During today’s Phillies-Rockies game in the 7th inning, it started to rain so the grounds crew came out to put the tarp on the field. Things were going smoothly until the wind came. I’ll let the video do the rest of the talking. Hit play to watch.
To me this is a classy move by the Phillies players and even the umpires. This is not a common site you see the in the majors. Players helping put the tarp on the field. To put themselves at risk to help out the grounds crew is an unbelievable thing to do.
I’ve been in that situation too many times. I’ll be honest I hated the tarp pull, mainly because for my last 3 or so years of working in Minor League Baseball in New Haven, I was the most hated guy in the front office. Why? Because unless the umpires called for the tarp, the general manager usually relied on me to make the decision of whether or not to put the tarp on the field. So that meant many of the front office people had to stay around after the game and wait for me and my two or three man crew to finish the field before the tarp pull. Or having to make that call on someone’s day off to get their butt to the park to help pull tarp. If you met anyone who has ever worked in the minors and they tell you they have pulled tarp before and enjoyed it, I call BS. It is the worst thing possible.
I have had that happen more than once to me what happened today in Colorado. I’ve seen people get dragged like the grounds crew member did or even pulled up in the air. I’ve seen people get hurt because the wind has taken the tarp and pulled their shoulders out. That is why I say it is very commendable what the Phillies players did. A lot of these guys have million dollar contracts but didn’t care today.
So as a former groundskeeper/grounds crew member, a big hats off to the Philadelphia Phillies players and the umpires for helping the members of the Rockies grounds crew.
