European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 19, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday june 19, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 25astroturf changed face of games by Bill Glauber the Baltimore Sun Don Sutton was pitching against his boyhood idol Robin Roberts. Playing second base for the Houston astros was a future Hall of Famer named Joe Morgan. Clustered in the crowd of 25,000 at the Houston Astrodome were 12 astronauts heroes who were racing to the Moon. A it was april 18,1966. The los Angeles dodgers Defeated the astros 6-3, in an otherwise routine game made memorable by the presence of a Concrete hard Green carpet. This was baseball a first game played on astroturf and the landscape of american sports would never be the same. A i thought to myself that this turf would be Quick a said Sutton who recorded the first of his 324 major league victories that evening. A i  believe it i figured someone would get killed. When the Ball was hit it was like skipping rocks on a  artificial turf has survived 25 years in . Professional sports outlasting five presidential administrations three professional football leagues and the Apollo space program. Despite past controversies and the never ending disdain of baseball purists the Wall to Wall carpeting of sports continues around the Globe. In a world without artificial turf there would be no four hour rain delays no Kangaroo hops no turf toe and certainly no sports related Rug Burns. A if a horse wont eat it i wont play on it a Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Dick Allen said when astroturf was introduced former baseball manager Leo Durocher chimed in a this travesty could ruin the  a but baseball and the nation endured. Currently half of the 28 nil teams and 10 of the 26 major league baseball teams have artificial turf Home Fields. Artificial turf enabled Snow Belt football teams to move indoors triggered a building Boom of cookie Cutter stadiums in the 1970s, and fuelled attendance surges for the Cincinnati reds and St. Louis cardinals a teams that saw a drop in Ruairi outs and a Rise in fans flocking to their Parks from several states. A the country that can Send people to the Moon and can win a land War in four Days can to grow grass indoors a said Steve Hirdt an editor of the 1991 Elias baseball analyst. A in terms of ambience not Many people would say a take me out to the Ball game for the smell of the  a in the beginning there was chem gras. This carpet for athletics was developed by the Monsanto co. With a Grant from the Ford foundation which saw a need to enhance athletic facilities for Urban youth. ,.why not place a carpet atop pavement and Call it a Field the first carpet was Laid at the Moses Brown school ii Providence r. In april 1964. It was used for everything from baseball games to Tennis matches to graduation ceremonies. The Only team that avoided the stuff until game Day was the schools football team it turned out the carpet was too hard for scrimmages. Still during ceremonies in 1989 marking the 25th anniversary of the turfs installation at Moses Brown school athletic director and football coach Jerry a. Zeoli marvelled Over the Impact one Rug had in sports. A we had an idea that it would develop into something big a he said. But the carpet needed a Sho Vocase to create a Market. Enter the Houston Astrodome. It looked like a comic Book spaceship and was billed without any Trace of embarrassment As the eighth wonder of the world. When the Astrodome opened in 1965, it was a Concrete and steel Oasis in the Astrodome in Houston was the first Park incorporating astroturf a synthetic grass carpet which turned 25 this Spring. The midst of a Texas summer loaded with heat humidity and mosquitoes initially grass was grown inside the stadium because the dome included Lucite panes. But when outfielders consistently lost sight of Fly balls the dome was. Painted and the grass began dying. A the grass was never very Good to begin with a Morgan said. A it was like playing on dirt Fields when i was a kid. Then they started painting it. You a finish a game with paint stains on your uni form.�?�. A a a a a a a ,. / a the solution to the Astrodome a turf problem was chem gras. Unlike modern versions of artificial turf the carpet covered Only the infield for the astros first few Home stands in 1966. Instead of incorporating sliding paths around the bases a a wrinkle that came into play in the 1970s a the infield dirt was  what happened was you would get one spin on the Ball coming off the turf and then As soon As the Ball hit the dirt it took another spin a Morgan said. A it was like target practice.�?�. Morgan the player barely remembers the first time he saw astroturf. But Hirdt the statistical Whiz who gives baseball numbers meaning vividly recalls his first sighting of the carpet which was named astroturf by local sport Wnters in Houston. A it was on television a Hirdt said. A the new York mets were in Houston and Lindsay Nelson had a piece of the turf in his hand and he was explaining what it was. All i could think was a is that All there is a a remember the whining that greeted the St. Louis cardinals Victory m the 1982 world series with a team that hit Only 67 Home runs purists looked at the future of baseball and what they saw was pinball played by swarms of fast smiles hitting players who would rather slap the Ball on artificial turf than aim for the fences. As usual the purists overreacted. Artificial turf has not dramatically recast the shape of baseball. _ a a it a More a question of aesthetics than statistics a Hirdt said. A remember All of those people who said that astroturf would raise everyone s batting average by 20 to 30 Points. Well it did no to happen. What did happen is that it changed the types of players who play on the Field. You found teams collecting outfielders who could run. And Cut the Ball off in the gaps. You needed players who could prevent singles from becoming  Morgan said that astroturf improved the Quality of the game and its players. A i think for a while astroturf revitalized the game a Morgan said. A it made the game quicker and put a Premium on defense. Now i think everyone has adjusted to it. They play a different kind of game now than they did in the Early 1980s. Teams Are going More for Power. In baseball everything is cyclical  a a a a a v.-. A a a a Quot a a in 1971, the Pittsburgh pirates became the first team  Home games on artificial turf to win a world series. Since then eight world series have been won by turf teams. When Joe Torre hit .363 with the St. Louis cardinals in 1971, he became the first of 11 National league batting champions to play their Home games on artificial turf. Turf hitters have won the Amer ican league batting title five times since 1976. One of them Kansas City a George Jarett hit .390 in 1980. Still great players learn to adjust to any surface. The batting Kings of the 1980s played their Home games on grass. Between them Tony Gwynn of the san Diego padres and Wade Boggs of the Boston red sox won nine batting titles. A grass dirt turf it does no to matter a Gwynn said. A if they told me i had to hit on the Moon id hit on the  at first it was nothing serious. Lots of Little hurts began afflicting the Houston astros in 1966. Sore legs. Tender backs. Pulled Muscles. The players pointed to the carpet. A i never liked playing on astroturf a said Bob Watson the astros assistant general manager who was a Rookie outfielder first baseman with Houston in 1966. A a it a hard on your legs and your lower Back. Id have to stand in the Whirlpool after a game. Fifty five degree water. Also if you dived for a Ball you a have one tremendous Rug Burn. And those stay with you the whole season. They never heal its like a second or third degree Burn. Its Tough to perform with a carpet Burn on your  nagging injuries for baseball players soon became major injuries for football players. In the Early 1970s, studies began to link the use of turf with a Rise in football injuries. An nil players association Survey showed 8.7 injuries per game were suffered on artificial turf compared with 6.9 on grass during the first half of the 1984 season. Three times the a Flea asked Congress to declare a moratorium on the turfs installation. No legislation was enacted. Monsanto and the nil disputed the injury studies. But even anecdotal evidence was compelling. Two time Heisman trophy Winner Archie Griffin missed most of the 1983 nil season after making a Cut on an artificial turf Field and tearing an abdominal muscle. Quot a. A a my foot just got caught in a seam of the turf a said Griffin now the Ohio state assistant athletic director. A i did no to get touched by anybody and i just went  in 1974, Texas Christian University running Back Kent Waldrep broke his neck and was paralysed after being tackled by an Alabama player and striking the surface at legion Field in Birmingham Ala. Waldrep sued Bil trite the manufacturer of poly turf and eventually received an out of court financial settlement in 1984. A artificial turf took my Freedom away from me a Waldrep said. Most players Are luckier than Waldrep yet artificial turf and injuries Are hard facts of life in the nil. The controversy Over the surface May have subsided but the carpet remains As a fast track to ferocious hits. A with Speed you get momentum with momentum you get greater Force and with greater Force you get greater trauma a Philadelphia eagles Trainer Otho Davis said. A the body absorbs higher Impact and with higher Impact you have a greater Chance of injury. Its like a big wheel going around and around and around. It never