Why are coaches obsessed with perfection for their baseball fields?

At a Southern California media day for high school baseball teams on Wednesday at JSerra, the topic turned to why coaches are obsessed with their fields. No one denied how much time and effort they and their players put in trying to make the grass pristine, the soil smooth and the chalk lines straight.

There’s the unusual reasons. El Dorado’s Matt Lucas said he misses his playing days, so trying to have a field better than others is great motivation and challenges his competitive spirit.

Bishop Amat’s Joe Hoggatt said the obsession comes from superstition. “If you take care of the grass in a game of bounces, then you’re going to get the bounces,” he said. “It doesn’t always happen that way, but we believe it’s going to happen.”

The truth, though, is that coaches are teaching their players lessons.

John Weber of Cypress said, “Taking care of our field is important. It’s our house. You walk into our dugouts, you’ll never trip over anything. It’s clean. There’s no stone unturned. There’s a pride that comes with that. Our coaching staff gets excited when teams that have never played at our place [say], ‘Holy cow, this is awesome.’

“How can you work so hard? Because your dad worked hard. He probably instilled that in you. I’m not their father, but I’m their baseball father. When they come out to the field and see me mowing every day, there’s a little pride being instilled in them.”

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Green grass, clean dugouts, smooth dirt. Coaches demand perfection when it comes to baseball fields.