Field Maintenance - Storing rakes?

(Please move if there's a better forum for this)

The county recently renovated a small baseball/softball field, and should also be adding a storage locker for equipment.

Most lockers I've seen aren't big enough to hold the larger aluminum landscaping / infield rakes, as the heads for those are commonly 24-36" wide. Added to that, the handle is also much longer - probably 6' on average.

I really see this kind of rake as essential for maintaining the field. How do you go about storing a rake this size?

I've only found one that's marketed as "collapsible" - I think it's called "Baserunner Rake", but I have to imagine someone at somepoint has had a similar issue and found one with a handle that screws apart easily and is less than $80-$100.

Chaining it the backstop isn't really an option - there's a large playground adjacent, so I could see it easily getting bent or broken if left out in plain site.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Gags

Gags said:

(Please move if there's a better forum for this)

The county recently renovated a small baseball/softball field, and should also be adding a storage locker for equipment.

Most lockers I've seen aren't big enough to hold the larger aluminum landscaping / infield rakes, as the heads for those are commonly 24-36" wide. Added to that, the handle is also much longer - probably 6' on average.

I really see this kind of rake as essential for maintaining the field. How do you go about storing a rake this size?

I've only found one that's marketed as "collapsible" - I think it's called "Baserunner Rake", but I have to imagine someone at somepoint has had a similar issue and found one with a handle that screws apart easily and is less than $80-$100.

Chaining it the backstop isn't really an option - there's a large playground adjacent, so I could see it easily getting bent or broken if left out in plain site.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Gags

Click to expand...

We've seen the rakes have a hang up place inside the dugouts...the side closest to the opening to the fields. Haven't noticed another way.

I don't know exactly what kind of storage locker you are talking about? At a minimum I would think you need enough room to store several bags of chalk, clay/turface, a line maker for chalk, a template for batters box, rake, bases, extra rubber, shovel, shovel, something to drag the field with, tape measure/string with markings etc. Having enough space for a rake is usually not a problem. Could redneck one pretty easily if you wanted to just need the rake head and a couple pieces of threaded pipe. but if the cool collapsible rake is what you need and works for you go for it.

We have some fields with just a storage locker, bases, some equipment, etc. No were close to storing a rack, IDK.

quincy said:

We have some fields with just a storage locker, bases, some equipment, etc. No were close to storing a rack, IDK.

Click to expand...

Of course there is always the last option, back of my van...granted it does not help the league but at least my girls will have a good surface to practice on.

We play on 2 type of fields.

1. The park district takes care of it, they always do a good job but you do need to check that the distances are right.
2. The home coach is on their own. They need to bring some of thier own equipment to do it right.

The baserunner rake is going to be your best investment with rakes due to your storage capacity.

Personally I would recommend this. Hopefully its an option for you . If you have any other questions, send me a pm.

XL Vertical (81"H x 56"W x 50 1/4"D)

Our complex is completely chain link surrounded. We get to leave a rake in each dugout 24/7. That above plastic storage might be your best idea, you might have to cut off some handle length to fit. I'm not sure how "lockable" those plastic sheds are but it depends on your budget.

We had similar issue on small field in local league. We had one of the plastic lockers pictured above to use. Lowes and Home Depot both sell a 36" landscape rake for about $40. If you replace the 2 nuts that hold the handle with wing nuts, they become easy to take handle off and on and the rake heads stacked up easily on corner (buy a lot of wingnuts and extra bolts to keep in shed, they will be lost constantly). They also sell generic telescoping handles for about $15, but we found the telescoping handles broke easily and weren't rigid enough when the ground was particularly hard. Just stored the regular handles diagonally on doors using plastic retaining clips found in storage dept. of HD.

Thank you very much for the quick replies, and I guess I should have provided more background.

This is a very small field - it was "overused" (home plate was coming off the mount, a "gully" (due to erosion) ran from just outside 1B line to a sewer grate, backstop was beginning to let balls underneath), and surprisingly, the county re-sodded most of the outfield, replaced the backstop, and added additional fencing down each basepath (since, I'm assuming, the new bench locations were no longer be protected by the backstop). Also - when I say "small", this is really for tee-ball / practice use, as the field is to narrow to have 60' bases at the proper angle to home plate, and it's just benches, no dugout.

In other locations throughout the county, a field that's been "adopted" (someone agrees to do basic maintenance, but most importantly drags their @ss out of bed Saturday morning after it rains to determine if the field is playable) will be given a storage locker. Aside from our "main fields", which has larger, "double decker"-type boxes, the other locations have this kind: http://baseballtips.com/media/catal...ea1df8164ecacbe5e42a226da3c1/b/a/ballbox2.png .

The dimensions are 30x30 (HxD), and I think only go up to 6' long. I like the "tool shed" option, but security wise, while it's not a high-crime area - I don't think it's sturdy enough for such a high-traffic area (the park and field is open to the public). But maybe finding (or building?) a wooden one may be a good idea - we may be able to blend it in a little better than a plastic one. The rake I have barely fits into my 4Runner, but I'm only 2 blocks away, so I should probably just put it on the roof.

Thanks again for everyone's input - looks like it's time to start experimenting with a hack saw and some lightweight threaded pipe!