From the Desk of the GM - June 10, 2009

“A Salute to the Tarp Crew”

It is something that is not often mentioned during the initial interview process, but it suddenly becomes part of just about everyone’s job description here at the Goldeyes. When it rains, the tarp needs to go on the infield. It’s a necessity. If it’s raining, and we have a game that night, the tarp goes on the field. Then, when it stops raining, the tarp comes off the field. If it is a heavy rain, and there is a lot of water on the tarp, the water needs to be squeegeed off the tarp first.

It’s a job that no one enjoys (well, maybe Blake the new guy enjoys it, but we’re not quite sure about him yet anyway - picture of Blake with his handsome conductors hat to the right),
but one that needs to get done or else we don’t play the game that night. Everyone here understands that fact. If we don’t put the tarp on, we don’t play. If we don’t get a game in, that means we play a double header at some point, usually the next night. Nobody likes double headers. A double header makes for a long night for the staff, Paul Edmonds and the visiting radio person, the players, the fans, everyone.

In the majors, they have a crew of 20 or so people whose sole job it is to be on the “Tarp Crew”. If you are on the tarp crew at a major league park, you don’t have other duties like game day production, media relations, sales, scoreboard or music operator, etc. In the minors, this job usually falls on the shoulders of the full-time staff that assist the grounds crew in getting the job done. When it starts raining during a game, we usually recruit some game day staff as well in order to get it done quickly.

I usually get to be the bearer of bad news when it’s time to put on our rain suits and hit the field. I’ve even tried to spice up my emails by saying there’s going to be a “party” on the field. It didn’t take long for everyone to realize that anytime I send out an email with the subject line saying “party”, that it can only mean one thing, and that the party will not include cake, nachos, pop and possibly and adult beverage or two. I have been told on more than one occasion that my tarp parties, well, they suck.

I think I can speak for minor league baseball teams everywhere when I say to the tarp crew, we salute you!!

With thanks and recognition to Joe Bryksa from the Winnipeg Free Press, below is a photo of the tarp crew hard at work squeegeeing the tarp in preparation to take it off the field prior to Tuesday's game.

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Until next time…