Turf Talk – 12/16
Hello and Happy Holidays to everyone in Angels/66ers Land!
Before I introduce myself, I want to let you know that I’m going to need your help by the end of this post.
My name
is Jason Hilderbrand and I am the Head Groundskeeper for the Inland
Empire 66ers. The upcoming season will be my third with the team. Before heading
out west to California, I interned with both the New York Mets and the
Brooklyn Cyclones (A-short season Mets affiliate).
I have high hopes for
the field at Arrowhead Credit Union Park for 2011. One thing people ALWAYS notice at a ballpark is the design of the field. The field diamond will always look the same, but in order to differentiate ourselves from other stadiums, we’re looking to deviate from simple diamond, checkerboard and straight away patterns. We’ll use different stripe widths and angles.
If you’ve been to a ballpark before, you’ve likely seen how different fields can look. Let me know what types of patterns are your favorites!
The Inland Empire Insider 
I’m old school, Jason. I like the straight strips with the different shades according to the direction of the cut.
How about red grass right behind home plate, or a big A?
You should, also engrave your initials somewhere in foul territory near the 66er dugout.
See ya,
Joe Riggio
Mr. Hilderbrand, I would suggest possibly putting the 66 in centerfield as the red sox do with their infield with the sox, or you could do like what mr riggio was saying put the Angels “A” with the halo behind home plate, i saw this past season you did the “LA” for the Dodgers. i found this picture online for the infield possibly, http://jamesbergdoll.com/images/victory.jpg, it could really bring arrowhead credit union park to whole another level. Or you follow something like this one at lehigh valley, http://lehighvalley.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/10/30/cocacola_park_baseball_diamond.jpg. Good Luck Mr. Hilderbrand, i’ll be looking forward to thie field this season.