Leaving it all on the field ...Page 4 of 4 -- The camaraderie is obvious during the crew’s dashes out onto the field at the bottom of the third, fifth, and seventh to drag a new smooth surface on the infield. (That’s one of the things Mellor does to improve the playability ... the crew drags the field three times per game, when the rules only require it be done once.) As the bottom of the inning begins, the grounds crew lines up in the runway they hang out in during the game, out along the right field stands about a hundred feet past first base. Then, as soon as the ump signals the final out, they race onto the field, two-man teams carrying the draggers, five or six others following with hand rakes to work the areas around the bases.
(Believe it or not, there is a right and wrong way to drag the field. If the guys pulling the drags stand up straight it can leave a wavy pattern in the “skin”. Watch them the next time you’re at a game. If they’re doing it right, they’re bending over so the dragger lays flat as they pull it along behind them.) They race back in about one minute later (the record is 57 seconds), high fiving and out of breath, rating their performance. They hang their equipment back up and settle in to gossip and watch the game. A team. Excited, even though it’s their job and they do it every day, to be among the very few permitted to go out on the sacred territory between the lines at Fenway Park. Which they let me set foot on to perform a job I had never noticed in all the games I’ve been to. They let me paint the rubber. That’s right. Before each game they spray paint the pitching rubber and home plate. (Once and for all there is no such thing as “the black” on the edges of home plate…as in ”painting the black” with a pitch over the corner. The only painting of home is before the game with white paint.) The plate, of course, is totally sacred territory, totally off limits for a non-crew member. But they gave me the honor of painting the pitching rubber before a recent game. It was just a can of spray paint, straight out of the hardware store. Nothing special. But. Oh, how special it felt to be out there doing it. I worried, would Derek Lowe’s foot stick if I sprayed the paint on too thick? Oh the responsibility! Nope. Everything was fine. The Sox swept the Angels with a 4-3 win. The crowd roared, then filtered out. And before the players and coaches were finished high-fiving each other out on the field, the grounds crew was back out to finish their long day. Refill all those holes the players spikes dug into the batter’s boxes. Collect and store the bases. Smooth out the infield. Repaint the lines. Connect those clunky old sprinkler heads to the pipes in the outfield and water the lawn.
The work goes on for an hour after the game, well after the lights are out and the place is nearly dark. With another 17-hour day to follow tomorrow. Hard work. Long work. Grunt work. But, then, as the longest-serving (nine seasons) crew member Paul Manning puts it “You feel like you’re part of the history of the place. This is Fenway. I get paid to stand on the infield, to take care of the place, to watch every game. What more could a local kid want!” |
