The man holding the keys to the Cadillac at Dodger Stadium stood in shallow centerfield last week admiring the view.
“Just another day at the office,” head groundskeeper Jordan Lorenz said with a smile.
The stadium was empty. Everyone was in Arizona for spring training. It was just Jordan and a few members of his team winding up their own spring training getting the playing field ready for another opening day.
“We give the athletes the canvas to play on, and get out of the way,” he said. “We don’t need anybody to know our names.”
I’m not so sure about that. If you beat the traffic and get to Dodger Stadium early, (I know, good luck) Jordan and his team are the pre-game show. They take their positions with a hose, a rake and a line chalker to put the finishing touches on their canvas.
You don’t hand Shohei Ohtani, Freddy Freeman and Mookie Betts the keys to a used Prius. You give them a Cadillac.
Credence Clearwater Revival was blasting through the stadium’s speakers when I arrived, drowning out the noise of rivet guns tearing out and replacing all the wooden seats in the right and left field pavilions.
Something is always going on to keep the third oldest ballpark in the major leagues — at age 62 — looking young.
Jordan’s crew was working on the infield and around home plate, where most of the game action is in baseball, he said.
Mowers were standing by to cut the outfield grass at different angles so a ground ball hit out there didn’t snake — move from side to side.
“Ball snaking is one of the things we hate seeing,” Jordan said. “If an outfielder’s running up on a ball to throw somebody out at home plate and the ball’s snaking, it’s tough to pick up cleanly and throw.”
His game time crew varies, but it’s usually around eight men, many of whom started working part time at the stadium in their 20s. Now, they’re in their 40s and still there.
When your office is a ballpark and you get to wear shorts to work…
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