Making tracks

This is a subject I've often thought about and should have blogged about a long time ago. I guess I never thought a post about warning tracks would be timely or the least bit interesting.

The warning track at Consol Energy Park is dangerous. There, I said it. The warning track is very dangerous. Too dangerous by my standards. Probably too dangerous by Phil Butch's standards, too.

Butch is an infielder for the Wild Things who sometimes finds himself playing the outfield in emergency situations. Such was the case Sunday night when Butch moved from second base to left field in the third inning against Florence.

In the sixth inning, Butch tried to to make a diving catch of a ball hit by Florence's Billy Mottram. The ball was hit over Butch's head, and as he raced full speed toward the outfield wall, Butch dove. He got his glove on the ball but couldn't hang on to make the catch. Mottram ended up with a triple.

You can't say Butch didn't hustle and give the play his all. And you can't blame him for not making the catch. Not when his face bounced and skidded across the gravel warning track. Make that rock-filled warning track.

Butch came away from the dive with nasty scrapes on his right cheek and the right side of his head, around his eye. Butch looked like he had gone a couple of rounds with Mike Tyson during the latter's prime.

I'm not a doctor, but against my better judgement I'm going to play one on the Internet. After talking briefly with Butch after the game, I wouldn't be surprised if he had suffered a concussion, too. A few minutes later, he was taken to the hospital to be checked by a doctor.

This was something that could have been prevented. As I stated above, the warning track at CEP is dangerous. Most pro fields have warning tracks made of crushed lava, crushed brick or baked clay (see picture). The track at CEP was originally crushed gravel chips. It might have been mixed with sand. I assume going with the gravel chips was a cost-cutting measure. It sure wasn't a safety measure.

In the first year or two of the ballpark, the track was passable at best. Over the years, most of the gravel chips have either been washed away by rain or pushed below the surface by vehicles or kicked aside. What's left is some gravel chips, some sand, some field drying mixture and gravel rocks that have risen to the surface. Make that a lot of rocks. Too many rocks. Too many big rocks. I usually find myself kicking some of the rocks aside each time I walk on the track. I don't know why. I could kick from now until November and still not remove half of the rocks.

A baseball field - especially one used by high school players - shouldn't have gravel rocks on the warning tracks. I know I've walked on that track at least 100 times thinking to myself, "There's no way I'd dive for a baseball on this thing."

Phil Butch might be thinking the same thing next time a ball is hit his way.