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Former Padres groundskeeper back in ‘turf & dirt’

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Luke Yoder is back doing what he was born to do. He’s taking care of ballfields.

You can tell that was Yoder’s calling by the way he talks about turf and dirt and how a ball rolls on both, and you can tell it by the pristine surfaces he created and kept at two different Major League ballparks over almost 16 years.

That his love for his job manifested itself so plainly made Yoder a popular figure among Padres fans, as well as an in-demand consultant and frequent speaker at industry events.

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Then, suddenly, we lost touch with Yoder.

One day this past April there was a cryptic announcement that Yoder had resigned to “pursue other business ventures.” Yeah, three weeks into the season, a man who lived and loved his job, cared only that he was serving the players and coaches who made art on the canvas he created, up and quit the Padres organization.

Such moves and accompanying fractional explanations are always suspect. This one was and is. The public might never know what actually happened to cause Yoder and the Padres to part ways.

Yoder said he signed a confidentiality agreement when he left. The Padres wouldn’t speak on or off the record about Yoder’s departure. It’s that sensitive to them.

Oh, there have been leaks from inside the organization to various members of the media. Not flattering ones, either. Yoder cites the confidentiality agreement and won’t address the disparaging remarks. It took months to get Yoder to agree to be interviewed.

The column is being written now, because it’s important people know Yoder is OK. Great, in fact.

A lot of folks have asked.

The Padres groundskeeper since he came to San Diego from the Pittsburgh Pirates in June 2003, Yoder had become something of a cult figure among fans, known not only for being widely considered the best groundskeeper in the game but also keeper of MLB’s most bountiful bullpen garden. Yoder would also post fascinating pictures to his Twitter account showing the work being done by him and his crew.

Last month, Yoder took a job as a national sports field specialist for Ewing Irrigation in the company’s recently created sports turf division. The company sends him around the country to check on its clients’ athletic fields and help maintain them at the highest level.

He took the job after spending three months taking care of his own grass and garden, which with all his attention, “have never looked better.” (Don’t worry about the water. He’s sort of an irrigation and conservation specialist.)

Yoder also got to spend evenings and weekends with his wife of less than a year.

“I took my first summer vacation,” he said. “Yosemite. I’d never been. It didn’t take long for me to realize, ‘This is a great move; I get to take some time and relax.’ The more time went by, the more I realized it.”

And he didn’t have to worry. When we first started talking in mid-summer, he had already weighed offers from multiple suitors.

Yoder had worked extensively with Ewing, loved their people and their product, and he relished the opportunity to essentially do something similar to what he’d done for more than two decades working through the minor leagues and then in MLB – just doing it for a bunch of different people.

“I’m going from mainly maintaining one field to educating sports organizations of all levels across the country,” he said. “What is great is I get to work on field from all levels – from Little League, park and rec, to high school, college, minor leagues – and I still get to step foot on big-league fields all over the country. My role is something I’ve always enjoyed – consulting, visiting fields, talking shop, talking turf and dirt.”

Yoder doesn’t seem at all bothered by stepping away from the big-time. He clearly seems energized.

Now, it’s a shame for the Padres. But they don’t seem bothered. Their field, in fact, is used as much for concerts and conferences and other events as for baseball.

Yoder has moved on, happily.

“I’ve always got my gratification in the field, taking pride in how it played,” he said. “In the second half of my career I want to make sure I get that gratification helping people with their fields.”

Believe him. It’s clearly what he was born to do.

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