Sunday, April 01, 2001
Ten Questions with: Doug Gallant
One of the stars of the Reds' Opening Day game Monday is already known: the new grass field at Cinergy. Reds head groundskeeper Doug Gallant recently discussed with Enquirer reporter John Erardi the splendor of grass.
Q. How many times have you seen “Caddyshack” (the movie starring Bill Murray who plays deranged assistant greenskeeper Carl Spander)?
A. Five times, at least.
Q. Years ago, there was a lot of “doctoring” of fields — soaking the dirt to slow down fast teams, sloping the baselines to help or hurt the bunting game. Does that still go on?
A. To a degree. We can change the field to however the (home) team wants it. I've talked to (Reds manager) Bob Boone. He wants to do some bunting. He's usually going to want the grass a little bit longer on the infield. There are no rules regarding where your chalk lines must be in relation to the grass. Your chalk line can be anywhere in that basepath. So he wants the chalk line real close to the grass line so that when they bunt, the ball doesn't have a chance to run across the dirt and go foul.
Q. Is the infield dirt as important as the grass as to what makes a good infield?
A. Absolutely. The moisture level has to be just right. After the last day of a homestand, we'll water it the next morning and cover it with (special) tarps. That way we don't have to worry about keeping the moisture level perfect. The tarp won't let any moisture out or in. You don't want (the dirt) to be too powdery or too hard. You want the texture just right. When a player slides, you don't want a massive cloud of dust coming up.
Q. Unless you're Pete Rose, and then it looks good.
A. Right.
Q. Are you anticipating that any players are going to want any changes to the field between the end of (today's) workout and Opening Day?
A. I'm sure there are going to be some suggestions, and we'll do what we can. But there's not a lot we're going to be able to do in 12 hours. There are always going to be little quirks in a brand-new field. To tailor it to just how they want it will take a little bit of time. I can even make the infield grass harder or softer depending on what's wanted.
Q. Greenskeepers talk about the “Augusta-fication” of America's golf courses. All golfers, even the weekend hacks, want their course to look like the one on TV in the second week of April, Augusta National. Has that sort of thing happened to baseball diamonds — everybody expects them to be perfect?
A. From a groundskeeper's perspective, yes. We're doing everything under the sun to make the fields perfect. Back in the good ol' days, you were going to get a bad hop every now and again. You were going to take one in the nose. That was baseball.
Q. What's your worst nightmare?
A. Losing the entire field (to disease). Fortunately, you can strip and sod a field in 36 hours if you had to.
Q. How do you mow those patterns into the grass? And have you chosen one yet for Opening Day?
A. We (Gallant and assistant Jon Phelps) want it to be something everybody in the ballpark can see, not just the people higher up. It's easy to see anything from high up. We'll mow in two different directions, some kind of diamond pattern. The rollers on the mowers create the look. The direction we mow determines whether there's going to be a lighter color stripe, or a darker color. If you cut across those (stripes) — a cross-cut — you get four different shades of green. In Sarasota on St. Patrick's Day, (the groundskeeper) cut a shamrock into the middle of the infield. I don't want to detract that much from the game.
Q. We won't be seeing “Doug Gallant” in script in the infield?
A. No, but I'm getting some requests for “Declan Mullin.” (He's Gallant's supervisor, the Reds' stadium operations director.)
Q. What's your favorite scene in “Caddyshack”?
A. Carl talking about nitrogen and phosphorus. That was good.
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Ten Questions with: Doug Gallant
