poke93, while embittered, raised a good question....

[molly jabali]

...is it time to put a grass infield at the eck? does synthetic REALLY make a big playability difference?

i'm only asking, not demanding... :D

[SHOCKvalue]

The field turf included as part of the building campaign will do wonders for our half-and-half playing surface.

I've seen several pictures of fields with a field turf infield and natural grass outfield and it truly does look nice. Might look a little iffy every year until the grass greens, but after that the look is not far off from seamless to the eye. Sorry, I don't have any pics to link for you.

The biggest variable that could screw up the look is how they elect to handle the base paths with regard to red field turf versus the clay.

EDIT: And I just realized you were referring to playability, not appearance. Swing and a whiff for me! :shock:

[WuDrWu]

In a perfect world, turf until it's nice then grass.

However that's not possible.

Things have changed over the years.....maybe one of those well schooled manure spreaders down south can help us engineer a grass field that can be kept in good condition year round.....between the all-ag radio station and Mr. Fullmouth'odip and his 30weightcowpiesclosedhalftothreequarterslowerrepor tbrbdrbrdbrdbrbrdrbd and the fact they're done for the season, it would appear that the combination of skill and time makes the 'boys a perfect candidate for the job.

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

I hate the turf infield and grass outfield.

But once the funds get raised then its changing anyways. So its only a matter of time.

But I also hate it at LD as well and IMO makes it hard to watch games at both ECK and LD.

[ShockBand]

K-State's is FieldTurf infield with natural grass outfield.


However, I prefer to have real dirt sliding pits and NOT turf "pits", or better yet, have full dirt basepaths like a traditional grass field, like they do at Tropicana Field. That however, is of course all FieldTurf, infield and outfield.


I will be interested to see what option we go with when we FINALLY get the $$$ raised.

[SubGod22]

They HAVE to have real dirt

[ShockBand]

I agree Sub, gettin' dirty is part of the game!

[Awesome Sauce Malone]

Is there anything more beautiful than a ballpark?

BTW I found some awesome pics of teams and fields from the early 1900's

have at it http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=75607

[KC Shox]

Just replicate Tropicana. All Field Turf except for the basepaths. If not, use field turf on the infield with real dirt basepaths. This would save money would it not, taking out the square footage for real base paths instead of adding in for simulated red basepaths.

[CharlieHog]

Is there anything more beautiful than a ballpark?

BTW I found some awesome pics of teams and fields from the early 1900's

have at it http://www.baseball-fever.com/showthread.php?t=75607

Wow! Thanks for posting that. Amazing. I love everything about these photos. The players, the uniforms, the stadiums, the crowd.

[SHOCKvalue]

Just replicate Tropicana. All Field Turf except for the basepaths. If not, use field turf on the infield with real dirt basepaths. This would save money would it not, taking out the square footage for real base paths instead of adding in for simulated red basepaths.

I might be wrong here, but I think a rub with some people in the industry on your layout take is the transition line surrounding the infield from field turf to dirt right were a lot of ground balls would be fielded. I guess to keep that transition area "clean" for bounce sake takes more work than one would think by looking at it.

Just my impression from what I've read.

[emcfizzle]

All REAL grass. If they can make it work for football fields (college and pro- Arrowhead), then they can make it work at WSU. The fake turf crap is TACKY!!!

[ShockBand]

Yeah, but fizzle, the grass field of Arrowhead is absolutely atrocious by the time they get to November and December. It only looks moderately acceptable because its been painted over and over.

I agree all grass, IF in good condition, is the best. FieldTurf is preferable over a bad grass field or any of the old generation of artificial turf.

I hadn't thought about the issue of maintenance with such a long stretch of transition line with a standard dirt infield - anything on the net about such things you've found there RB?