SPORTS TURF PEOPLE Names in the News by Ron Hall Assistant Editor North Carolina State University Pro- Fessor and Researcher Dr
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SPORTS TURF PEOPLE Names in the news by Ron Hall assistant editor North Carolina State University pro- fessor and researcher Dr. William Grounds tricks spice baseball Gilbert and retired golf course super- Ross Taylor There's a place where a good, sneaky trick is still intendent received Hon- orary Lifetime Membership awards at appreciated—the baseball diamond. the recent North Carolina Turfgrass Forget about the players and the old "hidden ball" trick. Conference. Others recognized at the Forget about the managers and their conference included Dr. Joseph Di- sign-stealing stratagem. An Paola. assistant professor of turfgrass experienced groundskeeper might be research at NCSU and Charles Jor- able to win more ball games for the dan, USS Agri Chemicals, both re- home team than both of them put ceiving Outstanding Service awards, Dr. Glenn Burton together. and ,Tifton, GA, win- ner of the Presidential Award. Groundskeeper Jim Anglea hinted The 1985 officers of the North Car- as much this winter when he moved olina Turfgrass Council are: Gary from the Cleveland Indians to Texas. Stafford, golf course superintendent, "I put 10 points on Julio Franco's Cardinal CC, president; Les Kuyken- (Cleveland shortstop) batting average," dall, Porter Brothers, Inc., vice presi- says Anglea just after moving south. dent; Bob Tumey, Catawba Valley "Bobby Bonds (Cleveland batting coach) Technical College, secretary; and H. told me to make the ground around Eugene Maples, Pine Needles Coun- home plate, about 15 feet out, hard, real try Club, treasurer. hard. He said, 'Make it so hard the ball The New England nursery indus- will bounce out of the Stadium.' Franco often chops the ball at try lost a leader with the recent death of Cliff Corliss, Sr., a past president of the plate and got a lot of hits that way." the Massachusetts Nurserymen's As- Roger Bossard— he babies Comiskey Park in Chicago—is sociation. Corliss held plant patents one of baseball's masters of creative groundskeeping. for perenniels, annuals, and shrubs, "The groundskeeper is the ball player's man, the 10th and helped popularize the idea of liv- man," Roger says. "A lot of new guys haven't been taught ing Christmas trees. that." Noted golfer and golf course archi- Bossard is convinced an experienced groundskeeper, tailoring a park to the personality of the home team (or exposing the weaknesses of competitors), can put extra wins on the board each season. The fun of it all, he says "is being able to get away with it without the other team finding out." When the Chisox were loaded with sinker ball pitchers, Bossard turned the area in front of home plate into a "swamp." Forget about high hoppers over the mound. His brand of "moisture control" has also slowed visiting jackrabbits on their journeys from first to second bases. "You take this sod lifter and put it down about three Bill Diddel inches apart and lift the soil, and you soak it real good tect Bill Diddel, died Feb. 25 in Car- underneath," Bossard says almost gleefully. "It looks dry, mel, IN, at the age of 100. He designed but. .." and remodeled more than 300 Softening the power alleys in right and left centerfields courses. Diddel became involved gives plodding outfielders a step or two on line drives, while with golf before the turn of the cen- the skillfull drawing of the batter's box closer to the mound tury and won his first tournament in can give home hitters a chance to jump on a junkball pitcher 1904 before going on to win the Indi- before his stuff dances. Or, if the box is slyly moved back, ana state title five times. Among some that extra peek at a 90 mph fastball. of his better known courses are Bard- Subtle adjustments to the height of the pitcher's mound moor CC, Largo, FL; Woodlands, Car- (both in the bullpen and on the field) has bedeviled more mel, IN; Speedway 500, IN; and Sunset Ridge, Northbrook, IL. than a few skiddish pitchers. Mobay announces the appoint- "There are things done in the field that if you had false ment of Dieter Rappsilber as director teeth, you'd drop 'em," says Bossard. "There isn't a series of marketing for its Agricultural that goes by that something isn't done to a field to help a Chemicals Division, which includes team." the Specialty Products Division. Rap- A groundskeeper's bag of tricks is only as full as his psilber succeeds Heinz Wehner, who knowledge of turf and his team, his imagination. .and his was recently named vice president cunning. and general manager of the Ag Divi- sion. Rappsilber has been an interna- tional marketing specialist with Bayer AG, owners of Mobay, since 1958. .