There was a story on the news recently about a Major League groundskeeper retiring, and all of the years (35) he had spent mowing and tending baseball field grass.
It was an eye-opener of a story for sure. There is much more to baseball field grass than meets the eye, and there is also much more to mowing and maintaining baseball field grass than simply pushing a mower over the outfield. This article will take a look at the very specialized world of baseball field mowing services, and it is brought to you by Keith’s Tractor Mowing, servicing the Greater Fort Worth area. There are a few baseball fields in the Fort Worth area, and we’ve mowed our share of them. Give us a call if we can help you with your specialized mowing situation.
Things to consider when mowing baseball field grass
Let’s break it all down to a couple main thoughts:
- The length of the grass
- The equipment to do the job correctly
- How often to cut it
A brief look at each of these.
Length of grass
There are a couple things to consider regarding the length of the grass on a baseball field. There is no standard length for grass in baseball. Each stadium is different regarding the length of the grass. Some stadiums have their grass cut to two inches height. Some cut it to three inches.
Remember that the lower the cut the better the chance of that grass burning under the summer sun. Also remember that maintaining low grass means mowing more often.
A ball rolls faster on shorter grass. A player runs faster on shorter grass. Do you want to speed up the game? Cut the grass short. Slow up the game? Cut it longer. It’s entirely up to the baseball stadium management how long to cut it, and an experienced lot mowing company, or acreage mowing company, will adjust to the needs of each stadium. In baseball, no two stadiums are alike, God bless America’s game!
Equipment
A standard baseball field is about 110,000 square feet in size. Part of that is infield, which requires a shorter cut of the grass, and the majority of it is outfield, which has a higher cut of grass.
Baseball fields are almost always cut using a residential riding mower or a tractor mower like the ones used by Keith’s Tractor Mowing. Using a large TORO or John Deere will tackle any baseball field in less than an hour. Using a walk-along mower can take several hours and achieve a sub-standard cut.
How often to cut it
The norm in baseball is to cut the grass once per week, but it really depends on the amount of watering you do. Copious watering will mean faster growing grass which will mean cutting more often. Again, there is no set rule to this. Baseball is a game of non-conformity in many ways.
A word about Keith’s Tractor Mowing
We have over thirty years of mowing large lawns, like a baseball stadium, experience in the Fort Worth area. For the very best in baseball field mowing, call the pros at Keith’s Tractor Mowing services.