New drainage system for Four Winds Field
Posted: Apr 9, 2015 11:00 AM EST | Updated: Apr 9, 2015 1:07 PM EST
The South Bend Cubs organization has invested a great deal of time, energy and money in upgrading the field at Four Winds Field to handle heavy rainfall.
Joe Hart told ABC 57 News, "when we put this field in for the drain what they did was literally underneath the sod is 7 1/2 inches of sand so it'll drain extremely well. We wanted to go with the best of the best so this is the same drainage system that they have at U.S. Cellular, what they have at Wrigley Field, so we're easily able to handle a massive amount of rain and within a 15 to 20 minute period we will be able to play."
The new grass field is engineered to make the field play-able when Mother Nature interrupts game time.
"The main issue why they use sand is because with the sand it's literally as if it would rain at the beach. You see how quickly the water is absorbed through the sand. That's the very same process here. My understanding is we could take a microburst which is something like 20,000 gallons of water and within 20 minutes the field is drained. Obviously, it's up to us to be smart enough to put the tarp on the field to cover the dirt because for that you truly need the tarp but the actual grass itself will drain extremely quickly."
And for fans, this new facility offers lots of options while you wait for the rain to clear up.
"Obviously, they can go up on the concourse, they can go out to the team store, we got the new performance center that's going to be open so if nothing else they can go up and hit balls. They can go up to the mezzanine level. So there's different places now where they can go in the event of extreme weather. So it's going to be one of those things that we just have to monitor throughout the course of the day and we just need Greg Bobos and crew to come through and help us out and give us a little window."
Joe Hart told ABC 57 News, "when we put this field in for the drain what they did was literally underneath the sod is 7 1/2 inches of sand so it'll drain extremely well. We wanted to go with the best of the best so this is the same drainage system that they have at U.S. Cellular, what they have at Wrigley Field, so we're easily able to handle a massive amount of rain and within a 15 to 20 minute period we will be able to play."
The new grass field is engineered to make the field play-able when Mother Nature interrupts game time.
"The main issue why they use sand is because with the sand it's literally as if it would rain at the beach. You see how quickly the water is absorbed through the sand. That's the very same process here. My understanding is we could take a microburst which is something like 20,000 gallons of water and within 20 minutes the field is drained. Obviously, it's up to us to be smart enough to put the tarp on the field to cover the dirt because for that you truly need the tarp but the actual grass itself will drain extremely quickly."
And for fans, this new facility offers lots of options while you wait for the rain to clear up.
"Obviously, they can go up on the concourse, they can go out to the team store, we got the new performance center that's going to be open so if nothing else they can go up and hit balls. They can go up to the mezzanine level. So there's different places now where they can go in the event of extreme weather. So it's going to be one of those things that we just have to monitor throughout the course of the day and we just need Greg Bobos and crew to come through and help us out and give us a little window."
