From: jjd@TEAK.CRAY.COM (Jeff Drummond)
Newsgroups: rec.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: ARTIFICIAL TURF: EMBARASSMENT TO THE GAME
Date: 21 Jul 92 15:20:27 GMT

Summary: There's no turf like home turf
Organization: Cray Research, Inc.
Keywords: Turf, Surf 'n' Turf, Embarrassment has two r's

In article <92202.183405IO20456@MAINE.MAINE.EDU> IO20456@MAINE.MAINE.EDU (Ryan Robbins) writes:
>After watching and listening to today's Red Sox/Twins game played
>at the Metrodome, I am more than convinced that something must be
>done about artificial turf. The Sox blew a 5-run lead, losing the
>game by a score of 7-5 to the Twins, but the Twins had more than
>good luck on their side. A guy hits a Baltimore chop that bounces
>twenty feet into the air and travels only sixty feet or so? All
>Boggs could do was run in and wait for the damn thing to come
>down, and even then everyone was safe.

One of those balls was hit directly off the plate.  It never touched
the turf.  It may be that the plate is too `springy', but that has
nothing to do with the turf.  I remember when the grass in Tiger
stadium was so long that bunts seemed to stick to the infield.
There oughta be a law!  :-)

>An inning or two after that pure, 100% turf hit, a ball is sent
>soaring to the base of the left field wall. All Bob Zupcic can
>do in despair is to watch the ball sail back over his head on the
>carom and bound half-way back to the infield.

The ball first hit the base of the wall.  It may be that the wall is
too `springy', but again, that has nothing to do with the turf.  I
thought the Zupcic misplayed that ball.  I mean, it's not like the
ball never caroms off the wall in Fenway; or that visiting teams
sometimes have a hard time adjusting to that fact.   :-)

>First of all, I, as everyone else does, know that teams that use
>domes need artificial turf, unless they would like to play on a
>dirt field. I'm not the least bit happy about domes. I have never
>liked them and I never will. I do realize, though that for some
>teams a dome is the only way baseball can be reasonably played,
>considering such weather conditions such as extreme heat, chronic
>rain, maybe even cold weather. But this thing with artificial turf
>has to be examined.
>
>Why do the Cardinals, the Royals, the Reds, the Pirates, and the
>Phillies (all non-dome teams) elect to have artificial turf? If a
>team is not playing in a dome, then it has no business playing on
>anything but natural grass.

They seem to disagree.

>Since the advent of artificial turf, baseball has really gone down
>the hill. Turf hits are ridiculous! Baseball should ban artificial
>turf from being used in outdoor stadiums. It may be a bit of a dras-
>tic move, no doubt, but necessary to making the game more enjoyable
>to the fans and the players. I've never played on artificial turf,
>but I can just imagine what it feels like to make a desparation
>dive at a sinking liner after having come in from a long run. Of
>course, many artificial surfaces are also home to football teams -
>yet another reason to call for its banishment (for injury reasons).

Well, I've never played on artificial turf either.  But I have played
on grass, and man, nothing beats the thrill of taking a bad hop in
the chops.  :-)

Players usually appreciate the truer bounces that a ball makes on turf
and the better traction.  On the down side, turf is harder on the body.

>What to do about those teams that are housed in domes? Well, if
>aluminum bats can be made in such a manner as to shrink the size
>of the "sweet" spot and deaden the reaction of ball and bat, then
>there must be a way to soften artificial turf to the point where
>balls don't suddenly decide to launch themselves through the roof.

The SporTurf currently in use in the MetroMuffin (they replaced the
original turf a couple of years ago) is much less springy than the
first turf they had.  The product seems to be improving.

>Why not install a softer turf in outdoor stadiums as well? For the
>same reason why artificial turf should be done away with: injuries.
>I doubt very much that a process of deadening the effects of arti-
>ficial turf would also reduce injuries and the effects of injuries
>to the level experienced on natural turf.
>
>I know that back in baseball's infancy there was no such thing as
>artificial turf, but let's face it: Baseball was not meant to be
>played on concrete covered with rubber and then a rug.
>Is there anyone who actually *likes* artificial turf?

Well, I don't know if I actually *like* artificial turf, but I think
it gets a bad rap.  Whenever a player hits a high chopper off the
plate (or the dirt in front of the plate), someone is usually ready
to blame the turf.  One mitigating factor about home park effects
(like giant walls in left field, long grass or artificial turf) is
that both teams play on the same field.  It's not like the Red Sox
can claim they've never played on turf before; or even that they've
never played in the MetroMuffin before.  The MetroMuffin and it's
turf are old news.  I wonder if we'd be having this discussion if
Boston had won 3 out of 4 in Minneapolis instead of losing 3 out of
4?

As to how Baseball was meant to be played, I have it on pretty good
authority that Abner Doubleday originally intended that Baseball
have 4 bases in addition to home plate, and that the infield was to
be laid out in a pentagon.  However, various religious groups
objected to the satanic symbolism and Doubleday was forced to go
with only 3 bases.

>+===============================================================+
>||   RYAN ROBBINS                    INTERNET:                 ||
>||   UNIVERSITY OF MAINE             IO20456@MAINE.MAINE.EDU   ||
>+===============================================================+

-Jeff  jjd@cray.com
--
"I have it on pretty good authority that Cray Research and the
University of Minnesota have been working with the Twins for several
seasons on means of changing various basic laws of physics within
the Dome.  The real reason the Dome was built was they can't put
these devices in the open air.  They can change the forces of gravity,
drag, lift, time and spatial relationships." -O. J. Doyle, Tiger fan
Quoted in the Minneapolis Star Tribune during the 1987 ALCS playoffs