Build a backyard ball field

Listen to this radio story (MP3 download) or read below.

Radio interview source: Grady Miller, professor of turfgrass science, North Carolina State University

Ever since I was small, I have been a big Baltimore Orioles fan. We went to a lot of their games in the summer. We kids pretended to be part of the team and my dad kept a bit of the pasture open for a ball field so we wouldn't tear up the yard. I played first base because Boog Powell was my favorite player. I even had my own leather glove. It was green.

Grady Miller is a turfgrass specialist at North Carolina State University. He says if you're looking for an area for the kids to pretend they're major-leaguers, find a spot that's flat without obstructions, like rocks or trees.

"The evenness of the grass both in mowing and the ground underneath the grass has a big role to play in ball response off of the ground," Miller says.

"That determines whether the ball is going to roll straight or bounce erratically. If you're a fielder, you don't want too many erratic bounces because you might get hit in the face when you think it's going to go into your glove."