Lincoln, Neb.聽鈥� For the ninth consecutive season, Haymarket Park, the home of the Lincoln Saltdogs, was selected 鈥楤est Playing Field鈥� in the American Association, as voted by league managers and media.
Josh Klute has been the Athletic Turf Manager at Haymarket Park since 2006. In addition to the nine American Association titles, he also helped earn the ballpark 鈥楤aseball Field of the Year鈥� in the College/University division by the Sports Turf Management Association in 2007 鈥� the second time Hawks Field at Haymarket Park earned that national award.
鈥淎fter all these years this award still means a lot to us because it鈥檚 a long season as the field events usually start in January and continue into mid-November,鈥� Klute said. 鈥淲e take a lot of pride in our work and we appreciate the acknowledgement not only by our team but other teams and managers who travel to play at Haymarket.鈥�
As a member of the Northern League, Haymarket Park garnered the award from its inception in 2001 through 2005, and has continued the title reign through all nine聽seasons of American Association play.
鈥淛osh and his staff do an outstanding job for baseball fans in Lincoln,鈥� Saltdogs President/GM Charlie Meyer said. 鈥淭hey keep the playing field of Haymarket Park on par with Major League surfaces. A thank you goes out to our stadium operations crew as well.鈥�
Prior to his time at Haymarket Park Klute served as Athletic Turf Manager at the University of Oklahoma in 2005, Assistant Turf Manager for the Cleveland Indians minor-league affiliate in Lake County (Ohio) from 2003-2004, and as an intern with the Milwaukee Brewers in 2002.
Klute added:聽 鈥淚 want to thank my assistant Jeremy Johnson as I am very lucky to have someone of his caliber.聽 He does a lot for this organization and his constant attention to detail and work ethic really helps set us apart from others.聽聽 I also want to thank my entire grounds crew along with Marcus Laible and my 2014 interns: Adam Steward, Ross Fredrick and Jake Hartwig.聽 Those guys put an insane amount of hours into their job and their work certainly doesn鈥檛 go unnoticed by me.”
