Baseball's Murray Cook

Most teachers address their studentsfrom behind a lectern or in front ofa blackboard. The 1991 Golf &

sportsTURF Man of the Year prefers todeliver his lessons from a pitcher's moundwith a rake in hand.

From this position, 31-year-old MurrayCook has had a significant impact on theimprovement of minor league baseball andspring training facilities, as well as on rela-tions between the United States and theSoviet Union. That's a tall order for some-one so young, but it shows that a newgeneration of baseball groundskeepers isdetermined to make its mark in the worldof sports.

Since the age of 13, Cook has beenstudying how to satisfy minor league play-ers and coaches with the condition of theturf and dirt in stadiums. The fact that hewas in charge of a professional sports fieldbefore he could drive a car in itself revealssome of the problems with consistency andinvestment in minor league ball. During thenext 18 years he made great strides tocorrect the problem.

Cook has spent most of his career in theminor leagues, either as a groundskeeper,director of operations, or consultant. He isnow superintendent of West Palm Beach(FL) Municipal Stadium, spring trainingsite of both the Montreal Expos and theAtlanta Braves., His ties with the minor leagues remainas strong as ever. In 1989, he traveled withthe Eastern League All Stars to three citiesin Russia on the first Diamond DiplomacyTour. This past September he helped orga-nize a seminar for the league in Harrisburg,PA, on baseball stadium operations. It wasthe first such seminar presented by anyprofessional baseball league to educategeneral managers, groundskeepers, and

Murray Cook in Dynamo Stadium, Kiev, USSR.

municipal stadium employees regardingfield standards.

Cook's success can be attributed to a listof things, beginning with the transition ofminor league baseball from a hobby to abusiness. Timing is a big part of anyone'scareer. He happened to be involved in base-ball at a time when owners began applyingbasic business principles in order to drawmore fans to parks across America. Thepersonable Cook took every opportunity topersuade management that field improve-ment is a factor in baseball's profitability.

To be persuasive a person has to haveconfidence, enjoy talking and listening toothers, be flexible, and make a good impres-sion. On top of that, he needs an excellentmemory to capture names, opinions, andother valuable information. What is triviato some may be vital to others.

You can't preach what you don't prac-tice. Cook had to demonstrate the impactof better field conditions on team perfor-

mance and attendance. He started by learn-ing all he could to deliver what coaches andplayers wanted. Like other minor leaguegroundskeepers, he worked with limitedresources. So Cook came up with ways topay for needed improvements.

"In single A ball you have to wear morethan one hat," Cook reveals. "I used to selladvertising and other promotions in theoff-season. Learning the income side of thegame was a big help. It put groundskeepinginto perspective for me. The more ticketswe sold, the better chance I had at gettingequipment and supplies for the field."

Cook learned that sales can come intoplay in many ways. Like other professionalgroundskeepers, he got calls from highschools, parks, and colleges regarding thecondition of their ball fields. He started tomarket his turf and infield dirt skills tothose who desperately needed them. Hebecame an active consultant in the regionteaching other groundskeepers how to sellneeded improvements to managers of theirsports facilities.

While he enjoyed both sales andgroundskeeping, Cook discovered thatteaching was in his blood. "I had two goodteachers around me," Cook explains, "mymother and Morris Creggar, the personwho taught me how to be a good grounds-keeper as a kid. Both are taskmasters whostress the value of studying and workinghard to achieve your goals. They made itfun to learn and demonstrated that it wasalso fun to teach.

"You have to do your homework," heremarks. "Read everything you can getyour hands on. Go to field days and confer-ences. Call up other groundskeepers andvisit their parks when you need answers.Let people know you're excited about your

continued on page 24

January, 1991 23

Man Of The Yearcontinued from page 23

job and consider yourself a professional!You have to be a little extroverted and focuson the positive things around you."

As a teenager, Cook started to size upthe situation in professional baseball. "Ev-eryone starts at the bottom and has to earntheir way up the ladder," he states. "Youstart in single-A and try to make it to thebig leagues. That's true for players,coaches, and managers as well as forgroundskeepers."

Cook started with the single-A SalemPirates of the Carolina League. Atthe age of 10 he was a bat boy. Thefollowing year he was hired to helpclean the stands after games. Afterwatching the grounds crew fromthe seats for two years, he made theswitch to the field. When he wasn'tworking on the diamond, he wasshagging balls or throwing battingpractice. By the age of 15 he wasthe head groundskeeper.

He continued to work for thePirates while he studied horticul-ture at Virginia Western Commu-nity College. In 1980, he decided topursue a degree in education atNorth Carolina Wesleyan Collegein Rocky Mount. He kept his handin baseball by landing the headgroundskeeper's job for the Charlotte O's,a double-A farm team for the BaltimoreOrioles in the Southern League. "I didn'thave much free time, but I was doing whatI liked most," he recalls.

Following graduation, he left baseball tobe a social worker for one year. "I stayedin touch with my buddies from the Carolinaand Eastern Leagues," Cook notes. "Theytipped me off about the Salt Lake Gulls, theSeattle Mariners' new triple-A team in SaltLake City, UT. It didn't take much to con-vince me to move to Utah. I missed baseballmore than I thought I would."

Unfortunately, the Gulls lasted onlythree seasons. Cook returned to Salemwhere he kept busy as a field consultant forthe Pittsburgh Pirates and a number ofteams in the Eastern and Carolina Leagues.

"The problem in the minors is just aboutall the stadiums are owned and operated bycities," Cook points out. "They would takecare of the stadium fields the same as theirother park fields. Nobody had ever taughtthem how to build mounds, work thebasepaths, or rake out lips. They didn'tunderstand the difference between main-taining a professional field and a park

field."The National Association of Profes-

sional Baseball Leagues (NAPBL) employstwo inspectors for more than 170 minorleague stadiums in the U.S. and Canada,one person for each side of the MississippiRiver. Each year they critique all stadiumsin their region for the condition of thestands, lighting, concessions, and field.Problems are outlined on a report for thecity and team to arrange improvements.

Despite this system of inspection, thereare still disputes over who must pay tocorrect the deficiencies. The team typically

Cook demonstrates mound preparation during Eastern Leaguegroundskeeping seminar.

leases the stadium from the city. If the leasedoes not clearly assign responsibility forimprovements, disagreement between thecity and the team can result in delays andsubstandard playing conditions.

Minor league players are paid by theMajor League franchise and loaned tominor league farm clubs. Poor playing con-ditions not only can affect a team's record,they can hamper player development. Forthis reason, the farm directors of eachMajor League club want the best possibleplaying conditions. The fact that field stan-dards were an issue in the latest contractbetween NAPBL and Major League Base-ball indicates that inconsistency of fieldstandards is a problem in professional base-ball.

Under the terms of the new contract, aminor league team can have its certificationrevoked by NAPBL if they don't meet cer-tain standards. That increases the pressureon farm teams to work out field improve-ment measures with city-owned facilities.

Cook has found himself in the middle ofthis controversy for the past five years. "I'mlucky to have been working for the EasternLeague," he remarks. "There has been a

conscious effort by Charlie Eshbach, presi-dent of the Eastern League, and the presi-dents and owners of the league's teams toupgrade stadium fields. They have beenreceptive to field renovation and trainingmanagement and groundskeepers aboutconstruction and maintenance."

Eshbach credits Cook with his league'shead start in field improvement. "We'vetalked about better field conditions foryears," he states. "Murray provided us witha workable vehicle to carry it out."

Cook, on the other hand, points to theorganizational expertise of Scott Carter,

president of the Harrisburg Sena-tors in Harrisburg, PA. Cook movedto the Senators, a double-A team inthe Pirates' organization, in 1988."Scott represents an organized,business approach to baseball,"Cook claims. "He has assigned ahigh value to field conditions inrelation to the success of profes-sional baseball."

The Senators are benefittingfrom Carter's "new look" type ofmanagement. The former bankerdiscovered the potential of minorleague baseball when he re-searched various types of sportsinvestments for a customer.

"In the early '80s, two thingswere holding back minor league

baseball," Carter states. "Many teams wereundermanaged because they were ownedby hobbyists instead of businessmen. Sec-ondly, many of the facilities were poor.Meanwhile, cities began to invest in facili-ties to supplement economic developmentactivity. Some of these cities were in goodmarkets for baseball."

Carter evaluated 90 different minorleague operations between 1984 and 1986.The Eastern League was attractive becauseit was older, more established, and had thelowest travel of all three double-A leagues.It also had two cities with great potentialfor double-A ball, Springfield, MA, and Har-risburg, PA. Stephen Reed, Harrisburg'smayor, also was anxious to gain a franchisefor his city.

One of the teams receptive to Carter'sidea was the Pittsburgh Pirates. He took aclose look at a number of the Pirates' farmteams, including Salem. "One thing I dis-covered is Major League teams look forgood stadiums when they select farmteams," he adds. "Salem had one of thebest. Murray was the groundskeeper at thetime. He had the unique ability to work with

continued on page 26

24 Golf& sportsTURF

Man Of The Yearcontinued from page 24

people, solve problems, and get the jobdone. I was also trying to identify goodpeople. Murray stood out among all theteams I visited."

Another person Carter met during histravels was Jerry Limeur, owner of theNashua (NH) Senators. "Jerry is one of theworld's greatest baseball fans," claims Car-ter. "But he is also a professor of politicalscience at the University of Massachusettsand his team was not drawing well inNashua. I showed him my researchand we discussed the idea of mov-ing the team to Harrisburg. Weended up striking a deal in 1986."

Harrisburg was in the midst ofdeveloping its waterfront on theSusquehanna River. The city builta new baseball stadium on an is-land in the middle of the riverpurely on speculation in 1986.Luckily, the Senators fit right intothe city's plan.

The new Harrisburg Senatorsopened with great fanfare in thefollowing April. The playing sur-face looked fine from the standsand the fans were not upset by a , a s **?,

i r /-• i J i baseball

number of fielding errors duringthe opening homestand. Everyteam has the jitters early in the season. Thefans were still thrilled to have their ownprofessional baseball team.

The players, on the other hand, com-plained of bad hops. The infield dirt wasalso too hard and damp. The area betweenhome plate and the mound was wet andslippery. Carter wanted better for the Sen-ators.

In Salem, the Buccaneers were off toone of their best starts in years.Cook hadrebuilt the team's diamond the previousyear and had it in top condition for the newseason.

Carter didn't waste any time. As theSenators packed for their first road trip, hecalled Cook and asked him to fly to Harris-burg the next day to see if he could bringRiverfront Stadium up to par.

"Scott told me he had four days to dosomething about the condition of the field,"Cook recalls. "He picked me up at theHarrisburg airport and gave me a rundownon the problems on the way to the sta-dium."

"The city had not used a sports-relatedconsultant in the design of the playingfield," cites Carter. "When Murray mea-sured, he found some of the bases were off

by two feet and the mound was wrong. Inaddition, the field was very bumpy and theinfield dirt as hard as most warning tracks."

Cook went right to work resetting thebases and rebuilding the mound andbatter's box. Then he aerified the infieldheavily, verticut lightly, topdressed withsand, and rolled it smooth. Finally, he scar-ified the basepaths and instructed the citymaintenance crew on how to work the dirtand water it properly.

"The main problem with the field wasdrainage," explains Cook. "It had a decent

Leaague President Charles Eshbach delivers pitch on firstmound built in the U.S.S.R.

drainage system but it had been installedtoo deep! Aerifying opened the field up soit could drain better. We went over how toinstall and remove tarps, how and when toirrigate, and a few mowing techniques. Wecrammed a lot of information into threedays! In general, many of the problemswere normal for stadiums maintained bycity crews. They need some guidance andtraining."

Carter hired Cook as a consultant forthe '87 season. Every two weeks Cookreturned to Harrisburg to check the field.That year, both the Buccaneers and theSenators won their league championships!Furthermore, the Senators drew more than200,000 fans to the stadium in its firstseason.

The following winter, Carter convincedCook to move to Harrisburg and helpedhim set up a consulting practice within theSenators' organization. During the nextseason, the two concentrated on ways toimprove conditions in professional base-ball.

Carter, an experienced banker, wanteddocumentation to track maintenance, in-cluding a maintenance outline, schedule,and check list. He wanted to develop a

clear-cut budget so that he could intelli-gently negotiate maintenance costs withthe city. That year, the club successfullyrenegotiated its lease with Harrisburg toobtain greater control over playing condi-tions.

Both energetic and creative, Carter andCook discussed ways to make the minorleagues more businesslike and profes-sional. Ever since the late 70s, when Cookmet Dr. David Chalmers, extension special-ist at Virginia Polytechnic Institute inBlacksburg, he had envisioned seminars for

baseball groundskeepers. This ideabegan to take shape in Harrisburg.

"Murray was the first baseballgroundskeeper I've dealt with," re-veals Chalmers. "He was alwayspushing to get information and totrain himself. He wanted to stan-dardize field care so it could beshared with other groundskeepers.He is a stickler about technique,consistency, and following a main-tenance schedule."

Turf was just part of thegroundskeeper's responsibility. "Iwas amazed to hear and see howmuch detail goes int^ maintainingthe infield dirt," adds Chalmers."He showed me that groundskeep-ing is an art as much as a science.

Murray is a strong teacher and very profes-sional."

As Chalmers has discovered, baseballclubs often want one thing and the city hassomething else in mind. Minor league base-ball needed someone to explain the differ-ence, settle on standards, and monitorconditions on a continuing basis. Cooklooked for every opportunity to explain theproblem to those that could help.

Baseball's management had to give fieldconditions higher priority so they couldnegotiate effectively with city officials. Itworked in Harrisburg. Cook believed itcould work equally as well in all theleagues. He found Carter and EasternLeague President Eshbach willing to listen.

However, before Cook could carry outhis seminar idea, an opportunity arose thathe could not pass up. In 1988, the city ofWest Palm Beach. FL, and the countyagreed to jointly provide $500,000 a yearfor the improvement and maintenance of itsstadium and spring training center. Munic-ipal Stadium is the only baseball complexserving two Major League teams, the Mon-treal Expos and the Atlanta Braves. The citywas looking for a head groundskeeper totake over the task of renovating seven fields

26 Golf & sportsTURF

and building an eighth.Kevin McIIale, former general manager

of the Expos, had heard about Cook and hiswork in Salem from one of his scouts. Hecalled Cook and urged him to con-tact Bob Burdett, the city's stadiummanager regarding the position."When I went down to Florida totalk with Bob, I thought it wasabout a consultant type of arrange-ment," said Cook. "They'd usedconsultants before and Scott [Car-ter] encouraged me to take onmore consulting work." Aftermeeting with Burdett about thefacility and ways to improve things,he decided to apply for the full-timesuperintendent's position.

"I knew that Murray wouldn'tbe in Harrisburg for long," saidCarter. "But I also knew he'd bethere if I needed help again." Iffact, many owners were taking no-tice of the success of Harrisburg and theway it operated. Word spreads quickly inthe tightly-knit minor league system.

In the past two years Cook has deliveredthe standards he set over the years. "Weare elated about the condition of thefields," remarks Bobby Cox, manager of the

Braves. "Workouts are much better. Ourplayers are not afraid to take a ground ballnow."

"The infield dirt is not as hard since he's

The field at Harrisburg's Riverfront Stadium after being repairedby Cook.

changed the mix," adds Dave Dombrowski,vice president of the Expos. "It was likeplaying on concrete. The grass too is inmuch better shape. There aren't so manybad hops on the field now. Players are in amuch better frame of mind and are devel-oping better fielding habits."

"I've heard nothing but glowing re-ports," states Hank Aaron, director ofplayer development of the Braves. "Thefields are in better shape this year than ever

in the past 14 years." Spike Owen,Expos shortstop, has gained confi-dence during spring training sinceCook took over. "Before, springtraining had been tough because ofthe condition of the fields."

Even though West Palm BeachStadium is busy year-round, Cookfinds the time to provide assistanceto others when asked. The Exposalso use a four-field complex at ahigh school in Lantana, FL. Cookhas helped upgrade those fields inhis spare time. In the past two yearsle has also helped teams in theEastern and Carolina Leagues.

His Eastern League contactshave rewarded Cook in a numberof ways since he's been at West

Palm Beach. In 1989, Harrisburg ownerLimeur organized a three-city expositionand tour of the U.S.S.R. for the EasternLeague Allstars called the Diamond Diplo-macy Tour. It was a good will tour to helpintroduce baseball to Russia before it be-

continued on page 28

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Man Of The Yearcontinued from page 27

comes an Olympic sport this decade.The American delegation included the

players, coaches, trainers,team doctor, anda groundskeeper, Cook. A portable moundshipped by Cook to Russia never made itthrough customs, so Cook received thehonor of building the first pitcher's moundin that country. Eastern League PresidentEshbach made the formal first pitch in theseries off Cook's mound.

"The Russians were very interested indetails about groundskeeping," reportsCook. "I tried to explain through an inter-preter how to set up a baseball field onsoccer fields in Moscow, Tallinn, and Kiev.I think they will be a factor in Olympicbaseball by the next century."

One of the pleasures of the trip for Cookwas getting to know Eshbach and describ-ing his ideas for a groundskeeping seminarfor the Eastern League. On the plane rideback to the States, Cook spelled out theformat for a mandatory clinic to be held atRiverfront Stadium in Harrisburg. Eshbachexpanded the idea to include general man-agers, municipal stadium personnel, andteam groundskeepers. After discussing the

idea with the league owners, Eshbachsought approval from NAPBL PresidentSal Artiaga. He not only approved the con-cept, but agreed to participate in the firstone in Harrisburg in September 1990.

Cook received thehonor of buildingthe first pitcher's

mound inRussia.

All eight Eastern League teams wererepresented in Harrisburg. Chalmers, alongwith Don Waddington from Penn State,covered turf management for the group.Joe Mooney, groundskeeper of the BostonRed Sox, and Cook demonstrated fieldmaintenance techniques and describedhow field condition impacts players. Es-hbach, Carter, and Chuck Lamar, theBraves director of player/personnel, cov-ered the business aspects of leasing, player

development, and promotions."I sincerely hope that the NAPBL will

encourage the other leagues to organizethis type of training," states Eshbach. "Thenew contract with the Major Leagues setsa four-year deadline for establishing andmaintaining field standards. Holding semi-nars like the one in Harrisburg is the placeto start. I'm proud the Eastern League hasled the way."

"Better field conditions present an op-portunity for hundreds of groundskeep-ers," claims Cook. "Major LeagueExpansion is going to increase the impor-tance of the field quality in the farm system.Teams that develop their players at goodfacilities will have a competitive edge on thefield and their farm teams will have a leadat the box office. As a groundskeeper, itmakes me feel good that we are finallybeing recognized as an important part ofprofessional baseball."

Cook looks forward to many more yearsof teaching the art of groundskeeping asbaseball grows as a professional and Olym-pic sport. He urges others to join him onthe mound with rake in hand. Golf & sports-TURF salutes Murray Cook as its 1991 Manof the Year. ©

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