Groundskeeper Gary White is the real MVP of Corner Brook baseball tournament

Players and organizers of a baseball tournament in Corner Brook are still marvelling that their games went ahead, after heavy rains flooded the field — and it's all thanks to the hard work of the field's groundskeeper, and his army of Shop Vacs.

The Corner Brook Baseball Association didn't think the midget Atlantic qualifier tournament was going to happen on the water-logged field, but said Gary White "was the difference."

Forsaking sleep following a bout of heavy rain Sunday, White headed to Jubilee Field in the early hours of Monday morning to make sure the under-18 Atlantic qualifiers could go ahead.

"You couldn't see the infield at times, there was that much water," White said.

"It was incredible, I had never experienced that much water."

His secret weapon? Shop Vacs.

"First of all you have to break out the Shop Vacs, and you go out, and you start taking as much water off the troubled areas that you can," White said.

"Once you get all the water off, then you have to wait a little while for it to kinda dry out, because once the tractor goes on, it's like soup out there."

After the vacuums sucked up enough water, White used a nail drag across the ground to "fluff it up."

Then, White put on a bag of drying product to help the sodden field get itself into playing shape.

"The people who were watching couldn't believe how these wet spots were just disappearing," said White.

"All of a sudden it was, let's play ball."

'It's a nice feeling'

The baseball tournament was only behind by about two hours, and White was feeling pretty happy with his work.

"My thing was time … we had teams from the east coast, we wanted to get them back on the road at a decent hour — the safety factor. They're only young fellas, so we were trying to get them back on the road as early as possible," he said.

"I had them on the field by 10 to 10, so I was pleased with myself for that."

The Corner Brook Barons ended up winning the tournament, and named White their MVP, saying in a Facebook post he and parents who came out to help "made the impossible happen."

"I try and do what I can for the organization, just to get the game of ball going," White said. "I must say, it's a nice feeling that they're calling me the MVP, yeah."

White said the type of soil used on the field can be challenging in any kind of extreme weather, and Monday was no different.

After working so hard to get the water off the field, White said he nearly had to get the hose to douse the field.

"It's funny, I said to the guys after, because it was getting warm, I said, 'You know the funny thing about this soil? If we go until five o'clock, we might have to put water on that field,'" he said with a laugh.

"It dries out and you want the dust to stay down, so it's a funny soil to work with. Here, you're taking water off it in the morning, and if you have a really hot day, you gotta hose it down to keep the dust down in the evening."

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