CARE PAYS DIVIDENDS IN A.V.; GROUNDSKEEPER MAKES JETHAWKS DIAMOND SHINE.

Byline: Bhavna Mistry Daily News Staff Writer

Keeping a baseball field green and immaculate in a city where summer days can top 110 degrees and the winter usually brings snow isn't easy.

But Lancaster Municipal Stadium groundskeeper David Pfatenhauer succeeded, winning him the title of Groundskeeper of the Year from the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues.

Pfatenhauer was presented a plaque during Friday night's sold-out JetHawks game.

``I found out in front of 5,000 people,'' he said. ``It's the best day of work I ever had in my life.''

Pfatenhauer said he uses a combination of adequate watering, measured amounts of fertilizer and his own personal knowledge - plus keeping ahead of the weather - to keep the field healthy.

``We deal with a lot of conditions out here,'' said Pfatenhauer, who supervises a crew of 25 full-time and part-time employees and volunteers during baseball season. ``We deal with freezing snow, rain and then 110-degree temperatures and wind. We have to keep the weather in mind all the time.''

Pfatenhauer's accommodation to the Antelope Valley's drastic weather swings played a role in winning him the award, officials said.

During one May game, California League officials watched Pfatenhauer's crew put a tarp out to prevent the field from getting soaked during heavy rains.

``If you had come to the game after it had rained, you would have never realized how hard it had rained,'' said Jim McCue, director of media and public relations for the California League. ``That incident was (really) impressive.''

It was nothing, Pfatenhauer said. During another game, the crew put down the tarp and removed it six times.

Pfatenhauer was also recognized for his grass-cutting design for the California League All-Star Game in Lancaster. As important as being green and the right height, grass must be cut in the right way, he said.

``You have to change your (mowing) patterns so you don't get grass to (lie) in one place,'' he added. ``Otherwise, the ball will snake side to side instead of rolling straight.

``You must maintain consistency. Grass will do what you make it do.''

Plastered on his office walls are diagrams of various cuts that he has experimented with over the past two seasons.

The linear cut mows straight up and down the field. The checkered cut gives a crosshatched pattern by mowing diagonally across the field. Pfatenhauer's design incorporates a curving cut around the pitcher's mound.

``It's unique to this field,'' he said. ``I've never seen that except for here. It fits our stadium very well.''

Pfatenhauer's supervisors recognize his talent.

``I started by taking care of the grounds,'' said Dan Munz, park supervisor with the Lancaster Parks, Recreation and Arts Department. ``But he has transformed it to a thing of beauty.''

In his daily work, Pfatenhauer personally mows the infield with a push mower, keeping the grass no more than three-quarters of an inch high.

The outfield grass is cut with a riding mower every other day, also to three-quarters of an inch. The grassy seating area is mowed twice a week and kept to 2 inches high.

Every 15 days the lawn is fertilized, and overseeding is done every 10 days. The grass is Bermuda, overseeded with rye grass.

``You have to do it on a constant basis so you can't see it,'' said Pfatenhauer. ``We're seeding all the time.''

While Pfatenhauer's horticultural skills are important, he says it's his knowledge of baseball that makes his work stand out from other groundskeepers'.

``I know what it takes to play the game of baseball,'' he said. ``Many groundskeepers don't know the game.''

Pfatenhauer, a 41-year-old father of two boys who doesn't garden at home, got his love for lawns in high school.

As his friends played sports, Pfatenhauer became the equipment and field manager at Sylmar High School. He won several Future Farmers of America awards in landscaping, and as a senior took on the school's baseball field as his horticulture project.

``I made a lot of people jealous,'' he said. ``I was on the field four hours a day in my senior year.''

After high school, Pfatenhauer went to work for a construction company, doing some landscaping before becoming lead groundskeeper at College of the Canyons. He worked there for 17 years before coming to Lancaster.

At the college, Pfatenhauer's work on the baseball field won him the Professional Grounds Maintenance Honor Award, presented by Grounds Maintenance magazine and the Professional Grounds Management Society.

``I spend a lot of time here,'' Pfatenhauer said. ``Sometimes I have a tendency to come in early and stay late. It's on my mind all the time.

``This is what I do. This is my life. I know how to do it well.''

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2 Photos

PHOTO (1-2--Color) David Pfatenhauer, above, has been selected as Groundskeeper of the Year by the National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues for his work on the JetHawks' field in Lancaster. Left, Pfatenhauer displays the results of his and his crew's efforts.

Jeff Goldwater/Daily News