Andrew Small lines up the foul line at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, Md.
The Dog Days of Summer
It’s mid-afternoon on a summer day in Aberdeen, Maryland, and the temperature has climbed to the mid-90s. Sweat drips off your face as you stand in the parking lot of Ripken Stadium. From the looks of it, not much going on, but as you look closer you see Andrew Small packing a mound and getting the baseball field ready for America’s favorite pastime.
Raised in Forest Hill, Maryland, Small, a second-year student at the Institute of Applied Agriculture (IAA) majoring in Sports Turf Management, completed his 320-hour internship at Ripken Stadium where he helped maintain the playing surface for the Ironbirds, a minor league baseball team. He watered and dragged the field, lined the warning track, and packed both the bullpen and the main mounds. Packing mounds was a critical part his learning experience. “When you’re packing [the mounds], it’s very important to layer,” says Small, who adds that if the mounds were not up to his boss’s standards, he would have to start all over again.
Small was also tasked with watching for rainstorms that could hit Ripken Stadium. Rainstorms are a challenge for the grounds crew. According to Small, the crew once had to tarp and untarp the field six times in a single day. But, he didn’t mind because this is his chosen career and the skills he learned this summer will be with him for a lifetime.
Small sees himself working at a university or Department of Parks and Recreation, where he can manage fields for all sports and all seasons. Overall, Small says he had a great summer; he took away useful skills and a “very intense farmer’s tan.”
