Sitting up in the bleachers, you sometimes don’t see it. The precision, the effort, the work it takes to cultivate the perfect baseball field. Your eyes scan across the emerald field straight to the player, not noticing the precision of the chalk lines, and the smooth cut of the grass. But in this case the player that caught your attention is the same person that cut the grass, drew those chalk lines and does even more.
Junior Bennett Brown, plays regularly at Forest Parks’ Babe Ruth Baseball field and works in a grounds crew at the same field. Brown takes pride in his job and position on the team, a feeling he shares with his co-workers who also have a two-sided perspective of life on the field.
“It’s pretty cool knowing that it’s just a group of high schoolers working to keep the field nice, as we’re the ones that actually have to play out there,” Brown said. “It’s just nice to keep the field looking good so that it’s a place we can be proud to say we play at.”
For Brown, Babe Ruth Baseball field is a vital part of the Noblesville community because he and many others have spent so much of their baseball careers there. Working at the field has created a strong bond within the grounds crew that can be seen through the many duties they share.
“[What we have to do] maintenance, like cutting the grass, weeding, like general upkeep and making sure the trash is picked up around the park,” Brown said.
Brown’s position as a groundskeeper is similar to his role during games, where he protects his teammates as a catcher. Assistant Miller baseball coach Scott Scott Henson acknowledges the catcher’s value on the team.
“The importance of the catcher in baseball can be compared to the importance of the quarterback in football and the point guard in basketball. He is the only defensive player on the field that is not in fair territory and can see the whole field in front of him,” Henson said. “A good catcher is the heart and soul of his team.”
Brown has played baseball for thirteen years, and his pride doesn’t stop with his work maintaining the park. It extends to the teamwork required to make the Babe Ruth Baseball Field a place to be proud of.
“I actually play at the Babe Ruth fields. So I knew the people that worked at the grounds crew, and so I was able to get a job through there,” Brown said. “The people working in the grounds crew have a kind of tight friendship, and we all want to make sure the park stays maintained and we’re proud of it.”
For Brown and his friends, the end goal isn’t just to keep the park clean. As Jase Sickler, a junior and a fellow groundskeeper makes clear, their goal is to make the park a fun place for everyone.
“There’s a lot of things that we strive to do, like, making sure people want to play baseball and they have a place to play,” Sickler said. “There’s a lot of people who come to play and we want to keep the park clean for them to be able to play and have fun.”
Brown, Sickler and the rest of the grounds crew work hard to make Forest Park a place that community members recognize as a part of their town. Along with the fun that comes with playing baseball, Henson believes baseball teaches lessons that last a lifetime.
“Baseball is a great game, but it is about as hard a game as there is. I believe it teaches you a lot about life and how to deal with the failures that you will ultimately have to endure in life,” Henson said. “In baseball, like life, those that are the best at preparing and at learning from their mistakes and moving on to the next play will perform the best. I respect Bennett for his love of the game and his willingness to do what he can to remain close to it.”
Brown’s coworkers and teammates appreciate his dedication to maintaining the diamond. Brown hopes that everyone can see the love he puts into the job.
“People who go to Forest Park are also going to be in the area, and you don’t want it to be a sore [spot]. We don’t want to have people looking at a bad field,” Brown said. “You want to make people proud to be at Forest Park.”
