Olsen Field:

Collegiate Diamond Sparkles

SPorts are often a family affair formany people, whether on the fieldas a player, in the stands as a spec-

tator, or in the case of Leo Goertz, on thefield as the head groundskeeper of OlsenField at Texas A&M University. Goertz givesmuch of the credit for being the winner ofthe 1988 Baseball Diamond of the YearAward in the collegiate category to his twoolder brothers and his widowed mother.

Since his father died when Leo was three,he has had to make the most of what fatehas given him. When his brothers playedhigh school sports at New Braunfels, TX,he volunteered to be a student equipmentmanager for their teams. Goertz hustled onthe sidelines as much as his brothers andother students hustled on the field. Hethrived on the responsibility and on beingpart of a team effort.

Peter Garza, baseball coach at the school,recognized Goertz's surprising attention todetail for a high school student and entrustedhim with preparation of the field before prac-tices and games. He taught him as muchas he knew about baseball field maintenanceand gave him room to make small mistakesand to innovate. "The two best teachers inlife are experience and mistakes," Goertz

14 sportsTURF

states today. "Mistakes teach you either toinnovate or to stick to the basics. You needto do both to get by in sports turf main-tenance. When money is short, all you haveto rely on is innovation, motivation andmanpower."

When his brother graduated and went onto Texas A&M, Leo knew he would followhim shortly. He wanted to study agriculturaleconomics and needed a way to help payhis tuition, room and board. During a visitto the university in College Station, hisbrother, who played baseball for the Aggies,introduced him to Assistant Coach JimSampson. He told Leo that the universitywas just completing a new baseball stadiumcalled Olsen Field and three studentmanagers would be paid to help maintainit. A recommendation from Coach Garzato Sampson helped him win one of the posi-tions beginning with the 1978 fall semester.

"My goal was to help pay for a degreein ag econ, not to become a grounds fore-man," he recalls, "but when I walked ontoOlsen Field for the first time, somethingclicked." The fear of being one student outof thousands at the huge campus disap-peared. His brother was there on the team,he spent much of his time as he had

before- around baseball-and he liked theag econ currriculum. He was too busy toget lonely or depressed.

For seven years Goertz worked more than20 hours each week at Olsen Field and wentto classes. "You get paid for 20, but youend up spending most of your time thereduring baseball season," he adds. In 1985,before he graduated, Sampson left. Theuniversity approached Goertz about takingthe full-time position. Taking the assignmentmeant he would have to cut his class loadfurther, or give up his goal of a degree. Eventhough he had been urged and tempted toswitch his major to turf management, hehad stuck to his original major of ag econ.Nothing was going to stop him from finishing.

Figuring opportunities like this didn't comealong very often, and since the ag marketwas pretty shaky, Goertz took the job, cutback his classes, and remained a memberof the Aggie baseball family.

By this time, a few wrinkles were begin-ning to show up in the seven-year-oldstadium. The biggest was right field. Fortwo days after a rain or a day after irrigat-ing, players complained that mud oozed upthrough the Tifway bermudagrass onto their

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Olsen Fieldcontinued from page 14

shoes. Since the team both practiced andplayed games in the stadium, the mud wasespecially annoying.

Campus landscape architect Eugene Rayexplained to Goertz that the stadium wasbuilt over a thick layer of clay. There wasno subsurface drainage in the outfield, onlysurface drainage that fed into French drainsjust outside the foul lines. The area wherethe right fielders stood most of the time hadbecome packed down, creating a 30-foot-square pocket where water collected.

"I guess you could say that my first attemptat a major innovation was a mistake," admits

Goertz. "We drilled 50 holes in right fieldmore than 15 feet deep. The idea was tobreak through the clay layer and create sub-surface drainage that way." Since the holeswere 12 inches in diameter, Goertz had alot of dirt to carry off the field. The bottomthree-quarters of the holes were filled withwashed gravel. Geotextile was placed ontop of the rock and the remainder of theholes were filled with mason's sand beforethe plug of sod was replaced.

"It didn't take long to find out our effortswere off base," he remarks. "It rained hardthe next day. Water drained into the holesbut stayed there. Instead of drains we had50 wet spots. We had not penetrated the

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entire clay layer. We ended up removingthe sand and rock and filling the holes backin with soil."

After learning from his mistake, Goertzapproached Dr. Richard Dubie, extensionagronomist for the university. The Frenchdrains on the sidelines still worked well,partly because the perforated pipe in thebottom of the trenches had been wrappedin geotextile. Goertz also had plenty of rocksfrom the previous attempt. Water gatheredby the French drains was piped under theoutfield fence to a nearby storm drain.

Ray, Dubie and Goertz agreed that filterfabric should be included in any solutionthey came up with. But the recentexperience had soured them and the crewon rock.

Ray had recently heard about a drainproduct consisting of geotextile filter fabricwrapped around a plastic core. The coreis not a pipe, it resembles the bottom halfof an egg carton and serves as a skeletonfor the fabric. Air space between the coreand the fabric is available for water flow.

Turf Drain in the outfield was installed by theTexas A&M grounds crew.

The continuous eight-inch-tall, inch-widestrip is inserted into a pattern of narrowtrenches. Sections or branches of the drainline are simply taped together without fit-tings. Once the network of pipe is installedin the trenches, it is backfilled with sandto the surface.

"We like to use our own manpower andequipment on special jobs," says Goertz."We could install the wrapped drain lineswith the university's trencher and crewwithout having to shoot grades for eachtrench. By following the surface grade, wehad the right grade for the trenches."

The school selected Turf Drainage Com-pany of America as the supplier of the drainlines. The company's Turf Drain had beenused successfully by a number of golfcourses. Texas A&M was one of the firstathletic fields to utilize the drain system.

That fall, Goertz bought and installed justenough drain for right field. Seven mainswith six fingers each were installed and con-nected to the pipe in the French drains onthe first base warning track. The secondtry did the trick. "After a rain, I periodicallycheck the outlet in the storm drain to seehow much water the system is taking offthe field," he states. "Two days after a rain,water is still trickling into the drain."

Satisfied that he now had a workable solu-tion to draining the heavy clay soil, Goertz

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Olsen Fieldcontinued from page 16

again consulted with Ray and Dubie aboutdoing the rest of the outfield. With the ath-letic department's blessing, the next sum-mer 3,000 more feet of drain were installedin center and left field.

The final touch was to topdress the entireoutfield with 600 tons of mason sand. Thelayer of sand on the surface helps movethe water laterally to the drainage trenches.The bermudagrass had no problem grow-ing through the sand. Each of the past twosummers another 200 tons of sand havebeen added to the outfield.

"We're holding off on the sand for the time

being," adds Goertz. Ray's campus crewaerates the outfield to help mix the sandinto the clay and to encourage the bermudato root deeply. Ray may cut slits into thesand and topsoil this fall with a Yeager-Twose aerator to assist surface drainageto the side drains. "The outfield is now ingreat shape within four to six hours of adownpour. We rely on tarps for the infield."

The total cost of the outfield drainageproject was $10,000, including $4,000 forthe drain line. "We're very fortunate to havea $250,000 endowment fund for upkeep ofthe stadium," says Goertz. "By using theinterest from an endowment, you are pro-tected against budget cuts. Endowments

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are used a lot for other types of universityfunding, so why not field maintenance? Ithink they can playa major role in improv-ing fields at colleges, parks and schools.

"Many times I've heard coaches say theyspent so much to fix up their fields. That'sgreat, but one thing must be remembered.You just spent that money to fix it up. If youdon't take care of the field with daily main-tenance, then you just wasted your money."

Goertz's friends call him a weather fanatic.He calls the university weather station andthe U.S. Weather Service three times ongame days. When he gets up in the morn-ing and before he goes to sleep at night heturns on the weather channel on cable. "Ido it as much for the infield dirt as anythingelse," he says. "If the chance of rain is 30percent or higher, we cover the infield beforewe leave at night. We sleep better that way."

He admits he is more concerned aboutthe dirt than the turf. "You can be the world'sgreatest turf man and mess up in baseballbecause of the dirt," he advises. "The infielddirt has to be just right all the time. Thatis where you should spend most of your timeand effort."

Drain network in left field backfilled with sand.

Every groundskeeper has his own formulafor the infield dirt. "It's hard to find good claythat doesn't have rocks in it," says Goertz."Even when you get most of the rocks out,it may not give you the crust you want, packas well as you'd like or hold moisture theright way. Fortunately, there are amend-ments you can use to improve local clays."

Each year Goertz has four tons of materialshipped to College Station for Olsen Field."The cost of shipping can be more than thecost of the material, but the difference itmakes is worth the expense. One help isto plan ahead and get together with othergroundskeepers for one group order insteadof ordering the same stuff individually."

Twice each year Goertz works one tonof calcined clay into the base paths, oncein January prior to baseball season andagain in September prior to the fall workouts.The clay particles hold moisture withoutbreaking down. When mixed with the exist-ing clay and wet down, they help create aloose crust that isn't muddy, hard or dusty.Base runners get solid footing and a softsurface to slide on.

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Every day for nine months the infield dirt is conditioned and lips in the turf are brushed out.

Olsen Fieldcontinued from page 18

The Olsen Field crew uses a nail dragevery day during the season to keep thebase path mix level and the right texture.Drag mats made of artificial turf on a one-by-six-inch frame smooth out the dirt beforeit is wet down with a hose connected to aquick coupler behind the pitcher's mound.

The mound and the batter's box have theirown special mixes. A pitcher, batter andcatcher require better footing than base run-ners. They need more than a surface crust.They need a deeper layer of packed dirt thatgives less without being rock hard. For thisreason Goertz has two types of Beam clayshipped from Partac in Great Meadows, NJ.One is used for the landing area on themound. A six-inch-deep layer of the firm,red clay is maintained at all times. No othertype of clay is used in this area and all repairsare made with the special clay.

The infield is mowed with a walk-behindgreens mower.

The moisture level of the infield dirt is carefully maintained.

20 sportsTURF

The mound is worked every day to keepit smooth, firm and uniformly moist to thefull depth of the mix. Holes in the landingarea must be properly refilled with an inchor two of the mix at a time, wet down andtamped to match the moisture and hard-ness of the surrounding mix.

The batter's and catcher's boxes needfirm dirt, but not as firm as the mound. Thedirt outside these boxes, however, shouldbe the same as the base path mix. Goertzuses Home Plate mix tor.ooth boxes. It isbasically a 50:50 mix of mound mix and basepath mix. "We use a bag a week to keepthe home plate area in shape," Goertz pointsout. He also covers the home plate areamuch of the time.

Every few weeks the crew recuts the edgebetween the infield dirt and the turf. Goertzis a stickler on straight edges and lips ofdirt in the turf. "We hand-rake the edgesevery day to keep lips from building up,"he adds. "The key to baseball field manage-ment is doing the little things every day tokeep things under control.

"This may seem like a lot of trouble, butthe infield is the main difference betweena great field and an average one," he adds.For this reason, Goertz and his crew con-centrate their efforts on the infield.

In fact, they don't mow or maintain theoutfield. Ray's campus crew does, in additionto making all the stadium's fertilizer and pes-ticide applications. Goertz's crew mows theinfield with a Jacobsen walk-behind greens-mower three times each week, double-cutting on game 'days. The clippings areremoved on the infield but not on the outfield.

For half of the stadium's nine-month busyseason, the field is overseeded perennialryegrass. In November, the field is aerified,overseeded and topdressed. By mid-January, when the Aggies start practicingin the stadium, the ryegrass is well estab-lished. The season starts in February andcan go to the end of May if the team makesthe conference finals. It fell just one gameshort of going to the College World Serieslast year.

The Tifway starts coming out of dormancyin April. "Transition is not a major problem,"states Goertz. If it looks like post-seasongames are likely, he irrigates every nightfor five to ten minutes to keep the ryegrassgrowing. If not, he shuts the water off forthree days and leaves the cover on the fieldfor 20 minutes in the morning sun. Theryegrass quickly surrenders to the ber-mudagrass.

The bermudagrass benefits greatly fromspring rains. "One inch of rain is worth threemonths of irrigation with our saline water,"says Goertz. "It greens up all right with irri-gation. But after a rain, the bermudagrasshas a spurt of growth that gives it a greatstart for the summer season. Without therain we have to fertilize heavier to "lake upthe difference."

In June, Olsen Field is the site of manyhigh school championship 9,ames. LittleLeague uses the stadium for its regional tour-

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Olsen Fieldcontinued from page 20

naments in August. The baseball seasonends in early October with the Aggies' 30-day fall practice. All these events are playedon the Tifway bermudagrass.

In a typical season, Olsen Field hostsnearly 60 games and all the practices forthe university. "I'd love to have a practicefacility for baseball," says Goertz. When he

is not taking care of the stadium, Goertzis helping Ray with the girls softball field,the practice football field and the track com-plex. The girls have been national fast-pitchsoftball champions for three out of the pasteight years.

Kyle Field, the university's footballstadium, is artificial turf. When the base-ball team needs to practice on artificial tu rf,it borrows the football stadium for a few days.

22 sportsTURF

A $7-million indoor practice facility will beconstructed within the next five years.

But Goertz has grown up with Olsen Fieldand natural turf. "I've been lucky to startout on a new field and stay with it," he says.Experience has taught him how to adjustthe Toro hydraulic irrigation system duringthe season for both ryegrass and ber-mudagrass. He may change the irrigationschedule for the 23 stations from week toweek.

Each station has an average of threeheads that run about 20 minutes every threedays. There are five quick couplers on thefield to which hoses are connected for wet-ting down the infield dirt, bullpens and warn-ing tracks. The first is behind the pitcher'smound. Two more are located next to thebullpens and the final two are located in theoutfield. "If we had a power failure in themiddle of a hot spell, we could still irrigatethe field with the quick couplers," statesGoertz.

Beside saline water, Goertz has other con-cerns that require extra attention. Purplenutsedge invades the bermudagrass in thesummer. Applications of MSMA kill the exist-ing nutsedge foliage but not the nut belowthe surface. This summer Goertz will try anew product called Image that controls thenut as well as the foliage. Three or four timesevery year the warning tracks are sprayedwith Roundup to kill any emerging weeds.

Annual bluegrass is a problem in the over-seeded field. He also had an outbreak ofbrown patch and dollar spot two years agoshortly after overseeding. This year he plansto apply Rubigan, a fungicide that controlsboth diseases in addition to having asupressing effect on annual bluegrass. "Ithelps to have some of the leadingagronomists in the country on campus," saysGoertz.

While Olsen Field does have a minor molecricket infestation, Goertz has had noproblem keeping it under control. It's thefire ants that drive him crazy. They've stayedoff the field so far, but keeping them off isa constant battle. The perimeter of thestadium is treated with fire ant baits. At thefirst sign of a mound, it is knocked downand sprayed with a product called Eliminator."You can't let them get a foothold," Goertzwarns.

With his degree completed, he remainsat Olsen Field. He travels on road trips withthe Aggies when he can, to see other fieldsaround the country. "I'm not saying that justbecause somebody else does somethingone way, that it is the right way to do it, butrather that maybe you might take that ideaand develop it to suit your field," says Goertz."Many of the things that we do here at TexasA&M we have picked up from other people."

Only one out his four student managersis majoring in turf. His name is Chet Bunchand his goal in life is to become a golf coursesuperintendent. Another is studying to bea dentist. If the right opportunity came along,maybe they too would alter the course oftheir careers for the lure of the diamond.