Duncan's crew got Cafaro Field ready

By BILL SULLIVAN
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
NILES - They call the legendary soul singer James Brown "The hardest working man in show business".
If you've ever seen Brown perform live, there's no doubt how he gained his title.
After the weekend's rainfall, Cafaro Field chief custodian Matt Duncan can be called "The hardest working man in the caretaker business".
By early Sunday, the production crew of singer Nelly had erected a massive stage for that evening's concert at Cafaro Field.
Part of the preparation required placing several sheets of plywood on the grass so trucks could deliver the singer's equipment.
Then the record-breaking rain hit Trumbull County, canceling Sunday's show.
Damaged grass
When the many sheets of wood were finally removed, there were two wide paths of damaged, discolored grass.
Duncan went to work almost immediately, said Scrappers media relations assistant Greg Gania.
Gania estimated Duncan's crew worked 16-hour days to get the field playable for Wednesday's New York-Penn League game,
"The rain made it difficult," said Duncan, the stadium operations director.
"The path out in center field, we just kept raking it up, standing the grass back up, trying to water it," said Duncan.
"The big problem was at first base where the grass was wet from all the rain we've had. They put plywood down and had a forklift going over that."
Saw damage Monday
Duncan didn't realize the amount of damage until Monday night when the singer's crew left the stadium.
Then he had to get creative.
"We had to strip all the sod out of the first base area and took it out of the visitor's bullpen and replaced it with that."
All in less than two days.
"It was a lot of work and a lot of hours just trying to get it back," he said.
Of note -- there were no bad bounces or slips in the new area around first base in Wednesday's game.
Even James Brown would have liked the footing there.