Nichole Sherry is tamping dirt at home plate in Camden Yards on a breezy afternoon in late March.
The Baltimore Orioles are about to have their season home opener on March 31 and as head groundskeeper for the team Sherry and her crew have been working extra the last month to get the field in tiptop shape for the games.
Sherry has been tamping the dirt for four days to build it to a certain gradient for players to use and for water runoff.
“That's all we've been doing, is tamp tamp tamp,” Sherry said of the hand tool she uses to compress the dirt. “So, yeah, we're a little bit exhausted.”
During the off season, the team leaves the field to the elements and gives it basic care, but as spring nears the grounds crew needs to get the grass growing, the chalk lines drawn and everything else in between to ensure players are safe and the field looks pristine for the thousands of people in the stadium and watching on TV.
“The main importance of keeping a safe and healthy playing surface is for the athletes that play here,” Sherry said. “If we don't have a good root system or good, strong grass plant that can withstand the impact from their the soles of their feet or their diving for a ball that could, in turn cause an injury to somebody.”
A divot in the dirt could be the difference between a hurried run to first base and a torn ACL or an errant ball bounce to the face.
To prepare the field the team “wakes up the grass” by spraying fertilizers.
“We are starting to cut we're trying to get the grass stimulated and growing,” said Andrew Lawling, the Orioles assistant director of field operations.
The team is constantly monitoring every aspect of the field to ensure optimal growth.
“We take field data every single day,” Lawling said. “We're measuring the moisture. We're measuring the soil temp, the canopy temp, and all the environmental factors that play part of how to grow grass or anything really.”
The chance of a wild pitch from mother nature is always present.
Sherry keeps a doppler weather radar screen up in her office, and for opening day the forecast is looking questionable.
The Orioles have a crew of about thirty people on-call to do groundskeeping tasks during games. They’re the ones who pull a gigantic tarp over the diamond at the chance of rain, an important job to protect the field during storms so players can get back on the field quickly.
“It's unreal. I feel like it's dream come true, because I always dreamed of being a baseball player for the Orioles when I was younger,” said Nathan Shifflett, one of the grounds crew team. “Now I get the next best thing, to be on that field, taking care of it to make sure it's all good for them.”
The Orioles are a hyped-up team with loads of young talent this season.
Sherry, a is 22-year veteran at the stadium, is only one of two women to ever serve as a major league baseball groundskeeper. She says the field is a legendary part of the team’s history.
“I mean, you see this field, and you're like, ‘Wow, this is amazing looking,” Sherry said. “I can see all the wrong in it. I can see all the little things that you know are imperfect. But I think for any fan that comes to the field, or watches it on TV, they marvel at this ballpark, and they marvel at the field.”
The Baltimore Orioles hold their first home game against the Boston Red Sox on Monday at 3:05 p.m.
