HDE Advent Calendar Day 14: Ballpark Drainage

Hi, everyone!
I'm Exzo.
I belong to the sales department in HDE, Inc.

This time I want to write about something that I’m most interested in recently, "Ballpark drainage!"

Since my life has been with no other interest than Baseball, it is unacceptable that I wouldn't be able to play Baseball on a rainy day, especially my day off.

It’s already been 2 years since I turned my baseball career as a player to a supporter of my son’s baseball life.

Thanks to all the skiiled baseball coaches, my son could happily play baseball!

Again, for such a “baseball love” family, I truly can not believe that we wouldn’t be able to play baseball on a rainy day!!

When it rains for entire day, we courageously give up and switch our mind to practice under the girder bridge. However, when the rains stops shortly, I always strongly think "Ohhh I wish I could let my son play on the ballpark rather than under the bridge!!"
That is the parental love.

So at that time, we tried to drain off the muddy water by using drainage pump.

Has anyone ever used the drainage pump?

This drainage pump can drain muddy water so it is very convenient.
I’ve heard that this kind of machine originally used at a construction site, but it seems that also on the baseball field they perform very well.

Therefore, Exzo has interest in a drainage pump and found out that there are two types of pumps which are for muddy water and freshwater.

By the way, freshwater drainage pump looks like below and mainly used for agricultural usage.

In addition, this type of the pump are alsoused for water sprinklers at a ballpark during summer.

If you use this pump for muddy water; "It will break!!!!"

So as Exzo has interest in pumps, Exzo came up with this simple question
"espite the same precipitation, puddle amount are different for each ballpark."

So, to find an answer to this question, I became interested in Koshien, one of the most famous baseball filed in Japan. Koshien Baseball Park is managed by Hanshin Gardening and has recently been used for this year’s Professional Baseball Climax Series.

I’ve found out some interesting points through my research.

☆ Shape of Ballpark ☆
It seems that the field itself has gentle slopes, from the center of pitcher’s mound towards the outfield (Naturally, the water will flow towards outfield.)

☆ A Soil of Ballpark ☆
The soils are mixture of fine black clay and rough particles of sand.
When the black soil contains moisture, it becomes sticky. (It will become mud when it rains.)
So that sands are necessary to prevent the soil from becoming muddy.
It seems that black soils takes the majority of the soil because it does not tighten if there is too much sand.

☆ Staff Members who maintains the Ballpark Ground ☆
Usually, about five people and when it becomes permanent staff it will be about two people.
It seems that there are currently 14 staffs in Koshien.

This maintenance method seems to be unrealistic when I try to implement it to our own field, so I tried to think from more realistic point of view.

"By the way, farmersmight be sufferring from the same problem..."

So I googled "Any chemical that could loosen the ground".

And I found out that there is a product called "EB - a"

"OMG This is the one !"

"Sudden purchase!"

So, now I am looking forward to receiving EB - a!

Summary
-There are pumps for freshwater and muddy water.
-If you accidentally use the pumps for freshwater to the dirty water, the machine will break.
- The ground maintenance method of Hanshin Gardening is incredibly wonderful, but it is not a realistic solution for ordinary people.
- Please wait for the breaking news about EB-a’s effectiveness.

I hope you have a wonderful time.