Notes From the Field: My “Real Fun” Day at Comerica Park

By Vince Palko, GPRS Marketing Director

Standing on the turf of a Major League Baseball stadium, you truly grasp its immensity. The sheer scope of Comerica Park, home to the Detroit Tigers, stretches before you in a breathtaking expanse of green. In the crisp morning air of late fall, I found myself in deep center field, marveling at the 422-foot distance to home plate—the same spot where Detroit’s center fielder tracks fly balls, sprints toward the warning track, and fires a rocket to second base.

That throw? An almost superhuman feat. Picture launching a baseball nearly the length of a cruise ship. Most of us wouldn’t dream of tossing a ball that far, yet for an elite athlete, it's all in a day's work.

On this particular day, though, the outfield wasn’t defined by its players—it was mapped by Project Manager Parker Schings, flags and stakes marking the underground labyrinth of utilities beneath the turf. Because before any grand renovation, before a single shovel hits the ground, you need precision. You need expertise. And you need someone who can see beyond the visible landscape.

Utility locates like Parker's are the unsung foundation of the game. The stadium lights, the massive jumbotron, even the pristine field itself? None of it functions without the unseen network beneath—the conduits, irrigation systems, and electrical lines powering the entire operation.

For Parker, today’s locate had an extra layer of significance. He was preparing the field for the Tigers’ outfield transformation—shaving 10 feet off that daunting deep center. Instead of 422 feet, the throw from the warning track will now cover 412 feet, a move aimed at changing the game’s dynamics while ensuring the infrastructure beneath remains intact.

To most, the collection of brightly colored flags scattered across the field might look like a puzzle with no clear answer. But to a SIM-certified expert like Parker, every flag is a piece of the underground blueprint. Water lines, sewer paths, electrical connections—they all thread together beneath the outfield, forming a crucial web of support.

“If we had previous subsurface as-builts, it’d be like having a nightlight in a dark room,” Parker explained. “I’d still need to turn the lights on, but at least I wouldn’t trip over the furniture.”

With no prior subsurface maps to rely on, Parker was working from the ground up. Yet thanks to GPRS’ advanced technology, his findings didn’t stay locked in a notebook. Everything he identified – the precise locations of utilities, risks of cross bores, excavation safe zones – went straight to the cloud, ensuring that every stakeholder could see what he saw.

That process, once a multi-step ordeal, is now as simple as a single click with SiteMap®. Parker summed it up best: “I used to finish a job, get into my truck, and spend way too much time uploading data. Now? I press one button, start the engine, and turn up the music.”

A day at Comerica Park might not be Parker’s everyday routine, but as far as utility locates go, it was just another job. A unique job, sure—but a testament to the critical, invisible work that keeps stadiums standing, fields thriving, and renovations moving forward.