Dedicated volunteers manicure Mansfield

BANGOR – While most fans watch the action on the field as the Senior League World Series dominates the schedule at Mansfield Stadium from Sunday through Saturday next week, at least one man will be more interested in watching the field itself.

Ron St. Pierre, field director and Mansfield Stadium Committee treasurer, is the man responsible for every blade of grass, every grain of infield dirt, and every drop of paint applied to the surface.

And as the stadium’s “marquis de sod,” he hasn’t had much rest as he and a small army of volunteers have made several improvements and additions to the field as they’ve worked it into shape the last eight days.

“Whatever we’ve done to this field and facility in recent weeks was not strictly for the World Series,” St. Pierre explained. “It was planned, but the World Series was a catalyst to push us along.”

Stadium officials and volunteers have built a new, aluminum-framed press box complete with a telephone line and numerous jacks and separate lines for a large contingent of media representatives plus a roof and canvas siding; installed artificial FieldTurf around the back of home plate, on paths leading from the on deck circles, and in the coaching boxes on the first- and third-base lines; put down a half-inch of new infield dirt to make the infield playing surface smoother; repainted and upgraded both the public address system and the scoreboard; and painted full-color 2002 World Series logos in both the first- and third-base foul territories.

“It’s all come together really well. This is the best year I’ve had over here. We’re seeing a lot of people help us out and it’s very gratifying,” St. Pierre said. “Without all these volunteers, it just wouldn’t have gotten done.”

Of course, it hasn’t all gone as smoothly as a well-executed hit-and-run play.

“We had one of the circles painted and it sat there a couple hours before someone said ‘That’s in the wrong place,’ so we blasted it with the hose and I was down there this morning with a pair of scissors cutting off the white,” St. Pierre said with a chuckle. “By the time we get it done, you’ll never know.”

Veteran Mansfield fans may notice a lighter look to the infield dirt as the new surface is a sandier mix which is only 16 percent clay to dilute the current 35 percent mixture to the ideal mix of 20 percent.

Donations of material and labor from local businesses and volunteers have drastically reduced the cost and time necessary for all these improvements.

The press box, which a company submitted a low bid of $9,300 to build, was built much cheaper as Steve Proctor, whose son Kevin played ball for Bangor High and Bangor’s Legion team, bought aluminum through Frost’s Garage in Hampden at a greatly reduced rate and then helped volunteers cut and shape it to build the structure themselves. Then Young’s Canvas Shop measured the framework and installed a canvas roof and sides. The press box tabletops were provided at no charge by Lane Systems and Supply through a Brewer Legion/high school player’s father.

Travis Brooker and fellow Bangor coaches Dave Utterback and Shaun Owens have helped out, as have their players.

“We’ve played here so long, we probably take it for granted,” said pitcher Josh Young. “So coach told us we should each put in two hours of work on the field and most of us have done more than that.”

Three-year team veteran Eric Anderson has put in way more than that, topping the 25-hour mark before he had even left the field Thursday.

“I just want the field to be at it’s very best for next week,” said Anderson as he took time out from hosing down the infield grass. “This is one of the best in New England, so we think we ought to help out.”

Brooker said Anderson’s work hasn’t gone unnoticed.

“We’ve had a hitting contest all year where the winner gets a free pizza,” he explained. “Today, we said the kids who put in the most hours are going to get an automatic win in the hitting contest and no one has more than one, so Eric probably has that wrapped up now.”

And although there will likely be some last-minute details to attend to, St. Pierre’s work is virtually wrapped up as well.

“I think the most satisfying thing for me will be when Steve [Stephen King] comes over Sunday to throw out the first pitch and sees how well we’ve maintained his field,” St. Pierre said. “Course he always says it’s not his, it’s ours.”

Only then will St. Pierre’s attention wander to the field as he admires everything from the lush shade of green to the well-manicured infield.

“Yeah, that’s when Jimmy Owens and I, and some others, get up here,” he said. “We’ll sit back and say ‘Man, that’s nice looking.'”