A groundskeeper's work is never really done. There's always grass to evaluate, drainage to check and clay to manicure. Here are the five final steps that Baltimore's Nicole McFadyen went through to get her field ready for Game 1 of Tigers-Orioles tonight.
STEP ONE: PUT TOGETHER A TO-DO LIST
In such an intricate process as preparing an MLB field, a checklist is imperative. The method? Well, McFadyen is pretty low-tech, just jotting down her 18 items. By Wednesday, she had ticked off 17 of the 18 items ahead of Thursday's American League Division Series opener in Baltimore. The only big task remaining? Painting the Major League Baseball "POSTSEASON" logo on the grass along the foul lines. Here's how McFadyen, one of only two female head groundskeepers in MLB, crossed off that 18th item.
STEP TWO: MAKE AN OUTLINE
Paint. Dry. Repeat. About a dozen reporters and photographers were on hand Tuesday evening at Oriole Park at Camden Yards to literally watch paint dry. Once everything else was done from McFadyen's checklist, it was time to tackle the complicated art of those huge MLB postseason logos along the baselines. The group started with the first-base line, laying down an outline of the logo before pulling it up (as seen in the photo) to lug it over to the third-base line. Once tacked into place, paint guns were used to trace the borders of the design before McFadyen & Co. yanked it up. On the other side of the field, Don Follett and Sean Kauffman -- part of the Ravens ground crew that volunteered to swing by and help out the Orioles crew -- followed the template to produce the finished product. Follett and Kauffman are especially valuable with these logos because of their experience working with the massive amounts of paint required to do an NFL end zone. The goal is to make sure the logo looks fresh when Chris Tillman throws the opening pitch of the series Thursday night. But the work for McFadyen was just getting started.
STEP THREE: BEGIN PAINTING
"The postseason logos are over 35 feet long, almost down the entire foul area on both sides," says McFadyen, whose crew hand-paints the Opening Day logos in April. "These guys [Follett, in orange, and Kauffman] paint the end zones and logos all the time, and they have an awesome paint machine. It's going to look really tight and really pop. We asked to borrow one of their machines and get the paint out there faster than we can by hand. We're really good friends, and they're excited to help us out."
STEP FOUR: CATCH UP WITH FRIENDS (BUT KEEP PAINTING!)
It took about 35 minutes to get to "N" in "POSTSEASON," which means there was plenty of time for McFadyen and Kauffman, who have similar jobs for Baltimore's most high-profile sports teams but seldom get to see each other, to catch up. The chatter covered family, common friends, Baltimore neighborhoods and house-hunting. A stray blade of grass was picked here and there too.
STEP FIVE: BLOW-DRY, THEN BLOW-DRY SOME MORE
As you watch the MLB playoffs this month, the aerial shots may show the defensive alignment, players storming the field after a walk-off hit or a packed house. However, the dominant feature will be this "POSTSEASON" logo painted on the field's Kentucky bluegrass. It's almost complete, with just the blue outline and accent on the well-known batter logo in the middle. It will take about a day for the paint to completely dry, aided by leaf blowers during the day and fans plugged in most of the night.
