>> PARKVIEW FIELD, home to the Fort Wayne Tincaps, maintained by Keith Winter
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around by draining the tarp in another direction.
When we take the tarp off the field, I
try to have enough front office personnel
on hand to "hold up" the opposite side to
keep from dragging so much conditioner
off the baselines and skin. There will always be some piles after the fold, but lifting the folded edge helps. When rolling
the tarp back on the roll, we have a narrow
window in the visitor's bullpen to place the
tarp, so I make sure myself or one of my
grounds crew is "aligning" the roll. A "bad
roll" isn't worth hurrying, because you
know it always has to come back out
again.
Finally, if you are inflating the tarp and
the weather is threatening, make sure it is
ultra-secure. We have foot-long tarp stakes
at every grommet and put a piece of
equipment on three corners. In the center
field corner, we roll the tarp up in the roll
almost to the edge of the skin, because I
like Mother Nature to water as much grass
as possible. ■
SportsTurf 31
