Making history at Miller Park: Grounds crew talks about transforming baseball field into soccer field

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Making history at Miller Park. The baseball stadium hosted its first international soccer match on Wednesday night, July 16th -- and that meant transforming the baseball field into a soccer field.

The jubilation of a Brewers win leading into the All-Star break had players celebrating not only the result -- but the fact that they were away from Miller Park and baseball for the next four days.

But Miller Park would be far from vacant -- even with the Brewers far from home.

Members of the Brewers grounds crew had to quickly get to work.

"We had a number of trucks full of sod come in," Jason Hartlund, the Brewers Vice President of Brewers Enterprises and Event Services said.

"We stripped the skin, the infield clay. We stripped our conditioner off. Our goal was 44 hours," Michael Boettcher said.

Their work for the next few days was far from their usual responsibilities.

"It's just another curve ball. It's a challenge that we take on," Boettcher said.

"The baseball field is being transformed into a soccer pitch," Hartlund said.

"The turf that you see, that's here all season long, that's one of our biggest priorities and focuses to make sure that's in good shape. So when the team returns, the sod they're playing on is no different than when they left here," Boettcher said.

The new pitch that Head Groundskeeper Boettcher was facing, both figuratively and literally, wasn't just thrown at him on a whim.

"We've been talking about this for five months and how we're going to prepare our field," Boettcher said.

While baseball is always the primary focus at Miller Park, Boettcher has had to prepare for other major events.

"Last summer we experienced concerts. Before we've experienced luncheons. We've had a convention here a few weeks back, so it kind of all plays into the same type of thing," Boettcher said.

"This will be the first time that we've had a major sporting event that's not baseball," Hartlund said.

Hartland helped to bring the major soccer event to Miller Park. For the fans, watching the friendly match between Chivas Guadalajara and Swansea City will be a whole new experience...at a familiar place.

"They'll walk in here and see something they've never seen before, soccer goals and no dirt," Hartland said.

Among the noticeable changes, sod will cover the baselines.

"We've had it cut to a thickness of a weight that we think is going to hold and meet the play of the game. At the end of the day, we need to make sure that we have a safe surface for those players to come in and play on so that nothing is compromised when they're here playing this soccer game," Boettcher said.

But there are other, very delicate differences the grounds crew has not undertaken previously.

"The pitching mound definitely a challenge. It's the first time the pitching mound has gone out in Miller Park history, since it was built back in 2000," Boettcher said.

Maybe the most important part of a baseball field is the perfectly constructed pitching mound.

"The great thing was the mound was exactly how we thought it was built. And we'll be able to put her back together pretty easily, not necessarily easily, but strategically at the end of this," Boettcher said.

Yes, Boettcher refers to the pitching mound as "her" -- but with the care and dedication he and his crew put into the mound and the field, it's easy to understand.

"There are so many people back here that are responsible for the successes of this. And even though we might have some long hours and some tired eyes on us a little bit, we're still as a team and we're working as a team and trying to have fun as much as a team through this," Boettcher said.

That fun will culminate with a successful match and add to the lore of Miller Park.

"I guess the history will be made with the game," Boettcher said.

About 25 part-time workers, along with managers and supervisors from a sub-contractor put the pitch together. It will return to a diamond in time for Monday's Brewers game vs. the Reds.

There is no word yet as to whether soccer will return to Miller Park -- but there's hope it will.