Oriole Park: Field of Dreams
As James Earl Jones stated in the movie “Field of Dreams;” “The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and that could be again.”
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- Head groundskeeper, Nicole Sherry, sprays the infield dirt to settle it before the start of the game between the Orioles and the Toronto Blue Jays. The hose delievers water at 150 psi and takes a crew of five to manage it while Sherry sprays the infield. (Gene Sweeney Jr. /Baltimore Sun)
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- The area around home plate at Camden Yards is being swept in preparation for the raking and chalking of the lines. (Gene Sweeney Jr. /Baltimore Sun)
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- The ground crew members prepare the infield playing surface at Camden Yards for the game between the Orioles and the Toronto Blue Jays. On average, the crew takes 15-20 minutes to get the field ready after batting practice is over. (Gene Sweeney Jr. /Baltimore Sun)
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- Thomas Kirsch cleans home plate with tire cleaner and a brush before the start of the Orioles game against Toronto. (Gene Sweeney Jr. /Baltimore Sun)
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- Grounds crew members are marking the batter’s boxes and the catcher’s box around the frame, which will then be chalked, before the start of the game between the Baltimore Orioles and the Toronto Blue Jays. (Gene Sweeney Jr. /Baltimore Sun)
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- With “chalkers” left over from Memorial Stadium, a grounds crew member chalks the white lines around home plate. (Gene Sweeney Jr. /Baltimore Sun)
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- Thomas Kirsch spreading “top dressing” on the pitchers mound. (Gene Sweeney Jr. /Baltimore Sun)
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- Clean bases are awaiting the finish of the infield preparation before they are installed. (Gene Sweeney Jr. /Baltimore Sun)
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- Brian Holtrop repairs the divots in the batter’s box around home plate before a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Camden Yards. (Gene Sweeney Jr. /Baltimore Sun)
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- Baltimore-MD-9/24/12-md-darkroom-0929–Ground crew members at Camden Yards ready the area around home plate for play. (Gene Sweeney Jr. /Baltimore Sun)
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- The infield dirt is “screened” by a grounds crew member before the start of the ball game. (Gene Sweeney Jr. /Baltimore Sun)
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- Cords are being stretched from home plate down the foul lines so the chalk can be applied in straight lines down the base paths (Gene Sweeney Jr. /Baltimore Sun)
And when people come to Oriole Park at Camden Yards they will see a field that is cared for by head groundskeeper Nicole Sherry and her dedicated team. After nightly batting practice, they have less then a half hour to prepare the infield before the start of the game. This involves preparing the dirt around home plate, the pitching mound and the base paths. Chalking all of the foul lines, installing new bases and watering down all of the infield dirt. Over the course of a season Sherry and her crew go through fifty-two, 40-pound bags of chalk and twelve hundred, 50-pound bags of top dressing.
If the Orioles make it into the play-offs, Sherry is ready for the national exposure. The only difference from the normal preparations for the field will be a “diamond” cut in the grass, as owner Peter Angelos wants to keep it conservative and logos painted on each side of the field by the dugouts. Sherry is prepared for the pressure of playoff baseball, even though the University of Delaware grad was only in her teens the last time the Orioles were in the post-season.
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