What does a groundskeeper know about baseball? Quite a bit and that’s what I found out when I chatted with Matt Balough before the game. We got to the ballpark early to have breakfast on the field and had the opportunity to see the work the grounds crew does to get the field ready for a game. We saw a lone gentleman walking in the outfield checking the grass and pulling small weeds from the turf. As he finished up, he walked by our table and we started to chat with him about his job. He’s worked for 23 years for the Padres at Qualcomm and Petco Park. I asked him who his favorite player was and why and he said, “Tony Gwynn.” He talked about how Tony has kept in touch with him over the years. We chatted about baseball and how different it is now as compared to when we were young. It was a wonderful conversation.
Matt is a man who lives daily between the blades of grass. I will never look at Petco Park the same way again. Thank you Matt.
No comments:
Post a Comment