It Seems Astroturf Has Put Down Roots

Ed Milner, former president of AstroTurf Industries Inc., didn't watch the baseball movie "Field of Dreams" with an eye toward improving it.

He didn't look at the field of grass carved out of the field of corn and wonder how the former might look with AstroTurf instead. He didn't envision a sea of artificial turf, in all its synthetic perfection, with a Zamboni machine parked off to the side.

"I'm not fighting the aesthetics of grass," said Milner, now a consultant to the Dalton, Ga. company that is the world's leading maker of artificial playing fields. "I can accept the emotion of nostalgia. I went to see `Field of Dreams' and bawled like a baby."

But when he joins the debate over the merits of the artificial surfaces as opposed to natural grass, Milner stands his ground - hard and hazardous ground, his opponents say.

This summer marks the 25th anniversary of the first major-league baseball game played on AstroTurf - April 18, 1966, at the Houston Astrodome. An oddity at first, artificial turf spread across the American landscape and today is used in 10 major-league stadiums, 13 National Football League stadiums and hundreds of college facilities. AstroTurf has been installed at more than 500 fields worldwide.

Artificial turf has changed sports - increasing the importance of speed and decreasing the effects of poor weather - but athletes, administrators and fans remain split on whether the change has been beneficial.

For an athlete, feelings on artificial turf depend on your job. Baseball players either adore it or abhor it, depending on whether they're holding a bat or a glove.

Hitters like artificial turf because the ball bounces higher and faster, while fielders dislike it for the same reason.

"I loved hitting on it," said former Atlanta Braves outfielder Terry Harper. "I hit a lot of ground balls, and those ground balls on that stuff are going to scoot on through there. Even though the guys (in the outfield) play deeper, you've still got a better chance of getting a hit."

But Harper, a coach with the Class AA Greenville (S.C.) Braves, added, "The AstroTurf is just so hard on your body."

It seems that bodies are hard on grass, says Milner, an Alabama native with a chemical engineering degree from Vanderbilt.

"The more you run on the field the more you pack it down. You kill the grass."

Milner said AstroTurf fields can handle 3,000-plus hours of use annually. Conversely, grass fields can survive only about 200 hours of use per year.

"That's all the beating they'll take."

Milner says an AstroTurf football field costs about $1.2 million. A baseball field, which is larger, is about $2 million.

Expensive, yes.

"But how many miles to the gallon do you get with this thing?" said Milner, adding that an AstroTurf field can last for 10 years of heavy use.

Annual maintenance on artificial turf is about $5,000, AstroTurf said, compared with up to 10 times that for real grass.

But if AstroTurf can take a beating, does it give one, too?

Milner and the Astroturf company point to studies suggesting there is no substantial difference in the number injuries on artificial turf and natural grass.

"Synthetic turf is a convenient scapegoat but perception does not match reality," the company says in the spring issue of its Turf Talk newsletter.

Also, Milner claims AstroTurf has improved through the years. He said it has greater shock absorbency than grass fields, and retains that absorbency in freezing weather that turns grass fields rock-hard.

Players generally agree that artificial turf technology has improved. But Houston Oilers quarterback Warren Moon said, "Every time you get a chance to play on grass, you cherish it."

AstroTurf isn't going away. Milner said the company, which was sold by St. Louis-based Monsanto Co. in 1988 to Balsam of Germany, continues to show "modest growth".

"We have put a bunch of artificial fields in New York (for municipal use). They get used heavily all night. We desperately need for kids to play. We're able to do that with artificial turf."

Then Milner, known as "Mr. AstroTurf," plays his final card:

"And your mama doesn't chew you out because your clothes are muddy."