Today was a pretty productive day. We got the shop cleaned up and we did general housekeeping things for the first half of the day because of the rain. We then resloped the pitchers mound. Resloping takes a removing old clay and conditioner and then adding new clay and tamping it until it resloped. We also things set out for another concert that we are having on the field this weekend. I am not working the concert because my parents are coming up this weekend. But I will be helping tear down everything on Sunday. Our next home stand starts on Wednesday, so it will be a pretty busy week. Overall, the first month of my internship has went great and I learned a lot of new things. And to make today even better, we got paid, my first pay day!

We are going to have most of Memorial Day weekend off. The exception being Sunday night. On Sunday night we have to go in and tear down the stage that is on the field. Over the weekend there will be a kids carnival at the stadium that we (thankfully) do not have to work. We had to help set up a stage on the field, which is a pain. To get a stage onto the field we have to lay down pieces of plywood on the grass so the truck with the stage on it does not rut up the grass. Laying down the plywood road takes forever and is a lot of running back and forth picking up pieces of plywood. After getting the stage onto the field we edged the warning track, patched what we had not patched from the high school games, and mowed as much of the field as we could. This week has been a pretty laid back week because it rained during the most the day on Wednesday and Thursday. But we were somehow able to get four high school games played during the week. I ended up working the games on Wednesday. The kids carnival has set us back however. We have a lot to do on Tuesday before the game so hopefully it stops raining. We pulled the tarp at least eight times last week alone, so I got a lot of experience doing that. Pulling tarp is a difficult task and requires a lot of people to do, but we are getting pretty quick at getting it on the field before the field becomes unplayable. We have a four game home stand coming up next week, so next week will be pretty routine for us.

A lot has happened since my last blog post. I have experienced my first tarp pull. Which is very eventful, especially when it is raining, like it has been the last couple of days. I have also worked my first two high school double headers. For those games we drag the field in between games and repaint baselines and we are paid an additional $50 for working them. I have just been getting further acclimated with the internship and the people I work with. S

The last three days have been all about aerating the field. Having aerated at the golf course, I know how much of a mess aerating makes and how much work it takes to complete. We started by aerating outfield which takes a lot longer than the infield. Aerating pulls cores of dirt and grass from the ground and leaves them lay on the surface to be cleaned up. The holes created by aerating helps the ground breathe and it helps rain and nutrients penetrate and also alleviate compaction. After all of the cores were pulled we had to pick them up with a big sweeper that was on the back of a Workman. Sweeping up the cores took most of the day. After all of the cores were swept u we had to top dress the field. Top dressing is basically spreading sand over the grass which promotes grass growth. After we finished top dressing, we spread seed across the whole field to promote grass growth even more.We finished by fertilizing , watering, and mowing the field. Aerating is a long process, but the field looks so much better when it is completed and full recovered from it. We will aerate five times throughout the year but two are deep tines, which means we have a tractor come and put holes in the ground and no cores are pulled up, which is a lot less work for us. Tomorrow I work the high school triple header so it is going to be a long, boring day.

Days where the team is on the road and there isn't a home game are the best. We do general up keep of the field and leave early. We usually drag the skin, water the skin, and do anything else that needs to be done, like level first and second base, patch, or reslope the bullpen mounds. We will be aerating within the next couple of days as well. Most of the day today was spent leveling home plate and first base. The areas around the plate and first base had become low from all of the traffic they receive. So we had to level the areas in order to keep a safe playing surface for the players. To level the areas we have to: add or remove infield mix from the area, nail drag the area, water the area to see any low or high spots, and then roll the area with a big steam roller until it is close to level.

Today was the last day of the current home stand. The team will be on the road for the next ten days. I have begun to pick things up pretty well and we are getting good at getting things done quickly. So far it has been a lot of dragging the field, raking edges, watering, and patching. Patching is the worst thing we do. We fill in the holes dug out by the players at home plate and the mound with new clay and we hit the new clay with a tamp until it is level and the hole is gone. Tomorrow will be my first non-game day. We will leave by four o' clock because there is a high school double header that only one person has to work at. Today I also got all of the signatures of everyone in the organization and I broke my first tamp. We have already broken two ta 

I have arrived safely in Grand Rapids and I am getting acclimated with the area as well as my co-workers and internship. So far I love the internship. It is going to be a great summer. So far I have done a lot of the basic stuff: dragging the baselines, raking the warning track, and painting lines. It has been a lot of watching and learning so far. I finished my orientation today and have the task of getting pretty much everyone in the organizations signatures. It will be a tough task, but I have a week to complete it and they are good about giving time to complete it. It is just the first of my tasks ahead of me in the future.

Today was my first official day. Upon arriving at the park I went to orientation, where I signed all of my papers, learned the team policies, and received my name tag. A part of the internship includes getting all of the signatures of all of the employees and interns at the Whitecaps. It is a way for interns to meet everyone within the organization. After orientation I raked the inside of the warning track, by doing this I was removing the grass clippings from the dirt so it could be drug. After lunch, we set up for batting practice. Setting up for BP is pretty quick and easy. We put a screen at each base, put down mats at home plate and on the mound, and we put a type of tarp in front home plate so the grass does not get beat up from the ground balls. After BP is over, we tear down and head straight into our pregame routine. Pregame includes: raking positions, dragging the infield, painting the baselines, nail dragging the pit, and watering the skin. Once the game starts, we all hang out in the third base dugout and wait drag the field at the end of the third and sixth innings. After the game is over we have to patch the mound, home plate, and the bullpens. Patching is replacing the clay the players dug out with new clay. We also rake and drag the skin once more. On this night we put the tarp on the field because there is a chance of rain overnight. Overall, it was a good first day.