Reno Aces
Key Takeaways
Ballpark turf perfection offers:- Year-Round Dedication: Maintaining perfect turf requires full-time, year-round effort to ensure quality and consistency.
- Visual Consistency: The goal is achieving a field appearance that looks equally impressive regardless of the season.
- Early Season Readiness: Techniques enable the turf to appear vibrant and green even when other lawns are still dormant.
Nothing other than "perfection" can describe the Reno Aces baseball field. Whether it is the checkerboard mowing patterns everyone wishes their front lawns had, or the ideal shade of green turf, the Aces ballpark is as good as it gets.
I had the extreme pleasure to meet up with Head of Grounds Eric Blanton to briefly discuss what it takes to keep this ballpark looking as good as it does. Eric assured me that it takes more than just showing up a couple hours before game time a few days a week to mow and fertilize - it takes a full time job year round to ensure a quality field for players and fans. Eric said, "Our goal is for someone to take a picture of the field and not be able to tell if the photo was taken in February or August."
Aces
The picture above was taken on April 3rd during the Aces vs. UNR game, just two days before a snowy season opener. It was this photo made me wonder "how do they make it look so good so early in the season?" While every lawn and golf course in Reno is still dormant, the Aces ballpark has completed their mission to make it look like this image was taken in August. In the video below, Eric and I spend a few minutes discussing some of the ins and outs of maintaining Aces ballpark, along with what it takes to become an award winning Head of Grounds for a minor league baseball team.