26 SportsTurf | March 2013 www.sportsturfonline.com

Facility&Operations

BROCK PHIPPS, Springfield CardinalsI’m sure with a lot of minor league teams when it comes to dealing with the tarp,

safety has to be the biggest priority. I always try to stress to our new employees how tohandle the tarp with care yet respect what can happen in severe weather conditions. Wehave all been in that situation when the wind takes control and it’s either protecting thefield or protecting someone from getting hurt. I let my staff know that if you don’t feelin control and your feet is coming off the ground it’s probably time to let go.

At Hammons Field we have both the Missouri State Bears and the Springfield Car-dinals using the facility. When the Bears are playing I use their players to cover the fieldwith the tarp. On game day it’s my staff, which consists of 6-7 members, along with theplayers and coaching staff. To pull the tarp during the Cardinals season, I use my staffalong with the office staff. Communication is the key when dealing with both teams.When rain is approaching I will send out a text message or email just to let them knowthey will be needed. I have found that it’s helpful to send out a notice before the seasonto all staff to have extra clothes on hand. There is nothing like working in the officewith soggy clothes all day. Another key is to have the office staff stagger their lunchschedule; it’s not a good feeling when bodies are needed and no one is around.

With minimal staff in the minor leagues one of the first things I ever did was to rolla rope into the tarp. Talk about saving time and some energy—when it’s crunch time toplace the tarp on the field during the game. To roll the tarp out we simply hook onwith our utility vehicle and proceed to roll the tarp out. The tarp is positioned on theright field warning track. I like to have the tube positioned on the wall that when thetarp is rolled out it’s one fold and go. This also enables half of the skin to be coveredfrom the first fold. It’s very important to pull the tarp with the seams.

Here at Hammons Field we have four tarp drains in shallow right field. This enablesus to remove a lot of water in a short amount of time. It’s always nice to have a littlebreeze in the right direction when it’s time to remove the water. The air movementunder the tarp makes it like adding 10 staff members to the tarp crew. After dumpingthe tarp in right field we then pull back across the infield and begin the folding process.We fold the tarp twice and then roll it up. It’s very important to keep all the seams and

Tips on tarps >> Above: PULLING THE TARP AT HAMMONSFIELD, home to the Missouri State Bears andSpringfield Cardinals, maintained by BrockPhipps.

>> Below: A SHELF CLOUD looms over HammondField in Springfield, Missouri.

With minimal staff inthe minor leagues oneof the first things Iever did was to roll arope into the tarp.Talk about savingtime and some en-ergy—when it’scrunch time to placethe tarp on the fieldduring the game.

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edges straight to enable the next pull to gosmoothly.

If we expect high wind I make sure thetarp is pulled tight in every direction. Wesurround the tarp and pull in every direc-tion to accomplish this. Metal stakes an-chor the tarp down and then equipmentis placed on the four corners. I foundthat using stakes is the best and easiestway to anchor the tarp. Sand bags seemto drag along on the top of the tarp whenwind begins to pick up and they are timeconsuming to put in place. If no wind isexpected we then place two carpet dryingfans on the first and third base side of thetarp and inflate the bottom side to thetarp. This has really helped with twoproblems: the first is this allows air move-ment and cuts down on disease; the otheris it will help to shed some water off ofthe tarp. It’s amazing what these can dowith the short amount of time it takes toset them in place. Take care of your tarpand it will definitely save you time andlabor when used correctly.

COREY RUSSELL, Myrtle Beach Pelicans

Last year in Myrtle Beach we had atotal of 55 tarp pulls. These were eitherovernight, in game, during the day,etc. We only had to pull twice in-game fora short delay. For those in-game pulls wetry to aim for 60-90 seconds to get thefield covered and then worry about gettingit bagged down.

Here at the beach with the coastalweather, we see a lot of our wet conditionsas pop up thunderstorms off the water be-tween 2 pm and 6 pm. So a lot of ourconcerns are whether or not to cancel bat-ting practice and trying to get as much ofour pre-game routine done before the tarpgoes on if it looks like it we won’t be ableto get it off until closer to gametime. We’ve put it out with 6 people andthat is the BARE minimum. About 10 arewhat we shoot for. We actually had somebad rips in our tarp, some that got to bemore than 100 feet long by the end of the

>> COREY RUSSELL leads his crew in repairing atorn tarp last summer in Myrtle Beach.

28 SportsTurf | March 2013 www.sportsturfonline.com

Facility&Operations

season. This led to us going and retrievingthe local high school’s tarp for the last twohome stands of the year.

I think the best way to handle your tarpis to just try and convey what you’re tryingto do to everyone as loudly and early as pos-sible. The fewer people trying to lead thebetter. Usually my assistant and I are oneach end of the tarp and we’re the only onesgiving out directions. No matter how manytimes you do it however, someone alwaysforgets what the routine is, which is thedownfall of not having an actual “tarpcrew.” It’s everyone on deck here from theGM to the front office interns.

JOEY STEVENSON,Indianapolis Indians

To get it on in a timely manner, at theleast we need 8-10 people, but when allfront office interns are able to make it

>> WITH ANOTHER COASTAL STORM CLEARED,fans at a Myrtle Beach Pelicans game aretreated to a rainbow.

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down we have approximately 17-20. Atfull-tilt, I believe one of our best tarptimes was 1 minute, 7 seconds. On averagewe are probably right around 90 sec-onds. We use 140 foot straps rolled up inthe tarp, pulled by two people, with the re-maining people pushing tarp. It reallyhelps get the tarp off the wall and youdon’t have to “flip” the end of the tarp overthe tube on the rollout. The BEST way toget the tarp out we found, is to tell thecrew work hard for 90 seconds and thenthe pain is over! During non-game tarppulls, we use a Gator to pull the tarp,which helps keep the crew fresh.

OPIE CHEEK,Clearwater Threshers

With our office staff and crew we have12 people who can help with our tarp andwe can get it on the field in 2 minutes. Ifthere is water on the tarp, we just get a run-

>> VICTORY FIELD, home to the Indianapolis In-dians, maintained by Joey Stevenson

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Facility&Operations

ning start on pulling off the tarp, whichgets the water moving and we dump it inthe outfield. Then we put it back on the in-field before folding it up.

KEITH WINTER,Fort Wayne Tincaps

Game day management—when indoubt, pull it! Compile the best and mosttrusted weather information you have at

your disposal, then trust your instincts.The longer you are in this business, themore you learn that your instincts are oneof your greatest assets. On game days,when hundreds of thousands of dollarsmay be at stake, it is always better to besafe than sorry. The worst thing that canhappen is you take a dry tarp off a field ifit doesn’t rain. Also, as you get closer togame time, be prepared! If BP is going on,talk to both teams about your tarp pullcontingency plan so the field can becleared as quickly as possible. Minutesequal dollars when it comes to protecting agame-day field.

We wrap a rope in our tarp and pull outthe roll with a utility vehicle. This is fasterthan pushing the roll out by hand and does-n’t necessitate having to get people in placeto push. Once the tarp is rolled out, we canget it in position with 6-8 strong armedbodies, but I prefer 12-15 so that placementis perfect and time is saved. Our recordfrom pull out to placement is about 90 sec-onds for an in-game pull.

OTHER TARP MANAGEMENTIDEAS FROM KEITH WINTER

We inflate our tarp EVERYTIME withtwo large fans to keep air circulating underthe tarp. Not only is this a turf disease pre-vention step, but the water also runs offthe inflated tarp to the edges, making itquicker and easier to get the tarp back offthe field. When the rain stops, we moveexcess water off with roller squeegees, andin most cases, don’t have to take the timeand drag all that infield conditioner

>> BRIGHT HOUSE FIELD, home to the Clearwa-ter Threshers, maintained by Opie Cheek.

Once the tarp is rolled out,we can get it in position with6-8 strong armed bodies, butI prefer 12-15 so that place-ment is perfect and time issaved. Our record frompull out to placement isabout 90 seconds for anin-game pull.

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around by draining the tarp in another di-rection.

When we take the tarp off the field, Itry to have enough front office personnelon hand to “hold up” the opposite side tokeep from dragging so much conditioneroff the baselines and skin. There will al-ways be some piles after the fold, but lift-ing the folded edge helps. When rollingthe tarp back on the roll, we have a narrowwindow in the visitor’s bullpen to place thetarp, so I make sure myself or one of mygrounds crew is “aligning” the roll. A “badroll” isn’t worth hurrying, because youknow it always has to come back outagain.

Finally, if you are inflating the tarp andthe weather is threatening, make sure it isultra-secure. We have foot-long tarp stakesat every grommet and put a piece ofequipment on three corners. In the centerfield corner, we roll the tarp up in the rollalmost to the edge of the skin, because Ilike Mother Nature to water as much grassas possible. ■>> PARKVIEW FIELD, home to the Fort Wayne Tincaps, maintained by Keith Winter