So, fix it. Maintain it. Generally it is a big mistake to just fill in the foot holes with dry dirt. That doesn't help. Unless... your sprinklers totally soak the dirt area at night for at least 20 minutes and then you have hot, sunny weather the next day to bake and harden the dirt. Otherwise, just filling the holes with dry dirt is worthless. Nobody wants to use that. It disintegrates after a couple batters and does not provide good footing. 2) Ignore mound care. Another big mistake. It seems to be common when a field is shared by many teams and leagues. A lot has to do with the kind of material you use and then keep it from totally drying out. That's why baseball dirt maintenance is so important. The pitcher s area takes a beating in games and practice. I think a lot of coaches in little league and PONY league never pitched or they wouldn't possibly expect their players to use such bad mounds. It is critical to maintain the pitcher area properly to reduce the potential for injury. So, fix it. Maintain it. Prevent injuries and keep the mound solid and free from giant holes. 3) Just fill in the pitcher's landing holes with dry dirt. OK. We ve all done this and then think we ve done what s required. But pushing dry mound dirt back into the holes doesn't help. No pitcher wants to have that. It Page 11 of 15

12 provides no good footing at all. It s like landing in a hole full of flour dust. And then it deteriorates into an even bigger hole. 4) Not having a table top to your mound. A mound is not supposed to look like a bump or a hill on the field. It needs a large flat area at the top and then gradual sloping to the grass. Otherwise the thing is actually dangerous for a pitcher. For example, a high school size mound should have a top that is 3 feet by 5 feet and level. 5) Mound height is wrong. Next to the wrong distance from home plate to second base, this is the most common mistake. Many mounds are not the right height. Give or take a few inches I suppose is no big deal. But not inches high when it should be 10. Do you think you get more velocity as a pitcher with a steeper mound? Maybe. But it will ruin your mechanics and makes it hard to field hard hit ground balls. Mound Care Conclusions: If you name any part of the field that needs regular attention, and I ll guarantee that it will be the mound and the batter boxes. It s where most of the action is. There is no easy way out. There is no silver bullet when it comes to keeping these areas safe and playable. Heck, even players who don t pay attention to field care can tell you what a mound needs. Yet even with all I know, I m still in the same boat as you. I want to believe that someday, an honest person will develop a fast, low maintenance process for the mound that really works. One that is easy, works quickly, and gives your players the best chance to excel. But until that day, if it ever comes, we ll have to be satisfied with getting those benefits from some hard, but smart work. Save time and money and get real, lasting results from Baseball Field Maintenance. Click below to get the Best Baseball Field Maintenance Program Page 12 of 15

13 Top 6 Mistakes You Are Making With Your Baseball Dirt Mix 1) Adding nothing but crushed red brick to the whole field. Don t Be Another Victim Like This Father Who Thought He Was Doing The Right Thing. This is a true story There s a softball field in Scotts Valley, California. Now a softball field normally has a hard surface for good bounces. But, not his one. It was a field made of mostly crushed red brick. It looked nice and was easy to smooth with a drag. But players lost footing easily and the foot marks made for erratic hops. Here s what happened. The second baseman took a bad hop right in the throat. Fell to the ground gasping for air. Game over for him. The powers that be were concerned about the field conditions that caused this. So they immediately ordered 20 more tons of the crushed red brick to spread all over the field. This sounds good in theory but it misses one important element of field management the infield dirt must provide firm footing for players and a firm surface for true and consistent bounces. The result was an even worse condition. Players were practically wading in 6 inches of loose crushed red brick. The powers that be didn t understand that. Plus we know from our research that the focus on improving the level of playing conditions should never be on the quick fix. It must be on the needs of the player. 2) Not analyzing your current dirt mix. So you just ordered another truck load of crushed brick. Good idea? Bad idea? You might just be making an existing problem worse. Unless you are adding a good quality clay/sand baseball mix, you probably are just adding another flavor to you 31 flavor infield mix. That s way some preliminary analysis at least the jar test is a good idea. The next best thing is a professional particle analysis and either add the component lacking or replace it all with a good mix. Page 13 of 15

14 3) Some infields are made totally of DG, fines, or crushed brick. Walk on one of these after a game on a warm day. It will be like walking on flour dust and you'll be swimming in it. Don't put this on the field. The correct dirt mix is made of clay, silt, and sand. The issue here is that you are going for a low cost material that is easy to maintain. Easy to drag. And bounces back fast after heavy rain. But, these mixes are horrible to play on. Too loose for firm footing and your players rip themselves a nice big strawberry sliding on it. This stuff belongs on the walking path at the dog park - - not the baseball field if you can help it. 4) Truck load of baseball dirt delivered and dumped in the wrong place. So you ordered a truck load of dirt. It was delivered and dumped. But it s dumped either in the parking lot, behind the outfield fence, or all on just one field. Nothing like having to haul 10 tons of dirt one wheel barrow at a time. Make sure someone knows where the dirt should be dumped and is on-site when the delivery truck arrives. Sometimes you have no choice but to have it dumped beside a field and haul it in. But avoid this if you can. 5) Rocks on the field; they came in your baseball mix delivery! Here comes your truck load of new baseball dirt you ve been waiting for. You made all the plans for this day. You figured out how much you need and got board approval to spend the money. You have the tools, equipment, and some help ready to spread and get it playable. After the truck dumps and leaves you notice all the gravel rocks in the some of them mix. Now it s spread all over our field! What the heck happened? Here s what. The truck was used to haul gravel before your delivery and it was not cleaned out before loading your mix. So, you get the free rocks too! 6) Not providing access to the tools and hose to take care of the dirt area. Well, of course it s hard to do any dirt maintenance if you and others have no access to the tools or water. You just show up, play, and walk away. Hmmm. Page 14 of 15

15 Dirt Mix Conclusion: I can only hope that you weren t using many of these dirt mix blunders, but if you were, at least you can stop today and get on with proven dirt mix improvements. Using a quality baseball dirt with the right mix of clay, sand, and silt is the best mix for your baseball field. You ll find that the higher the level of competition the higher the percentage of clay. Get it right for your level of play and you ll be one step closer to your dream baseball field. Use quality baseball mix, the proper tools and equipment, along with the turf maintenance methods found in the Baseball Field Maintenance Handbook, and you ll have your field care solution firmly in hand. Add in consistency and you could take your play to the next level, starting immediately. So say goodbye to ugly old boring baseball fields and start getting maximum return in minimum time with techniques you can do yourself on your own field. By following the Baseball Field Maintenance guidelines, you might be able to accomplish this level of success... "I did an awesome job on my field last year. I used your info to support all of the things I did on the field. The rest of the league was very impressed and I have been given free reins to do anything I want this year and they trust me." Texas Charlie. Save time, save money, be well known and well thought of, Jim Reiner, Groundskeeper, Publisher, Editor, Author, Transforming Your Baseball Field into a Winning Field P.S. Don't Forget Your 8-Week Unconditional 100% Promise Your satisfaction is guaranteed. Scrutinize the Baseball Field Maintenance program closely. Examine it. Test it for up to 8 weeks. Use the tips and hints to the max. If you're not thrilled with your results, then I want you to simply write and tell me, and I'll send you a prompt and courteous, no hassles, no questions asked, 100% refund. To order your copy of the Baseball Field Maintenance Handbook, visit today. Page 15 of 15