Razum fell in love with groundskeeping as a baseball-obsessed teenager in Cleveland. He got a summer grounds crew job working for the Bossard family — a big name in the world of sports turf management — as part of the Cleveland Guardians (née Indians) and Browns organizations. Razum worked his way up from there, eventually maintaining Spring Training fields in Arizona before working with the Angels and Athletics in California.
When the Rockies joined the MLB, they became the only team between Kansas City and Los Angeles, and thus the de facto home team for fans across the Mountain West — fans who were willing to travel. Razum put a lot of pressure on himself in those early years to give the new players and new fans a field to be proud of.
“We wanted to get every game in that was scheduled because people were traveling long distances,” Razum said. “So dealing with weather was kind of a big, big deal. Whether it was rain or snow or whatever, it was kind of expected to get that game in that day.”
Now a seasoned veteran, Razum has shed some of those nerves. The weather, unfortunately, never gets easier.
Colorado is in the middle of a drought after a historically dry winter. Earlier this year, Denver Water declared a Stage 1 drought in an effort to reduce water usage by 20% in the city. Denver residents can only water their yard on two assigned days per week, and only before 10 a.m. or after 6 p.m. Denver city parks and golf courses are also cutting back on their water usage.
The grass at the ballpark remains pristine. Razum said the Rockies received an exemption on water restrictions from the city because Coors Field is “where the guys make their living.” But he also noted that his grounds crew has always tried to be good “stewards of the water.”
“People kind of tend to overwater their yards and things,” Razum said. At Coors Field, Razum said he gives the plant — the infield and outfield grass, that is — no more than what it needs.
Razum described the preseason as one of the “worst winters we’ve had as far as drought and dryness.”
“But, you know, we’ve had years where we’ve had drought conditions before,” he said. “Those past years kind of helped us prepare and … be ready for a predicted dry year.”
In a year characterized by heat and aridity, perhaps the most memorable day of the Rockies grounds crew’s season so far is the May 5-6 snowstorm that dropped up to a foot of snow in some parts of the metro area. Coors Field doesn’t have a roof; that precipitation blanketed the ballpark.
The Rockies still played the Mets the evening of the 6th thanks to late night and early morning work from Razum and his crew. Using a “snow pusher” that goes easy on the grass beneath the snow, the grounds crew completely cleared the field.
“The weather changes all the time here, as you well know,” Razum said. “We’ve dealt with big hailstorms prior to the game, big rainstorms during the game. The field was built to handle those kind of things. We have a really good drainage system underneath.”