A remedial course in baseball groundskeeping
After every baseball game, the players are responsible for cleaning up the field. Especially rookies. I'm a rookie. We sweep out the dugouts. We rake the dirt along the base-paths. We remove the bases and cover the base posts. We cover the pitcher's mound and home plate area with tarps. We are a grounds-keeping machine.
During the post-game clean-up (wow, back-to-back hyphenations) our manager, Terrey, had me get a broom and told me to sweep a circle around home plate. This took all of thirty seconds. "Ok, I'm done," I called out to him.
"Keep going, around and around," were his directions.
So I did. I kept going in a small circle around and around home plate, in the same direction until I felt so dizzy I couldn't walk straight. Finally, Terrey came over to me, shook his head, and said to make the circles bigger each time.
"You mean you want a spiral?" I asked. "Terrey, you have to speak geek to me."
"Make a spiral." He continued, "and when you're finished there, do the same thing out at the pitcher's mound." Out at the pitcher's mound, I brushed with the opposite helicity, because I was feeling quite dizzy from all this going around and around.
Now, brushing the home plate area and the pitcher's mound has become one of my regular jobs. Every time, Terrey reminds me to make a spiral, and every time, I remember to brush counter-clockwise for one area and clockwise for the other.
During the post-game clean-up (wow, back-to-back hyphenations) our manager, Terrey, had me get a broom and told me to sweep a circle around home plate. This took all of thirty seconds. "Ok, I'm done," I called out to him.
"Keep going, around and around," were his directions.
So I did. I kept going in a small circle around and around home plate, in the same direction until I felt so dizzy I couldn't walk straight. Finally, Terrey came over to me, shook his head, and said to make the circles bigger each time.
"You mean you want a spiral?" I asked. "Terrey, you have to speak geek to me."
"Make a spiral." He continued, "and when you're finished there, do the same thing out at the pitcher's mound." Out at the pitcher's mound, I brushed with the opposite helicity, because I was feeling quite dizzy from all this going around and around.
Now, brushing the home plate area and the pitcher's mound has become one of my regular jobs. Every time, Terrey reminds me to make a spiral, and every time, I remember to brush counter-clockwise for one area and clockwise for the other.
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-sarah cordivano