In addition to the information in the guide, here is some food for thought about tarp quality.

Material selection is one of the most critical aspects of selecting a tarp that best matches your intended use and budget. Materials are typically referenced by their weight per square yard and fabric type. For example, 6-oz. woven polyethylene, 18-oz. solid vinyl, 13-oz. vinyl-coated polyester mesh, etc. In general, material weight dictates cost and durability. However, choosing a heavier weight material (when multiple options exist) doesn’t always mean a better-performing product. There are also other physical properties that influence how well a tarp performs under various conditions as well as functional considerations (handling weight) that should be taken into account.

Production specifications are sometimes harder to gather information on, but are no less important. Today, more and more suppliers are importing their tarps from overseas manufacturers in hopes of keeping costs down to the consumer and maintaining or increasing their profit margins. This is often done at the expense of quality and consistency. All of our Full Field Tarps, Weighted Tarps, and Skin Tarps (and more!) are fabricated in the U.S.A. This is the only way we can be sure the tarps match our construction specifications and material expectations. The entire production process is monitored start-to-finish to ensure our standards are met on all aspects of the finished product – seam welds, stitching, coating consistency, grommet/handle placement, etc. This extra attention to detail allows us to stand confidently behind our products and offer a 3-year manufacturer’s warranty on all Full Size Infield Tarps.

With Daylight Savings Time in effect and the weather warming up all over the country, now is a great time to look at how you can make an impact on your facility.

Obviously, things like infield soils, batter’s box fortification, or irrigation, readily come to mind as important projects that will impact the playability of your fields.

But beyond those projects, an often overlooked thought is “how can we dress up our field”? At very reasonable costs, you can make a big impact on how your facility is viewed by players, parents, visiting teams and fans, or just the community at large.

Here are a few suggestions that have had great results for facilities we’ve consulted with across the country:

A little closer to the action there are some things that can also improve the aesthetic appeal of your ballfields. One sure-fire way to improve the look of your field is to add turf striping to the mowing details. Very easy with very impressive results. We recommend the CheckMate Turf Striping Rollers, they’re really a great product at a great value.

Now may also be a good time to look over some of the areas that impact safety. Fresh fence cap and padding on the dugout railings or backstop wall might be worth looking at along with your protective netting.

Even if you only have time or budget to implement a few of these details, it can go a long way toward improving the overall experience at your ballfields. And if you implement several of these over a few years, you’ll see definitely see an improvement in the attitude of the players, coaches, your staff and the community. They’ll notice the attention to detail and want to spend more time at the ballpark, and isn’t that what it’s really about?

Planning now will make sure some of these are part of your “big picture”, and the impact of these details will be a lasting one.

Play ball!

April 6, 2010 – 10:30am – 2:00pm

• Meet Madison Mallards President Vern Stenman and enter to win Mallards tickets!
• Batting practice in a Beacon Batting Cage
• Exclusive 1-day Product Offers and Demos
• Opening Day Door Prizes
• Poolcar Pick-ups (on-site poolcar pricing available)
• Beacon’s “Experts in the Field” on hand to answer any questions you might have about the upcoming season.

1) Do you have access to water for managing soil moisture? Water is the life blood of an infield skin, with it, the ball hops more truly, the surface is more resilient, cleats penetrate more easily and disturb the soil surface less and dust control is maintained. The soil make-up of your infield will need to be adjusted depending on whether you have access to water or not. The other important factor you must consider is:

2) What level management will this field receive? Is the field you manage maintained by it’s own dedicated crew like a professional team? Or is it taken care of on an intermittent basis by a regular employee? Maybe there is no dedicated staff maintaining it at all and the field relies on unskilled volunteers to maintain the field. Maintenance levels also play a determining roll in the make-up of your infield skin.

Once you have answered these two questions, you will typically fall into one of three classifications shown below:

The rest of this series will be posted right here, in the Beacon Blog. Feel free to submit any questions you’d like addresses or post your own comment here.

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I’m sure those of you that had the opportunity to attend the show felt the enthusiasm. A year ago it was all gloom and doom at the trade show as attendees were handcuffed by spending freezes. But this year there was a definite “vibe” to all those who were in attendance. They were excited to be there, excited to get started on their fields and excited to see what we exhibitors had on display for them.

I hope some of you were present for my “Skinny on Skins” presentation on Thursday. I recounted how my turf degree from the University of Wisconsin included so much soils education. Little did I realize at that time way back in the early 80’s just how important those soil classes would be. Since then, I’ve spent the past 25 or so years studying, learning and working with infield soils. This presentation contained some important new information on their make-up.

There is more to infield soils than many people, even STMA members, realize. I have always advised customers that I talk to at Beacon to get their infield soils tested so that they know what is in their infield mix. With this knowledge, they are fully informed of the status of their infield mix and can compare their mix with what myself and some others in the industry have come to define as the desired infield soil makeup.

Given the reaction to my presentation at the STMA conference I’ve decided to write a series of articles. I’ll discuss the parameters that you should try to attain in order to have a successful, easy-to-manage infield skin based on your maintenance level.

You can read the first article now: Classify your Field.

The onset of a new year means Beacon Athletics has a new catalog in the mail. We know customers look forward to receiving their new copy of Beacon’s annual product catalog but sometimes something happens and catalogs don’t make it. It may be as simple as a bad address or an over-eager mail room system limiting catalog distribution. We don’t always find out. If you didn’t receive a 2010 catalog or know someone else who might want one, give us a call at (800) 747-5985, request a print copy here, or download a PDF right now!

This year’s catalog is packed with new products and innovative ideas on how to build a better athletics field or maintain the ones you have. Among the new product listings you’ll see the new Beacon Protective Screens, the battery powered Kombi Field Stripper, FieldSaver (a new infield amendment that can help any field), improved Field Tarps (Made in USA), new Backstop designs and much, much more.

The holidays were great, and the new year is here. And, while January is a cold, typically dreary month up here in the Northern U.S., baseball and softball will be starting to ramp up down South and out West come January. Yet, despite the cold, January was always the beginning of the season for me back in my days of minding a Major League Baseball field in Baltimore. That was the month I would take inventory of everything we had, from tools to chemicals to seed. That annual exercise provided a snapshot of what I had on hand and made for easier planning when it came time to make some purchases. Plan in hand, I would layout and execute my buying over the month of February so that everything I needed was on the premises by the time we would begin prepping for Opening Day.

A long-standing program that is in the spirit of this planning and effective buying idea is our annual “Poolcar Program” that begins in early January. With the bulk mindset of the program, it’s the time to take advantage of the lowest prices of the year for our bagged product and unfired clay brick. Just like the plan mentioned above, when you place orders in January and February, the materials will arrive in early March for many all the way up to the end of March or early April for those along the Canadian border. This program is great for everyone because orders to close-by locations are “pooled” together for more efficient shipping, and those lower shipping costs are passed on to you.

All essential bagged products are available in Poolcar Program. Things like calcined clays (Turface MVP, Pro League & Quick Dry; Diamond Pro Topdress, Professional, and Drying Agent), vitrified clays (Diamond Pro Infield Conditioner), Crushed Aggregate (Magic Mix), shredded bagged mound & home plate clay (Diamond Pro & Turface), unfired clay bricks for high wear areas, and field marking chalk (Sparkle No.6).

I use the Poolcar Program every year for the West Madison Little League, a local organization that I help out with maintaining their fields. This year we will be purchasing mound clay, chalk and drying agent for the facility — and it will save them a lot money. But now is really the time to get that planning done, because these prices really are for a limited time. It’s only while a heavy volume of bulk shipments are taking place that the savings can be had. Go to the Poolcar section of our site for information and for the super easy automated online ordering, or keep an eye out in your mailbox for information just after New Year’s. Won’t be long now, opening day isn’t far away!

We’re looking forward to seeing you in Salt Lake City for NRPA 2009! Regardless of where you are in the process, Beacon is ready to help with your project. Whether planning an entire facility or just adding to an existing complex, we can guide you at every step along the way. Ultimately, you just need it done right.

Stop in to meet Jim Myrland and learn how our Facility Support Group can help you with your next project. Visit us at Booth 1937! NRPA 2009 Salt Lake City, Oct. 13–16, 2009 Click here to register for the NRPA show and enjoy early bird pricing until Thurs., September 24!

To add a product to your Wish List, just click “Add to Wish List” under the Add to Cart button. If you are not already logged in, you can log in or sign up for an account. This will make the checkout process faster anyway. Products in your Wish List will remain in your Wish List for as long as you like. It doesn’t matter if you log out and come back a month later, those products will still be there until you delete them. When you return, just log into your account and click the Wish List button at the top of the sidebar:

You can even create and manage multiple Wish Lists:

You can view your Wish Lists as a complete list at any time. From here, you can add items into your cart (individually or all at once), print your list, or even email it to yourself or a colleague.

Let us know if you need help with this new feature, or if you have any problems. Have fun planning your new facility! To tell us what you think, just leave a reply for us below.