Joe Drennan
Sports Editor

Itís easy to walk into The Ballpark at Schumacher Field and revel in its beauty. Itís easy to sit in the stands, soak in the summer sun and admire the manicured green grass.

The Ballpark at Schumacher Field and the other Independent School District 831 athletic fields donít just groom themselves, it takes a lot of time and care by the maintenance staff and one man in particular.

Tom Marcio has been the main grounds keeper at The Ballpark at Schumacher Field since 1991. In 1944 Marcio began working as a bat boy and ball boy for the Minneapolis Millers in AAA ball. By the time he was 11 he had moved up to the grounds crew.

ìI learned my trade at a AAA park,î Marcio said. ìI learned about fertilizers, seeding, mound work, edging and what facilities are supposed to look like in the final product.î

The experience Marcio learned while working with the Millers has benefitted the Forest Lake School District. When hired Marcio said The Ballpark at Schumacher Field wasnít in the best of shape.

ìDan Poepard hired me with Community Services in the summer and wanted me to fix up this place (The Ballpark at Schumacher Field) first because of the highly competitive play it saw,î Marcio said. ìOnce it was fixed up the high school team moved over here.î

Marcio spent many extra weekends and working eight to 10 hour days getting The Ballpark at Schumacher Field in good shape. He redid the whole field, infield and outfield, filling in holes and adding a warning track with the help of Gary Houle.

Since starting in 1991, Marcio has seen The Ballpark at Schumacher Field evolve over time. Last year alone chain link fencing was added along the baselines, replacing an orange plastic fence on the first base side, and giving fans some protection that was never there along the third base line.

ìI kept harping because the orange stuff was a liability and there was nothing along the third base line,î Marcio said. ìThe baseball people had to line up a little more money and we got the fencing.î

This year Marcio has already seen improvement in the shape of a major league style batting cage that will help on the wear and tear of the chain link fence backstop.

ìI think people should realize that there is a lot more work that gets done than I get paid for,î Marcio said. ìI wouldnít do it if I didnít love it though. I like to see the finished product.î

Keeping The Ballpark at Schumacher Field in good condition is important because 150-200 games are played there each season between the high school team, American Legion team, town team games, Mickey Mantle games and some traveling baseball games.
ìIt seems like any team that is old enough to play there wants to play there,î Marcio said.

With all the use The Ballpark at Schumacher Field gets, keeping it clean of trash isnít always easy either.

ìIím pretty mean at times,î Marcio said. ìPeople donít understand the work that is put into keeping the place clean though.î

Fans at The Ballpark at Schumacher Field arenít the only ones that get on Marcioís nerves at times. The players who use the field on a daily basis sometimes forget to respect the field.

ìThe kids could take a little more pride in their facilities if they knew how much time and effort the maintenance department put into them,î Marcio said. ìI get on the coaches and tell them they have jobs after games from raking holes and tarping the mound and plate and picking up garbage. Most of the teams are pretty good about it.î

The Ballpark at Schumacher Field isnít Marcioís only responsibility. He works on all 52 ball fields in the school district as well as the football and soccer fields.

ìSoccer is getting big and I am sure theyíre looking for more fields,î Marcio said.

With all the work to be done as fields constantly need to be checked for holes, lined, mowed and other maintenance tended to, Marcio said the school district could use 10 to 12 people to do the job, but because of budget crunches they have less than five.

ìForeman Rob Weeda and I work together,î Marcio said. ìIf I need help heíll give me some extra help.î

Marcio said he needs that extra help sometimes to make sure there are no holes on any of the fields that could lead to an injury.
ìYou have to look for that kind of stuff all the time,î Marcio said. ìYou have to watch for liability all the time. You donít want some young athlete getting hurt to where they canít fulfill their athletic career.î

In an effort to manicure every field at least two times each week, Marcio and the maintenance crew average about nine fields a day starting in mid-May to early April all the way through the summer sports season.

ìItís continuous work,î Marcio said. ìThe school district is in a money crunch so they donít have the money to hire as many people back in the summer time. Weíre lucky to have a strong athletic association that buys the materials needed to maintain the fields, that helps.î

Maintaining the school district athletic fields isnít the only thing Marcio does. Once school resumes after summer break and the leaves start to change, Marcio puts on the hat to sell tickets to the high school sporting events for soccer, basketball, volleyball, gymnastics and wrestling.

ìYears ago when Doug Peltier was the athletic director he gave me the job of selling tickets,î Marcio said. ìItís kind of fun because I get to meet a lot of people.î

Marcio said that he used to be able to watch all the games, but now that the high school has the field house, he sits in the hallway and only gets to watch the second half of events.

History

Baseball is a bit of a family thing for Marcio. Marcioís dad played baseball, playing his way into the AA ranks. His grandpa played one season for the Chicago White Sox in the early 1900s.

Marcio himself played baseball, not making it to the pro ranks, but played town ball.

Before coming to Forest Lake, Marcio worked from 1969-1988 in Chisago City as a maintenance supervisor and county maintenance supervisor.

While working as the Chisago City maintenance supervisor Marcio built Chisago Cityís first outdoor ice rink in 1969. Some of the materials used to build the rink were later used in the construction of the Maroon and Gold Arena he said.

Building the first outdoor ice rink wasnít the only contribution to Chisago City of Marcioís. He also helped start all their youth athletic programs that are still active today.

Top of Page

Forest Lake Times
P.O. Box 218
880 SW 15 St.
Forest Lake, MN 55025
651-464-4601
Fax 651-464-4605