Nice
article by David Briggs of The Toledo
Blade on longtime Mud Hens groundskeeper Jake Tyler’s last opening day:
One more
time, with feeling, Jake Tyler tended Toledo’s diamond of Eden. For the
longtime groundskeeper of Fifth Third Field, opening day was closing time.
“It’s
tough,” he said. “I’m excited for what I’ll be doing but … it’s tough. I
think about this place 24 hours a day and I’ve never thought of it as work.”
Ok, that
last part is not entirely true.
Tyler
clocked in at 4:30 a.m. Thursday and spent the run-up to the Mud Hens’ opener
against Louisville — his next-to-last day — more glued to the radar than Jim
Cantore. He will not miss the rain.
But as he
sets off after 15 seasons to begin his own local athletic turf company, the
38-year-old Tyler will miss the rest of it.
Read it all here
