Artificial Turf Question

[dellcurry]

Ballparks with natural turf have dirt throughout the infield.

Why do artificial turf baseball diamonds only have dirt on the corners?

[FiddySicks]

Ballparks with natural turf have dirt throughout the infield.

Why do artificial turf baseball diamonds only have dirt on the corners?

easier to maintain id guess. i dont think all parks care like that though

[CC97]

You gotta really pack any dirt on an artifical surface to keep it firm like real dirt you'd find in grass (remember, under the dirt on an artifical surface is concrete)... it's nearly impossible to pack an all dirt infield properly like they do in tropicana, and because of this the infield dirt there is not nearly as good as any other stadium.

[sj32]

Several of the early astroturf fields (Astrodome, Busch, Comiskey I) had dirt basepaths. I think it was the deadly triumverate of 1970 cookie-cutters (Three Rivers, Riverfront & the Vet) that introduced the cutouts. The reason for the cutouts is they make it easier to convert the field from baseball to football. It was a lot easier to lay down a small cutout section of turf than it was to have a section of turf shaped like the entire basepath.

The Astrodome and Busch eventually went to cutouts while Old Comiskey ripped up the astroturf (which was on the infield only) and went back to all grass.

[dellcurry]

Beautiful! Thanks for the responses.

(Although I was expecting more of a EUREKA! answer)

[TBGKon]

i guess that proves why Tropicana Field has dirt basepaths, since a football team doesnt play there

[jrh31584]

Kaufmann Stadium never had a football team there, and it only had cutouts when it had Crapstro Turf.

[FiddySicks]

Kaufmann Stadium never had a football team there, and it only had cutouts when it had Crapstro Turf.

What about in houston where the Houston Crapstros play?

[TBGKon]

Kaufmann Stadium never had a football team there, and it only had cutouts when it had Crapstro Turf.

What about in houston where the Houston Crapstros play?

dont go dissing my Astros.....what if I called your team crappy, how would you feel?...lol j/k

[The_Admiral]

Kaufmann Stadium never had a football team there, and it only had cutouts when it had Crapstro Turf.

What about in houston where the Houston Crapstros play?

Oilers. When they left town, they probably just stuck with the cutouts because it was easier.

[rockchalk]

Kaufmann Stadium never had a football team there, and it only had cutouts when it had Crapstro Turf.

That goes back to what CC97 said...it's just easier to deal with only the absolute minimum amount of dirt, because otherwise, it gets too thin (or hard, depending on conditions)

[CC97]

Kaufmann Stadium never had a football team there, and it only had cutouts when it had Crapstro Turf.

What about in houston where the Houston Crapstros play?

Oilers. When they left town, they probably just stuck with the cutouts because it was easier.

Probably? My reason is still much better

[mac]

I got a question, on astroturf do the players wear turf shoes like sneakers or do they wear real baseball cleats?

[MJWalker45]

It depends. I've seen pics wear players have worn metal spikes. But I think with the new turf, players wearing molded spikes fare better then those wearing turfs or metals

[FiddySicks]

Kaufmann Stadium never had a football team there, and it only had cutouts when it had Crapstro Turf.

What about in houston where the Houston Crapstros play?

dont go dissing my Astros.....what if I called your team crappy, how would you feel?...lol j/k

Go ahead. They are crappy!!! Im a Bucs, Sharks, Warriors fan and i like among others the Tigers and A's in baseball (But the giants and Cards make up for this i think ).

[pcgd]

It depends. I've seen pics wear players have worn metal spikes. But I think with the new turf, players wearing molded spikes fare better then those wearing turfs or metals

I had better luck on field turf wearing detachable cleats in football instead of molded. Both worked however.

You get a fine grip with metal as well, we had a few baseball practices on our football field.

[Pixelboy]

I think another reason is that if you had all-dirt infields on artificial turf fields, you'd have way more bad hops because the turf-to-dirt seams would then span across the entire field instead of just at the sliding pits.

[marlinfan]

I'm guessing Kauffman Stadium had the cut-outs for two reasons.

-It's cheap.

-Less work.

[CC97]

I'm guessing Kauffman Stadium had the cut-outs for two reasons.

-It's cheap.

-Less work.

Would somebody read my post already? My post IS the reason they do cutouts on artificial turf fields, it is not speculation.

[rockchalk]

I'm guessing Kauffman Stadium had the cut-outs for two reasons.

-It's cheap.

-Less work.

Would somebody read my post already? My post IS the reason they do cutouts on artificial turf fields, it is not speculation.

Hey, I did, I quoted you, I tried to pass it on but the people won't listen to the leader. *sips Kool-aid*