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From: david@fisher.UUCP (David Rubin)
Newsgroups: net.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Artificial Turf and Domed Statiums
Message-ID: <616@fisher.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 14-May-85 09:22:24 EDT
Article-I.D.: fisher.616
Posted: Tue May 14 09:22:24 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 15-May-85 00:59:43 EDT
References: <1052@ihuxn.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: Princeton University Department of Statistics
Lines: 27

> 1.  Why can't the proper lighting be installed so that natural
> grass can be used in domed statiums?  Perhaps with the inflatable
> domes a roof material that passes enough light of the proper wavelength
> could be used to support growth of natural grass. (Where's DuPont
> when you need them? Perhaps they manufacture the A-Turf!).

When the Astrodome was first constructed, it passed enough light to
the field so that grass could grow.  However, the glare from the roof
during day games was too great for the outfielders to handle, so the
quarter of the roof behind home plate was painted to provide a better
background (a "fielder's eye" of sorts); then the grass died and the
turf was put in.  So it seems that a domed stadium could have grass
only if all games were played at night.

> 2.  When artificial turf is used, why can't the entire infield
> be cut out?  I know the edges can cause bad bounces, but
> with a little creative thinking couldn't the turf-dirt transition
> be made smoother?

Believe it or not, probably for reasons of tradition (oh, the irony!).
Fans EXPECT the infield to be a shade of green.  Besides which, on
real fields it is generally the dirt where bad bounces take place.  By
making an all-dirt infield, you may merely be trading one source of
odd hops for another.

					David Rubin
			{allegra|astrovax|princeton}!fisher!david