Roger Bossard

Last updated
Roger Bossard
Born1949
Chicago, Illinois, United States
NationalityAmerican
Education Purdue University
OccupationGroundskeeper for Chicago White Sox and Consultant for Major League Baseball
Parent(s) Gene Bossard

Roger Bossard is the head groundskeeper at Guaranteed Rate Field, home of the Chicago White Sox.

Bossard joined the White Sox in 1967 working as an assistant to his father, Gene Bossard, and became the official head groundskeeper when his father retired in 1983. He is known amongst the industry as "The Sodfather" [1] [2] and is highly influential in the development of new ballparks. He is the longest-tenured groundskeeper in major-league history and has been with the Sox longer than any other employee. His grandfather Emil Bossard and uncle Marshall Bossard worked for years for the Indians and were inducted into the MLB Groundskeepers Hall of Fame. His father, Gene Bossard, was the Sox’s head groundskeeper at old Comiskey from 1940 to ’83. [3]

Nineteen of 30 major-league teams use a patented drainage system that Bossard developed for the opening of Guaranteed Rate Field in 1991, [4] including Chase Field in Arizona, Comerica Park in Detroit, Miller Park in Milwaukee, Busch Stadium in St. Louis, T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Nationals Park in Washington, and both Chicago ballparks, including Wrigley Field, as well as spring training complexes for the Cincinnati Reds, the Montreal Expos, the New York Yankees, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Chicago White Sox. [4] [5]

In 1984-85, Bossard designed and built the first natural turf soccer fields in Saudi Arabia for the royal family. [4] [6]

On Sunday, June 12, 2011, the Chicago White Sox gave out Bossard bobblehead dolls to the first 20,000 fans in attendance vs. the Oakland Athletics. [7]

Related Research Articles

Chicago White Sox Major League Baseball franchise in Chicago, Illinois

The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The White Sox are owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and play their home games at Guaranteed Rate Field, located on the city's South Side. They are one of two major league clubs in Chicago; the other is the Chicago Cubs of the National League (NL) Central division.

Disco Demolition Night was a Major League Baseball (MLB) promotion on Thursday, July 12, 1979, at Comiskey Park in Chicago, Illinois, that ended in a riot. At the climax of the event, a crate filled with disco records was blown up on the field between games of the twi-night doubleheader between the Chicago White Sox and the Detroit Tigers. Many of those in attendance had come to see the explosion rather than the games and rushed onto the field after the detonation. The playing field was so damaged by the explosion and by the fans that the White Sox were required to forfeit the second game to the Tigers.

Comiskey Park Former baseball park in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Comiskey Park was a baseball park in Chicago, Illinois, located in the Armour Square neighborhood on the near-southwest side of the city. The stadium served as the home of the Chicago White Sox of the American League from 1910 through 1990. Built by White Sox owner Charles Comiskey and designed by Zachary Taylor Davis, Comiskey Park hosted four World Series and more than 6,000 Major League Baseball games. Also, in one of the most famous boxing matches in history, the field was the site of the 1937 heavyweight title match in which Joe Louis defeated then champion James J. Braddock in eight rounds that launched Louis' unprecedented 11-plus year run as the heavyweight champion of the world.

Charles Comiskey American baseball player, manager, team owner (1859–1931)

Charles Albert Comiskey, also nicknamed "Commy" or "The Old Roman", was an American Major League Baseball player, manager and team owner. He was a key person in the formation of the American League, and was also founding owner of the Chicago White Sox. Comiskey Park, the White Sox' storied baseball stadium, was built under his guidance and named for him.

Cubs–White Sox rivalry Major League Baseball cross-town rivalry in Chicago

The Cubs–White Sox rivalry refers to the Major League Baseball (MLB) geographical rivalry between the Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox. The Cubs are a member club of MLB's National League (NL) Central division, and play their home games at Wrigley Field, located on Chicago's North Side. The White Sox are a member club of MLB's American League (AL) Central division, and play their home games at Guaranteed Rate Field, located on Chicago's South Side.

Guaranteed Rate Field Baseball park in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Guaranteed Rate Field is a baseball park located in the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. The ballpark serves as the home ballpark for Major League Baseball's Chicago White Sox. The facility is owned by the state of Illinois through the Illinois Sports Facilities Authority, and is operated by the White Sox. The park opened for the 1991 season, after the White Sox had spent 81 years at the original Comiskey Park. It also opened with the name Comiskey Park but was renamed U.S. Cellular Field in 2003 after U.S. Cellular purchased the naming rights at $68 million over 20 years. The current name was announced on October 31, 2016, after Guaranteed Rate, a private residential mortgage company located in Chicago, purchased the naming rights to the ballpark in a 13-year deal.

South Side Park

South Side Park was the name used for three different baseball parks that formerly stood in Chicago, Illinois, at different times, and whose sites were all just a few blocks away from each other.

Armour Square, Chicago Community area in Illinois, United States

Armour Square is a Chicago neighborhood on the city's South Side, as well as a larger, officially defined community area, which also includes Chinatown and the CHA Wentworth Gardens housing project. Armour Square is bordered by Bridgeport to the west, Pilsen to the northwest, Douglas and Grand Boulevard to the east and southeast, and with the Near South Side bordering the area to the north, and Fuller Park bordering its southernmost boundary, along Pershing Road.

Hi Corbett Field Baseball stadium in Tucson, Arizona

Hi Corbett Field is a baseball park in the southwestern United States, located in Tucson, Arizona. With a seating capacity of approximately 9,500, it was the spring training home of the Colorado Rockies and Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball, and is currently home to the University of Arizona Wildcats of the Pac-12 Conference.

Al Lopez Field

Al López Field was a spring training and Minor League baseball ballpark in West Tampa, Tampa, Florida, United States. It was named for Al López, the first Tampa native to play Major League Baseball (MLB), manage an MLB team, and be enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Al López Field was built in 1954 and hosted its first spring training in 1955, when the Chicago White Sox moved their training site to Tampa from California. Al López became the White Sox's manager in 1957, and for the next three springs, he was the home manager in a ballpark named after himself. The Cincinnati Reds replaced the White Sox as Al López Field's primary tenant in 1960 and would return every spring for almost 30 years. The Tampa Tarpons, the Reds' Class-A minor league affiliate in the Florida State League, played at the ballpark every summer from 1961–1987, and many members of the Reds' Big Red Machine teams of the 1970s played there early in their professional baseball careers.

Zachary Taylor Davis was the architect of several major Chicago buildings, including St. Ambrose (1904) Old Comiskey Park (1910), Wrigley Field (1914), Mount Carmel High School (1924), and St. James Chapel of Archbishop Quigley Preparatory Seminary (1918).

Camelback Ranch Baseball stadium located in Phoenix, Arizona

Camelback Ranch–Glendale is a stadium located in Phoenix, Arizona and owned by the city of Glendale. It is operated by Camelback Spring Training LLC. It is the spring training home of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox. The stadium holds 13,000 people.

Payne Park is a former baseball field from 1924 to 1990 in Sarasota, Florida. The stadium and field were built on a portion of 60 acres (0.24 km2) of land donated by Calvin Payne and his wife, Martha in 1923. Payne Park today is a 29-acre (0.12 km2) public park used for recreational events.

The 1990 Chicago White Sox season was the White Sox's 91st season. They finished with a record 94-68, good enough for 2nd place in the American League West, 9 games behind of the 1st place Oakland Athletics, as the White Sox played their final season at Comiskey Park before moving to the new Comiskey Park the next season. In 2020, a documentary was made about the season titled “The 1990 White Sox: A Team Will Rise, A Palace Will Fall.”

The 1990 Major League Baseball season saw the Cincinnati Reds upset the heavily favored Oakland Athletics in the World Series, for their first title since 1976.

MLB at Field of Dreams Special Major League Baseball event

MLB at Field of Dreams was a regular season Major League Baseball (MLB) game played on August 12, 2021, near Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa, a site popularized by the 1989 baseball film Field of Dreams. The game was contested between the Chicago White Sox and the New York Yankees. It was the first MLB game played in the state of Iowa. The White Sox won the game, 9–8, on a walk-off home run by Tim Anderson. The game was televised on Fox in the United States.

References

  1. "Meet the most beloved groundskeeper in baseball: 'The Sodfather' Roger Bossard". WGN-TV. 2018-09-26. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  2. Thomas, Mike (April 2008). "The Sodfather". Smithsonian magazine.
  3. Sullivan, Paul. "A snowy start to the Cactus League was a 1st for Roger Bossard — but it didn't faze 'The Sodfather'". chicagotribune.com. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  4. 1 2 3 http://mlb.mlb.com/cws/team/exe_bios/bossard_roger.html [ bare URL ]
  5. "The Bossards: baseball's first family of groundskeeping". Vault. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  6. "Roger Bossard Is on Familiar Ground When Tending Turf at Comiskey Park". Los Angeles Times. 1985-09-01. Retrieved 2020-01-12.
  7. "2011 Chicago White Sox Promotional Schedule". Whitesox.com. April 2011.