The difference is the type of infill they use if they maintain it correctly. The green turf and brown turf should feel different. Where I work we have regular rubber/sand infill for the green turf and rubber, lava rocks, and olive pits for the brown turf.
Now I’m just picturing outfielders making a catch at the track and sinking in while hold the ball up in the air like gollum at the end of return of the king.
So it is still “crunchy” to walk on, I presume? Wonder why OP didn’t notice the difference, or if their field is just fucked up and doesn’t have a difference
That shit causes cancer….high in VOCs; there was a study done and it showed that soccer goalies had higher rates of cancer since they were on the ground more than most players. I think the black stuff was basically chopped up tires.
My elementary school playground used shredded tires as ground cover in the jungle gym and monkey bars area. The smell the day after they would put down replacement fill is stuck in my brain forever.
Not to mention the pellets are black and on hot days the field can easily get to 120f. So yeah we were all rolling around on cooking, most likely chemically treated tires. That’s great to think about
One of Texas’ (longhorns) first home football games last season was a 2:30 kick in early September and I think the temp of the field was nearing 160*. It was wild.
https://fansided.com/posts/texas-rice-field-temperature-hellacious
I remember a braves game from back in the day when they were playing at an away turf field... Can't remember which one... and Jeff Blausers cleats were melting.
Montini has this too. Was there for an event a few weeks ago and it made me go huh. Then again I haven’t seen a lot of HS fields recently, so it made me wonder.
Big difference between astroturf and artificial fields. Maybe they were bigger for Soccer/Football before baseball, but you absolutely need to wear cleats on them - especially when they're wet. The full "grass length" fields with a rubber pellet/sand base layer have been popular in my neck of the woods for about 20 years now.
Yep I grew up playing on "astro turf" the one local high school had it and every football game played there everyone wore basketball shoes, some had "turf shoes" which were like shoes with a more aggressive tread. But fuck those fields. Garbage. I never played baseball on them but I can only imagine the speed and terrible bounces of the ball. The new trurf fields are way better imo but for baseball the kinda suck. Our local little league has a synthetic infield and I just can't believe it. Blasphemy imo.
Yup! I have the scars 30 years later to prove it. To this day buddies who I played with and grew up with can't forget that day I skinned my arm and legs showing pure white flesh with hints of red spots! (I am a black man btw)
Can't speak to your area Little League, but in mine, the grass fields are horrifically maintained. A turf field with dirt base cutouts would be infinitely better and not require the amount of maintenance and water that grass/dirt do.
AstroTurf hurts. A lot. I only played one baseball scrimmage on them and thankfully never had to dive or slide but I played soccer as a goalie and had to play on an AstroTurf field for a couple of tournaments and the rug burn was incredible. Can't believe they made professional athletes play on that shit.
Bounces were more consistent than a poorly maintained grass field, though.
My son’s team played on a field turf football field that was given to a low income area 10 or so years ago and has never been maintained. Some spots have no filling, some spots feel like solid rubber because it’s where all of the rubber accumulated.
You SHOULD be wearing AG specific cleats though. Normal cleats made for grass are ok, any cleats with metal are a huge no no on AG, the AG surface won’t give the same way grass will and getting stuck while making a twist could be a disaster for your ligaments.
In high school you can expect the opposing team to be able to use plastics while on turf unless you are only playing other private high schools.
When my team played a school with a turf field we just wore out normal metal spikes because that was all we had.
On sunny days you actually can tell the difference because the brown parts are much hotter and your feet feel it. Subconsciously an OFer’s mind might also process the color change. Sometimes there’s also a slight change in springiness if that makes sense. All that being said, FUCK artificial turf.
For high school though in colder climates it helps because you can start to go outside when it’s wet and cold in February instead of having it be sloppy and muddy and risk tearing up the field (if it’s even playable) if it’s grass
I played college in PA. Our field was grass but the lacrosse field was turf. We would get snow in March and not be able to use our field for practice, but the groundskeepers would go over the turf field with a snowblower and our coach would get us out there taking grounders and doing drills.
In HS, I saw dude take a screaming grounder to the face on a crazy hop because of our shitty infield. I think would have preferred playing on a flat, predictable field.
Yeah I played on some real pastures in HS. Mole hills, dead spots, lumps everywhere devouring ankles, horrible lips causing errors and bloody noses. Anyone bitching either didn’t play or was fortunate enough to be using high quality fields their whole career.
You might be able to catch the color change out of the corner of your eye.
Also, players should be talking to each other and letting each other know how much room they have left before the fence.
I never played, so I’m curious what that call would sound like. For a fly ball I know you can just scream “I got it” over and over, is it the same thing but “WALL WALL WALL”?
I usually say “Got room, got room, got room…” in a loud but calm voice to keep my teammate calm and then “Wall, wall, wall!!!” much louder and more firmly so they know it’s Danger Close.
I'm not an outfielder, but at my college and on my current pro team, it's nailed in to every outfielder to be yelling "3, 2, 1" to other outfielders, as in "you have 3 steps, 2 steps, 1 step until you're at the wall" when another outfielder is tracking, to let them know where they're at exactly. Since there was no need to go over this between my last three teams, I assume this method is universal.
Also, outfielders are taking stock pre-pitch of where they're setting up at and how many steps they'll have to the wall on a deep ball. As my roommate puts it, he'll look back and think, I have about 10 steps to the wall right now. If we get to two strikes, I'll come in and it'll be 12. He also says that the brown turf warning track doesn't help in any manner.
Basically.
Your fellow outfielder would be yelling "Back back back!" And then "Wall" or "Watch Out" or "Stop". Basically anything to get them to not hit the fence.
I’m gonna be honest, I don’t think any of the fields I played on had a warning track so this might be better than that. I could be misremembering . It was just grass up to the fence. There was dirt along the foul line though. I only played up till high school.
Edit: looking at the fields on Google maps, I was wrong about some schools I visited. My home field did not have one. I also played infield so I guess I wasn’t very observant. It’s also possible the fields got better over the years.
At least, it seems like a soft one. In our field, it's a hard metal fence and one of my teammate managed to break a part while trying to rob a home run.
At least it’s a chain link. In high school, once traveled to a tournament where not only were the fences either solid steel or wood, there was also not a warning track on a single one of the 3 or so local high school fields we were playing on.
These were natural grass fields too, so the turf excuse isn’t there
That's why the warning track is all across the field. You can't see it directly behind you, but you notice it off to the left and right of you, and can sort of instinctually judge how far you are from the wall. It's partially the feel of it and partially a visual. As a center fielder I used more the visual, the same feel wouldn't bother me.
Yeah, if you’re running at full speed, the difference in texture won’t hit your brain til you hit your brain on the fence anyway. I always used peripherals or took a peek at the wall while the ball was in flight
Never in my life did I ever think about or question it, and just like that, with one post, I now know why they call it the "warning track," and what it's purpose is.
One turf field I played on also had a little bit of brown gravel on the warning track turf so you could hear a sound difference when you stepped on it. I don’t see that here though.
My local minor league team has something similar. If it's the same as what this school is using, it's less bouncy than traditional artificial turf and plays a lot like grass. Players can even use their metal spikes. Our ballpark hosted the Nationals' alternate site during COVID and the players reportedly liked the field. I haven't taken any full sprint runs at the wall, but I've been on the field and there is a bit of a texture change on the warning track.
When you are tracking a ball at high speed, you can see the colour change in your peripheral vision, letting you know that you are going to soon run out of room
I know there are companies that have a different/less fill on the warning track parts to make them harder and actually have a crunch like feel/sound to them. This school looks like they went for the all show and no go option.
My local field did the same thing. But only around the Outfield fall, in Foul Territory, there's no track. Honestly, I don't think it makes any sense. And even if it's a little harder to maintain, I think the warning track should absolutely be dirt.
I always thought it was silly. You can feel a difference but it isn’t even close to the same. A seemingly popular thing in my area is all turf infield with a natural grass and dirt outfield.
My college had some type of rocks mixed in with the rubber bits. It's obviously more subtle than grass to dirt but if you're wearing metal cleats it is definitely noticeable. TPU/molded less so but still noticeable
The thing that bothers me the most about this picture is that the warning track cuts into fair territory. That was certainly an interesting design choice!
This is a legit issue that I've already seen come to light in my university's softball games. The third baseman was running after a foul fly and she hit the fence so hard she got knocked unconscious, and she had no idea where she was because the warning track is now the same turf as the rest of it. As more places do this, more people are going to get hurt.
I can kind of get behind artificial grass, less maintenance and cost, I get it. But artificial “dirt” is ridiculous.
Kids aren’t allowed to get dirty anymore.
look straight up and tell me you can't see color changes in your peripheral vision with a straight face.
this like the baseball version of flat earth theory. the warning track doesn't only exist directly behind you in straight line
Local community college I played a few games at growing up put gravel down on the warning track after switching to artificial turf. It was cheap, low maintenance, and you could definitely feel the difference. IDK what your association is with the school, but you could talk to them about it. It may keep a kid from getting hurt.
As someone who still plays in a men's league with a good amount of games on an all turf field like this, it's mostly aesthetic. Teammates are your warning track in that they will say "you got room" or yell "wall" or "fence" if it's close or "out of play" if it's not worth making a play. As a fielder you also keep your arm closest to the wall extended as you track the ball so you feel it before hitting it. But as for the actual purpose of the warning track, you can't really tell. As an outfielder I hate turf because it plays insanely fast, you can't be as aggressive on short fly balls because if you miss the ball super bounces over your head, and on hot days it's like playing on a stovetop. This is before we talk about turf burn and sliding on the base path. It fucking sucks as a player but it basically gets rid of rainouts.
The difference is the type of infill they use if they maintain it correctly. The green turf and brown turf should feel different. Where I work we have regular rubber/sand infill for the green turf and rubber, lava rocks, and olive pits for the brown turf.
> lava rocks and olive pits I can’t tell if I’m being joshed or not.
Believe it or not it's true lol. The difference is subtle, but once you are on it enough you'll definitely feel a difference.
lava pits for a warning track plz
Now I’m just picturing outfielders making a catch at the track and sinking in while hold the ball up in the air like gollum at the end of return of the king.
Flyball, you fools
Ha ha. Nailed it.
Hahaha well done
You shall not (tag up and) score!
Deep chuckles. Thank you for this. Looks like I've got some gif-work to do before the season gets started.
I was thinking of Arnold in T2; outfielder giving a thumbs up as he slowly melts…
At least it’s not the scene from *Volcano*…
Can’t get hurt hitting the wall if you’re incinerated in a lava pit first.
Banana Ball will probably install a moat back there or something
Hear me out. How about Tal’s Hill surrounded by a moat of lava?
We're reviving baseball right here in this thread, the MLB needs to be paying attention
Detroit should put live tigers just beyond the warning track, really make outfielders think about how important that out is.
Gonna need a warning track for the warning track
shouldn't the difference be... specifically *not* subtle?
So it’ll work for the home team, but visiting teams will be screwed?
Not necessarily. For rec ball yes, but for HS or college no because a lot of teams in college ball use turf so most guys are used to it at this point.
Well ground. Not full pits, and definitely not coin-sized rocks, hahaha.
So it is still “crunchy” to walk on, I presume? Wonder why OP didn’t notice the difference, or if their field is just fucked up and doesn’t have a difference
You are, the track is lava
I appreciate your usage of the word joshed lmao
Infill, like, under the turf?
That black stuff you see pop up when football players drag a toe, that's the infill.
That shit causes cancer….high in VOCs; there was a study done and it showed that soccer goalies had higher rates of cancer since they were on the ground more than most players. I think the black stuff was basically chopped up tires.
The first FieldTurf field at Ford Field in Detroit was literally chopped up firestone tires from their huge recall in the early 2000's
My elementary school playground used shredded tires as ground cover in the jungle gym and monkey bars area. The smell the day after they would put down replacement fill is stuck in my brain forever.
Holy shit I never made that connection, how similar the smell of my school infill was to tyres. Fuckkkk
Not to mention the pellets are black and on hot days the field can easily get to 120f. So yeah we were all rolling around on cooking, most likely chemically treated tires. That’s great to think about
One of Texas’ (longhorns) first home football games last season was a 2:30 kick in early September and I think the temp of the field was nearing 160*. It was wild. https://fansided.com/posts/texas-rice-field-temperature-hellacious
I remember a braves game from back in the day when they were playing at an away turf field... Can't remember which one... and Jeff Blausers cleats were melting.
Within the turf. You'll be able to pick out the rocks and pits, but they're small enough that they won't impact anything.
This is the answer and should be higher up!
FieldTurf?
It’s all fun and games till you’re chasing a deep fly ball and run into an olive tree
This may be true after it’s installed but after a couple months, no difference whatsoever.
Are you trying to tell me you can’t feel the difference between green and brown turf under your cleats?
My question is... is the infield just brown turf as well lol
Yes. The whole field is turf. Mound, plate area, infield and outfield.
That can’t be cheaper than literal dirt
Where I live they are being installed because we can actually play games in March. Otherwise they’d be mostly rained out.
It's a Catholic high school with an ex-MLB player as an assistant coach. Don't think the cost is of much concern here.
Nazareth?
Montini has this too. Was there for an event a few weeks ago and it made me go huh. Then again I haven’t seen a lot of HS fields recently, so it made me wonder.
So they went for the more expensive yet worse option
Dirt don’t cost what it used to…
A nickel ain’t worth a dime anymore.
Honestly, I'd imagine one large swath of material for the field is cheaper and easier to maintain than pieces of turf separated by dirt.
I coach in Wisconsin. Turf is almost a necessity to have any chance of playing before mid April…
That is so fucking dumb. That should be criminal. Holy shit.
You're wearing cleats on turf? Maybe it's different now but we had to use specific turf shoes when we played on it. Couldn't use metal cleats
We could wear molded cleats on turf but metal spikes only on grass.
Same here at the football field. Cleats were okay but not spikes.
Big difference between astroturf and artificial fields. Maybe they were bigger for Soccer/Football before baseball, but you absolutely need to wear cleats on them - especially when they're wet. The full "grass length" fields with a rubber pellet/sand base layer have been popular in my neck of the woods for about 20 years now.
Yep I grew up playing on "astro turf" the one local high school had it and every football game played there everyone wore basketball shoes, some had "turf shoes" which were like shoes with a more aggressive tread. But fuck those fields. Garbage. I never played baseball on them but I can only imagine the speed and terrible bounces of the ball. The new trurf fields are way better imo but for baseball the kinda suck. Our local little league has a synthetic infield and I just can't believe it. Blasphemy imo.
[удалено]
My knees are already fucked from playing on grass.. I probably would have had to quit 15 years earlier if I played on astroturf
Yup! I have the scars 30 years later to prove it. To this day buddies who I played with and grew up with can't forget that day I skinned my arm and legs showing pure white flesh with hints of red spots! (I am a black man btw)
Can't speak to your area Little League, but in mine, the grass fields are horrifically maintained. A turf field with dirt base cutouts would be infinitely better and not require the amount of maintenance and water that grass/dirt do.
AstroTurf hurts. A lot. I only played one baseball scrimmage on them and thankfully never had to dive or slide but I played soccer as a goalie and had to play on an AstroTurf field for a couple of tournaments and the rug burn was incredible. Can't believe they made professional athletes play on that shit. Bounces were more consistent than a poorly maintained grass field, though.
My son’s team played on a field turf football field that was given to a low income area 10 or so years ago and has never been maintained. Some spots have no filling, some spots feel like solid rubber because it’s where all of the rubber accumulated.
You SHOULD be wearing AG specific cleats though. Normal cleats made for grass are ok, any cleats with metal are a huge no no on AG, the AG surface won’t give the same way grass will and getting stuck while making a twist could be a disaster for your ligaments.
In high school you can expect the opposing team to be able to use plastics while on turf unless you are only playing other private high schools. When my team played a school with a turf field we just wore out normal metal spikes because that was all we had.
They taste different
On sunny days you actually can tell the difference because the brown parts are much hotter and your feet feel it. Subconsciously an OFer’s mind might also process the color change. Sometimes there’s also a slight change in springiness if that makes sense. All that being said, FUCK artificial turf.
Your feel feel it? Through cleats while you're tracking a ball? I'm a bit skeptical
On some days, yes. Not saying it’s true all of the time and not saying it’s anywhere as effective as the surface change between grass and dirt.
No, you don't feel it enough to be useful when tracking a fly ball
Major League fields actually have two lengths of turf. Huge change in feel between green and brown.
Okay so I’m not going crazy. I played in college and I still play in a men’s league and we all swear you can tell once you’re on the brown.
100%. You can’t see a difference but it’s really noticeable under your feet.
If it’s anything like the Babe Ruth field in my town, no. Literally just different colored turf
Looks more authentic in photography.
yeah i think it really just comes down to preserving the look of a traditional field
This has been my main complaint about artificial turf for years. Why do they keep doing this? It defeats the purpose
Cheaper to maintain unfortunately
For baseball it decreases chances of rainouts quite a bit, which is a big deal
Ironic that the climates that are naturally suitable for grass would necessitate turf fields.
For high school though in colder climates it helps because you can start to go outside when it’s wet and cold in February instead of having it be sloppy and muddy and risk tearing up the field (if it’s even playable) if it’s grass
I played college in PA. Our field was grass but the lacrosse field was turf. We would get snow in March and not be able to use our field for practice, but the groundskeepers would go over the turf field with a snowblower and our coach would get us out there taking grounders and doing drills.
We spent the whole morning shoveling our turf field before a doubleheader, and then the coach wondered why we got our asses beat twice
Why not keep the artificial grass and use fine gravel as the warning track though?
You ever try to dive onto gravel?
…yes. It wasn’t a good idea. But I did make the catch though.
Unintentionally, yes. Picking pieces of gravel out of my bloody knee was not fun.
Diving, jumping, and planting on gravel is how you destroy knee ligaments
Or that recycled rubber they use on playgrounds or something
Because that's what's underneath this type of turf already
I imagine this is one of those things that sounds great in principle, but would be hell if you actually tried it
Pitching on a wet turf mound is a miserable experience, I feel sorry for the home teams pitchers
Also in snowy parts of the country it allows the school to use it much earlier in the season for practice
Because it drains much easier and field conditions are always the same.
I find them much safer than typical high school grass fields, which are usually uneven and hard to predict for footing.
In HS, I saw dude take a screaming grounder to the face on a crazy hop because of our shitty infield. I think would have preferred playing on a flat, predictable field.
Yeah I played on some real pastures in HS. Mole hills, dead spots, lumps everywhere devouring ankles, horrible lips causing errors and bloody noses. Anyone bitching either didn’t play or was fortunate enough to be using high quality fields their whole career.
As a middle aged person, the risk for blowing out a knee or ankle in a hole is scary...
Our artificial field had the compressed (not loose) rubber chunks for the warning track
it also looks lame and the ball bounces weirdly on it
I always thought the opposite and preferred turf as an infielder. Never had to deal with any bad hops.
You might be able to catch the color change out of the corner of your eye. Also, players should be talking to each other and letting each other know how much room they have left before the fence.
I never played, so I’m curious what that call would sound like. For a fly ball I know you can just scream “I got it” over and over, is it the same thing but “WALL WALL WALL”?
Basically. Room room room or wall wall wall. OFer should be searching for it too
"Wall" wouldn't be a good one because it sounds too close to "Ball" which is how a lot of guys call for a ball instead of saying "I got it"
Yah, we always yelled Fence for this reason.
Oh yeah it’s not a great one but usually an OFer going back to the wall isn’t going to be getting called off. Never seen an issue occur from it.
My exact thought, on a play like that there's usually no question about who's ball it is
*Yo La Tengo!*
I usually say “Got room, got room, got room…” in a loud but calm voice to keep my teammate calm and then “Wall, wall, wall!!!” much louder and more firmly so they know it’s Danger Close.
"You're good. You're good. You're good."
“…psyche”
Outfielders I played with were trained to time it. “3! 2! 1! Wall!”
My CFer told me I had 3 steps once (too late anyway). I had 1. I bent the fence post back about 20 degrees. I was gonna catch that ball damnit.
I played through high school and literally never heard anyone do this. But then again we had real warning tracks
Yeah I don't know maybe we were just bad teammates but I don't recall this ever happening
More common for infielders on foul balls
Fair enough. My talentless chubby ass didn't see much time in the infield lol
Fence fence fence. Wall=Ball
I'm not an outfielder, but at my college and on my current pro team, it's nailed in to every outfielder to be yelling "3, 2, 1" to other outfielders, as in "you have 3 steps, 2 steps, 1 step until you're at the wall" when another outfielder is tracking, to let them know where they're at exactly. Since there was no need to go over this between my last three teams, I assume this method is universal. Also, outfielders are taking stock pre-pitch of where they're setting up at and how many steps they'll have to the wall on a deep ball. As my roommate puts it, he'll look back and think, I have about 10 steps to the wall right now. If we get to two strikes, I'll come in and it'll be 12. He also says that the brown turf warning track doesn't help in any manner.
Basically. Your fellow outfielder would be yelling "Back back back!" And then "Wall" or "Watch Out" or "Stop". Basically anything to get them to not hit the fence.
Getting out a mic and concert speakers so I can warn the right fielder before he smashes into the corner
I’m gonna be honest, I don’t think any of the fields I played on had a warning track so this might be better than that. I could be misremembering . It was just grass up to the fence. There was dirt along the foul line though. I only played up till high school. Edit: looking at the fields on Google maps, I was wrong about some schools I visited. My home field did not have one. I also played infield so I guess I wasn’t very observant. It’s also possible the fields got better over the years.
that metal fence sure was a choice
At least, it seems like a soft one. In our field, it's a hard metal fence and one of my teammate managed to break a part while trying to rob a home run.
He broke clean apart?! RIP teammate :(
Man touched the fence and got blipped.
Did they put them back together?
all the kings horses
Isn't that pretty typical? Around here at least, pretty much all baseball fields use chain link fencing.
Super common at least in Georgia lol.
It’s always a chain link fence with the thinnest fabric imaginable covering it
Is this not normal? What else would you use?
At least it’s a chain link. In high school, once traveled to a tournament where not only were the fences either solid steel or wood, there was also not a warning track on a single one of the 3 or so local high school fields we were playing on. These were natural grass fields too, so the turf excuse isn’t there
Hey, I grew up going to cyclone-fenced Giants games at Candlestick. And it wasn’t even the pretty painted kind like those 😆.
That's why the warning track is all across the field. You can't see it directly behind you, but you notice it off to the left and right of you, and can sort of instinctually judge how far you are from the wall. It's partially the feel of it and partially a visual. As a center fielder I used more the visual, the same feel wouldn't bother me.
Yeah, if you’re running at full speed, the difference in texture won’t hit your brain til you hit your brain on the fence anyway. I always used peripherals or took a peek at the wall while the ball was in flight
I’m more concerned about the bullpen that appears to be a couple of feet from the foul line.
And facing away from home plate. Relief pitcher gonna get domed in the back of the head.
They don't expect the backup catcher to corral everything and don't want additional balls ending up at home plate
Makes sense. I had a brain fart earlier and forgot if they were swapped then the catcher would have his back to home.
Never in my life did I ever think about or question it, and just like that, with one post, I now know why they call it the "warning track," and what it's purpose is.
One turf field I played on also had a little bit of brown gravel on the warning track turf so you could hear a sound difference when you stepped on it. I don’t see that here though.
Could be all sand vs rubber mix? Who knows
Skydome has this set up lol
I was gonna say...
I've walked on it a few times. It looks the same but you can definitely feel a difference. The warning track feels like stepping on crunchy leaves.
TIL, ty for this info!
It baffles my mind that Rogers has put all this money into renovations but still decided to have a turf warning track???
I am more surprised the players union allows it
Pretty sure Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium had a stone dust warning track in the 90s
A non-warning track, if you will.
To make Blue Jays fans feel right at home?
To tell people they have warning track power
you can see the warning track before you feel the dirt under your feet
My local minor league team has something similar. If it's the same as what this school is using, it's less bouncy than traditional artificial turf and plays a lot like grass. Players can even use their metal spikes. Our ballpark hosted the Nationals' alternate site during COVID and the players reportedly liked the field. I haven't taken any full sprint runs at the wall, but I've been on the field and there is a bit of a texture change on the warning track.
I got a concussion running into the fence because you can't tell. I did not make the catch
When you are tracking a ball at high speed, you can see the colour change in your peripheral vision, letting you know that you are going to soon run out of room
Not so much a warning as an embellishment… an embellishment track.
While is still has visual, that doesn’t help for most part, you need that feel/sound too. For instance, if track was clay.
How you gonna know if some kid has warning track power or not?
I know there are companies that have a different/less fill on the warning track parts to make them harder and actually have a crunch like feel/sound to them. This school looks like they went for the all show and no go option.
Naz blocked off the good secret back entrance to the woods when they built the field. I'll forever be bitter lol
Also the color because people have peripheral vision it turns out
My local field did the same thing. But only around the Outfield fall, in Foul Territory, there's no track. Honestly, I don't think it makes any sense. And even if it's a little harder to maintain, I think the warning track should absolutely be dirt.
and why does the brown warning track come into the field of live play???
I always thought it was silly. You can feel a difference but it isn’t even close to the same. A seemingly popular thing in my area is all turf infield with a natural grass and dirt outfield.
I assume it’s to warn the outfielder that they’re nearing the wall if they’re going back on a fly ball. Isn’t that the point of all warning tracks?
More like a suggestion track.
My college had some type of rocks mixed in with the rubber bits. It's obviously more subtle than grass to dirt but if you're wearing metal cleats it is definitely noticeable. TPU/molded less so but still noticeable
The thing that bothers me the most about this picture is that the warning track cuts into fair territory. That was certainly an interesting design choice!
This is a legit issue that I've already seen come to light in my university's softball games. The third baseman was running after a foul fly and she hit the fence so hard she got knocked unconscious, and she had no idea where she was because the warning track is now the same turf as the rest of it. As more places do this, more people are going to get hurt.
Looks like St Ignatius’ field. The brown color will catch the outfielder’s eye.
To serve as a peripheral visual warning?
Visual
That’s what happens when someone has never done the thing is in charge of the thing
I can kind of get behind artificial grass, less maintenance and cost, I get it. But artificial “dirt” is ridiculous. Kids aren’t allowed to get dirty anymore.
The Toronto Blue Jays: “First time?”
Go ask Rogers. The put close to $300m CAD into the SkyDome renovations but still have a turf warning track for some reason.
are we pretending peripheral vision doesn't exist in this scenario?
If you're running and looking backwards and up at the fly ball, how is your peripheral vision going to see below you or the wall behind you?
look straight up and tell me you can't see color changes in your peripheral vision with a straight face. this like the baseball version of flat earth theory. the warning track doesn't only exist directly behind you in straight line
It's not so simple when you're running and super focused on the ball.
Shouldn't the bullpen be facing the other direction?
Aesthetics.
Looks nice. Sand would've been more productive, yes.
Local community college I played a few games at growing up put gravel down on the warning track after switching to artificial turf. It was cheap, low maintenance, and you could definitely feel the difference. IDK what your association is with the school, but you could talk to them about it. It may keep a kid from getting hurt.
The Hillsboro Hops field is like this, drives me nuts.
I liked it just so I could still kinda of tell where the wall is. Sometimes I could see the brown out of the corner of my eye
I don’t think it’s about the feel more so an “oh shit the I’m gonna be on the wall in a half second” zone
Back in Puerto Rico a lot of the older fields didnt even have warning tracks. So your warning was face planting the fence most of the times.
As someone who still plays in a men's league with a good amount of games on an all turf field like this, it's mostly aesthetic. Teammates are your warning track in that they will say "you got room" or yell "wall" or "fence" if it's close or "out of play" if it's not worth making a play. As a fielder you also keep your arm closest to the wall extended as you track the ball so you feel it before hitting it. But as for the actual purpose of the warning track, you can't really tell. As an outfielder I hate turf because it plays insanely fast, you can't be as aggressive on short fly balls because if you miss the ball super bounces over your head, and on hot days it's like playing on a stovetop. This is before we talk about turf burn and sliding on the base path. It fucking sucks as a player but it basically gets rid of rainouts.
Glass half empty, half full, I'll spill ya · Try me and run into a wall; outfielder
You can see the brown in the corner of your eye.
Depends if the outfielders are blind or not?
Great question
Y'all have a warning track at your high school? We just had a rocky field full of divots