Nicole Sherry returns to Camden Yard . . . this time as grounds boss
21 Feb, 2007 Athletic Turf NewsBALTIMORE, MD — When the baseball team creates a bobblehead in your likeness you know the management of the team appreciates you. Sherry Nicole can add that to her resume along with returning as the head groundskeeper at Camden Yard, home field of the Major League Baltimore Orioles.
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Nicole Sherry is neither first in the bobblehead department (legendary grounds pro George Toma was similarly immortalized at the 2005 STMA Conference) or being tapped as the first female head groundskeeper in the “Bigs.” Heather Nabozny landed the top grounds job at a Major League stadium almost a decade ago when the Detroit Tigers moved into Comerica Field.
Nicole, a native of Delaware and a graduate of the University of Delaware, can point to being the first female head groundskeeper to have worked in in the Double-A Eastern League, however. For three years she maintained the baseball field at Waterfront Park for the Trenton (NJ) Thunder, the Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. (The Thunder distributed 2,000 Nicole Sherry bobbleheads at its August 23, 2006 game.)
This season she returns to Camden Yard, where she was an assistant groundskeeper, working for former grounds pro Al Capitos who moved on to care for the sports fields at Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN.
Reporter Spencer Fordin of MLB.com recently conducted a fascinating interview with Nicole where she wonders why there aren't more women in the profession and talks about what it takes to survive the Minor Leagues. Click here to access the interview.
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