I have seen a local groundskeeper (AAA ballpark) use a rubber mat to drag baselines and homeplate areas of the field. The mat is black with many quarter sized holes in it. This is a very light and flexible alternative to traditional metal drags (ie the guy is/was able to pick it up very easily by himself). Anybody else seen this done? Anybody have any clue what kind of mat is being used? Thanks

try checking the AAA team's website to see if there is an e-mail address for the groundskeeper and ask him.

They have industrial Matting with hole's in it.
They use it in the isle ways so workers can walk on it instead of concrete.
Easier on the legs.
It's heavy enough, made from a durable, flexable Rubber about 1 inch thick.
Should be able to look it up in industrial supplys.

EH

I've seen stuff like this on the floors of restaurant kitchens... little bigger than a quarter size hole - probably more like an old silver dollar

http://www.akitchen.com/store/product2474.html

When you drag your field please do not run the drag over any part of the grass or turf, it will tear the grass or turf down, and also when you rake and broom the non-grass areas on the infield rake and broom away from the grass so you do not rake the dirt into the grass, also broom all grass edges onto the non-grass areas and pick up whatever is necessary, always keep the non-dirt areas immaculately clean of any thing except grass or turf, if you have clay mounds and home plate areas keep them perfect for the players to have excellent footing to hit and pitch on and when they are not in use keep them damp and covered so they will be nice and supple come practice and game time, if you leave your clay mound uncovered the rain will do bad things to it, the sun will eventually harden it like stone the area next to and in front of the rubber will get stone hard and when new fresh clay is filled in it will not adhere to the hole, you can then call your mound "BRICK HILL" home plate area clay or not should be treated the same as your mound, clay or not, keep your infield ln nice safe playing condition by, keeping all low spots filled in regularly, and most importantly keep proper dirt density in order for all players to always be able to maintain excellent footing, again, brooming the grass or turf into the infield and pick up whatever is necessary,"KEEP THE GRASS""GRASS ONLY" AND THE "DIRT" "DIRT ONLY" and keep it all "nicely edged," there is more but doing just these things you can keep your field well maintained and in nice safe playing condition, when you do multiple pitching drills off the mound and hitting work keep those areas well padded, if you do not have clay mounds and home plate areas and want to inlay the materials to do so and you do not have the info in your area contact me and I will send you info. on who to contact. if you are satisfied with the "AAA"grounds keepers work talk to him I would think he would be happy to help you out, does he just use the mat only? or does he drag the field with a different drag and then use the mat to doll the infield up? I had one drag I initially dragged the field with then I used what is called a cocoa mat to finish touch and doll the infield up. every grounds keeper has some special ways of their own, check the "AAA" guy out he can help you out in many ways.
Don Ervin.
kom_ervin@yahoo.com