The Marlins have the best ground crew in the game

by craig on Aug 19, 2008 8:37 AM EDT in News and Rumors

But you already knew that.

Here are a tidbit from the article that you should most definitely read. Assuming you care about such.

One of Sigwardt's assistants, Willie Taylor, said the tarp they have to carry onto the field whenever there's a delay weighs about 1,300 pounds. And if they don't get it on the infield in two minutes, the baseball game has to get cancelled.

So, every time they run out on the field, Sigwardt is holding up a stopwatch to make sure they're on time.

"Usually, [one minute and 30 seconds is good], but we have to make sure it's under two minutes, no matter what," said Taylor, whose crew went through 11 rain delays last season and 146 in 15 years coming into this season.

Wow, I didn't know the tarp weighed that much and that the speed at which is rolled out was so important.

It is truly amazing there aren't more game cancellations. The last one was in 2004.

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I worked tarp crew for a minor league team...

we were not as good as the marlins crew, and it is really difficult.

By the end of the season, we rigged up a system to pull the tarp across with a golf cart, which was a lot more fun, but the worst was walking across the carp to keep it down while they put weight on the ends to stop it from flapping in the wind. The dirt they use on the infield is not your standard backyard dirt and it sticks to everything, so while the field crew deserves tons of kudos, so does the equipment room…

by jrsyeagle on Aug 19, 2008 11:51 AM EDT reply actions