TURFGRASS
All photos on pages 14-15 provided by the Baltimore Orioles
For Moore, supplying the turfgrass for Oriole Park is a dream come true. Moore is the fourth-generation owner of Collins Wharf, a family farm that began in 1921. When he was 12 years old, Moore’ s father encouraged him to choose a crop to grow on the farm. But rather than melons or string beans, Moore wanted to grow sod.
“ I used to cut grass in our yard, and I loved baseball,” said Moore.“ My father said,‘ You know how we get our tomato plants partially grown, then we put them in our fields and continue to grow them? People do the same thing with grass.’ I said,‘ You mean I could grow this grass and take it to Camden Yards?’”
When Moore told his grandfather what he wanted to grow, his grandfather’ s reply was,“ Boy, I’ ve been trying to kill grass on my farm my whole life, and you want to grow it?” Said Moore,“ That really stuck with me. I think he’ s pretty proud of what we’ ve done here and the people that we have encountered.”
Throughout high school, Moore held onto the dream of someday providing sod for the Baltimore Orioles. His first planting was in 1999, around the same time he was at Del Tech with Sherry.
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