Toro teams up with Minnesota Twins to rebuild community fields

The Toro Company and the Minnesota Twins organization collaborated through their six-year partnership to rebuild community baseball fields in the Twin Cities.

Each year $20,000 is donated for the improvements — $10,000 from Toro and $10,000 from the Twins Community Fund. Typical projects can include anything from rebuilding backstops to putting sod in the infield and fencing, Toro says in a blog post.

For 2015 the four Kent Hrbek Youth Baseball Fields in Bloomington, Minn., were selected. The two-day project included rebuilding the mounds, re-sodding, adding ag lime and trimming to three of the four fields.

About 20 volunteers helped get the site ready on the first day, including Twins’ head groundskeeper Larry DiVito, Toro says. Then on build day, the second day, DiVito and a portion of his crew joined about 80 volunteers from Toro and the Minnesota Twins staff to transform the fields.

 

“Larry DiVito takes his role very seriously — he wants that field to look like Target Field,” says Judson McNeil, president of Toro Foundation Giving Program and community relations. “When we leave, he’s built a mound that could be on a professional field.”

Toro provides the equipment needed to complete the renovations.

“It’s always rewarding for us to see our products being used to make a difference,” McNeil says. “On build day, you’ll see people driving Toro Workman vehicles around, mowing with a Groundsmaster and dragging the infield with a Sand Pro. It’s a lot of fun.”