AS far as Bill Bennett is concerned, Saipan is secured for the next 30 years.
The Guam businessman and baseball-minded instructor completed a three-day clinic in Saipan last week, where he instructed close to 15 “investors” on proper baseball and softball field maintenance.
Involved with the program were baseball members from Saipan, Tinian and Rota. Bennett keyed this program that dealt with teaching grounds keepers on proper field maintenance to where the life of a field can be extended.
“Of course, their pitching mound was in bad shape. The mound was not rebuilt in years,” said Bennett, who partly conducted the course at Saipan’s Frank Palacios Stadium. “But now it’s completely rebuilt to baseball specifications with a whole new packing clay.”
For three days, Bennett instructed the attendees on subjects such as proper base repairing, grass mowing, soil mixing and even turf watering. All these, and more, amount to a successful field. And a successful field amounts to better baseball. And better baseball attracts fans and improves international baseball relationships.
“There’s so much that they learned about not only building a field, but how to build clay layer,” Bennett responded. “And they know that post-game maintenance is the most important. There are certain things that have to be done right at that time to extend (a field’s) life.”
Bennett said he be willing to offer this course on Guam once again. He was initially turned down by the Department of Parks and Recreation, which caters most of Guam’s baseball fields. As a member of Asia Ball Fields Systems Specialists, Bennett annually attends grounds keeping meetings. Some of the best field maintenance workers, from some of the best facilities in the United States, attend and conduct the course. Bennett hopes to share this knowledge with those who want to upgrade ball fields.
“There’s not one safe field on Guam,” he said. “And the fields that are used the most, there’s no proper maintenance being done. It’s amazing, players and fans deserve to have fields with minimum safety standards. If we’re going to attract international teams, we need to get our fields up to standards. We need a field we can be proud of.”
