Fort Wayne TinCaps Win Another Award

At this point, the Fort Wayne TinCaps are looking to expand their stadium just to fit all of their trophies. They piled up another one on Thursday, with TinCaps Turf Manager Keith Winter winning Single A Turf Manager of the Year for the second consecutive year! While any award is never guaranteed, it did help that their Groundcrew had won the Groundscrew Award for the 5th straight year as well.

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Throw in the fact that in Fort Wayne, IND you have much different challenges than you would expect out here in San Diego and the west. A game on April 14th actually got postponed when two inches of snow landed on the field. The game was resumed the next day and finished, a strong feat for a grounds crew of ANY level.

The TinCaps continue to show themselves as the crown jewel of the Padres minor league system, and congratulations should be extended to the entire crew out in Indiana. In fact, my guess is that if Fort Wayne wasn’t just so far away from San Diego it might be more realistic to bump up the team to a higher level of minor league ball.

Winter had to say this to say about the award:

“This is an award I’m proud to receive, but what I’m most proud of is the commitment of the entire TinCaps organization to having the best surface possible at Parkview Field. From our entire grounds crew to our front office to our ownership group, Hardball Capital, it’s important to everyone to carry out our mission of striving for excellence.”

Saying the right things, and backing it up with his hard work on the field is how Keith Winter goes about his business. Well done. Now go ahead and indulge with one of those fellow award-winning BIG APPLE‘s!