Baseball Field Tarps

Tarps can be used on sports fields, specifically baseball fields, to protect against UV rays and harsh weather. A baseball field tarp will provide year round coverage for grass, dirt, and sod against wind and water so that fewer games will be canceled because of an unplayable field. High school to professional-level teams use a baseball field tarp and, even recently, tarps will come with chain lining around the edges so that stakes and sandbags will not to be needed in a storm. Most tarps have a three year warranty and can stand temperatures as low was -40F and winds as high as 65mph.

A baseball field tarp should have a high mesh count, particularly 14x14 weave, and a thick polyethylene coating. Covers for sports other than baseball can be canvas, but baseball field covers are generally heavy duty polyethylene. The tarp itself weighs up to 1500lbs depending on size and should be water, tear, and acid resistant. Weight can vary, but baseball field tarps are heaviest as a full infield tarp and lightest as a standard lightweight polyethylene tarp. Major league teams, for example, will use an almost-circular, in fact, a 36-sided shape, tarp for their field which, in addition to protecting the field, will not harm surrounding infield grass. Aside from the field, tarp covers can be made for the plate, mount, bases, and bullpen.

In the past, baseball field tarps had to be laid out and secured by the entire team and held in place by sandbags or stakes. The process of covering a field in a storm would take almost fifteen minutes, which may not seem like much time, except for that rain and other elements can quickly turn a baseball field to mud. Recent improvements and inventions in baseball field covers have included a galvanized steel chain hem around the edges of the tarp and a lifting and rolling device to lay out the tarp quickly in a storm. A lifting and rolling device for a baseball field tarp only requires two people, instead of an entire team, as the device has two sets of handles. One set allows two players to lift and roll the tarp, while the second set is extended pull handles for rolling the tarp back up.