BY DENNIS CHASE
TRAVERSE CITY -- The Traverse City Beach Bums will be playing on a new field next season.
A synthetic AstroTurf playing surface will be installed at Wuerfel Park in the next few weeks, replacing the grass field and red lava rock mix used on the infield and warning track.
The surface will be cheaper to maintain and allow for more events to be held at the site, said John Wuerfel, president and CEO of Wuerfel Sports Development.
"We're traditionalists," Wuerfel said. "We love grass, but from a business standpoint this makes sense.
"It's a lot less expensive to maintain, it always looks nice and we can have a lot more activities on the field without having to worry about damaging it.
"This is not the hard AstroTurf of old. This is a state-of-the-art natural looking infill turf."
Six inches of packed gravel will be hauled in to serve as a base for the turf, which has become extremely popular in high school stadiums across Michigan.
The turf is expected to be delivered at the end of next week with installation to be completed by Nov. 1, Wuerfel said.
Two other baseball teams in the Frontier League, Chillicothe and Southern Illinois, already have synthetic surfaces. Wuerfel said Washington is considering switching, too.
"It cost us over $100,000 a year to maintain the grass," Wuerfel said. "It was a huge expense for us."
It will cost between $5,000-$10,000 a year to maintain the new field, he said.
Wuerfel Sports Development is purchasing the AstroTurf field from GeneralSports Venue of Rochester. The total cost is around $700,000, Wuerfel said.
"It will pay for itself in about seven years," he said. "Plus, (it will relieve) stress and you can't put a price on that."
Rich Jordan, vice president of sales and marketing for GeneralSports Venue, said the GameDay Grass 3D turf that will be installed is the company's most popular.
"It's designed to have the natural look and feel of grass -- and it has tremendous durability," he said.
Jordan said it's been used in a number of multi-use stadiums in the state.
Wuerfel said maintaining the old field was a time-consuming process.
"If a game got over at 10 p.m. we would be here until 1 in the morning," he said, "re-packing clay on all the mounds, regrading, putting red lava rock mix back over them, re-dragging the infield, cleaning up the red (mix) out of the grass, putting on the mound covers and home plate covers.
"Even when the team was out of town we mowed every day, sprayed fertilizer, edged, caught up on some of the little details.
"Now we'll be able to just turn the lights off and go home."
The new surface will cover the entire park, including the mound, the base paths and the bullpen.
It will also allow for more events to be held at the park, Wuerfel said,
Wuerfel Park hosted one high school baseball tournament this past season. Wuerfel said he envisions hosting more high school games, as well as some college games. He said other possible uses include adult softball tournaments, fantasy camps and even concerts.
"Chillicothe had 152 activities on its field before the Paints even started their season," he said.
Wuerfel said there have been a number of requests to use the park since it opened about 18 months ago.
"But we have been very guarded, very protective of the field," Wuerfel said. "We wanted it to be nice for our team.
"We've had opportunities. We had people calling us to put Brooks and Dunn in here last summer. We turned (the requests) down in order to protect the field."
That could change, though.
"This would be a nice venue (for a concert) if you held it to 5,000 (people)," Wuerfel said "You have the seating, you have the concessions, you have the bathrooms, you have the parking."
Wuerfel said a number of other synthetic turfs were considered. He said he felt "reassured" about the choice after talking to Amy Fouty, who oversees the athletic fields at Michigan State, which uses the product on one of its practice fields.
"She said it's the best turf, the easiest to maintain and it lasts the longest," Wuerfel said.
Meanwhile, the red lava rock was donated to two area schools, Glen Lake and Lake Leelanau St. Mary, for use on their baseball and softball fields.
