Shaozhuo Cui | The Roanoke Times

Pulaski groundskeeper Gary Martin prepares the home plate area at Calfee Park for the game between the Pulaski Mariners and Kingsport Mets. "He's here daylight to dark, Saturdays, Sundays — it doesn't matter," said Tom Compton, one of four owners of the Mariners.

PULASKI -- Maybe he is a separate line item in the Pulaski town budget.

It could just say "Gary." Right next to it, they could put simply "Grounds."

If such a line item doesn't exist, it should.

Trouble is, in the debit column, there never could be a sure estimate.

"Just depends on what they need," said Gary Martin, guru of the town's most delicate green surfaces.

Some years are tougher than others for the veteran steward of Pulaski parks. More work means more hours. More hours means the Martin pay meter spins like a drunken ballerina. The man never goes home until the job is done.

"He's here daylight to dark, Saturdays, Sundays -- it doesn't matter," said Tom Compton, one of four owners of the Pulaski Mariners.

Martin counts many duties in the upkeep of community parkland, but his most pressing work is performed at Calfee Park, at which the first-year Appalachian League Mariners are headquartered.

Appalachian League teams have come and gone during Martin's tenure: Braves, Rangers, Blue Jays, Mariners. Martin doesn't go anywhere except home to feed two of his boys.

Martin makes the grass grow, the dirt smooth, the outfield true and the tenant happy.

"Calfee Park to me right now of all the fields we've been to is by far the best," said Rob Mummau, the Mariners field manager.

Martin, 53, mustached and chestnut brown from a life in the sun, works so others can play.

That takes time.

"Gary probably puts in 80 to 100-120 [hours] a week," said Marty Gordon baseball operations manager for the ballclub. "He's here seven days a week a lot of times."

It's not just for the pro boys, either. The American Legion Post 68 last weekend played host to a baseball tournament in "Historic Calfee Park," as it is known in the town's promotional materials. Martin was at his post for every game. The Legion counts this as home field for regular season games, too.

"Gary's a salaried employee," said Dave Hart, parks and recreation director, "but we also pay him overtime."

What else are you going to do when that runny nose of a mountain spring creek behind the ballpark goes berserk one day? Usually, all that pitiful trickle does in the summertime is drip into the culvert under the ballpark. Then one day a monster gusher of a thunderstorm turned it into an unruly flood that took down a big chunk of the fence that used to run behind the home plate backstop. That was before they gussied the place up a few years back.

With the fence went home plate and most of the infield.

"Washed all the way down to the back parking lot," Martin said.

The old Pulaski Braves were mercifully on the road for a few days at that point. Martin and his crew (Compton and other dignitaries were included) had enough time to rebuild the whole deal, mound, base paths and all.

"We got there right quick with the help, but it took a day or two to get it back to where it should have been," Martin said.

Martin might mutter an indelicacy from time to time, but essentially, nothing gets to him. That's what 33 years' experience is worth.

"Experience makes all the difference when it comes to taking care of a ballfield," he said.

"We had a scare when he had a little health issue a little while ago and had to go get some testing done," Hart said. "It was a little bit of a busy time and we got through it, but I would have hated to go another day without him."

The day when there's no Gary to wield the rake and take the wheel of the mower, they don't talk about that.

"I don't even want to think about it," Hart said. "If we had to advertise for that position, we'd probably have to restructure it and hire several people."

And they better know their stuff.

"The field plays very true," Mummau said. "The grass is cut short; it's a fast infield. The outfield is very level. It's my favorite park to play in so far."

Compton credits Martin and his crew.

"You hardly have to tell Gary anything that has to be done," Compton said. "He knows what has to be done."

For his part, Martin doesn't claim to know it all.

Every day the ballclub's in town, he and Mummau discuss plans and scheduling.

"When we need the field by 2 p.m., he has it ready by 1:45," Mummau said. "I think he does a great job."

All this as a single parent, too. Four boys and a girl. The last two at home are Travis and Justin. Travis just graduated from Pulaski County High. Justin is a rising senior.

"They all grew up around the ballpark," their father said.

So did he. Living just up the street from Calfee, he was around a lot. By age 11, they were paying him to work there. When he got out of high school, that became his full-time gig.

These days, it never really stops. He lives at McGill Village, where he is caretaker to the skate park and other town facilities at the complex. In addition to Calfee Park, he mows and takes care of the other town parks. That group expanded this year when the Peak Creek trail opened.

"More to mow," he said.

He'll start at Calfee during the morning when the team is in residence. Assuming there was a game the night before, the grandstands and bleachers must be cleaned along with the bathrooms. Home plate and the pitching mound have to be rebuilt. The infield must be dragged with the tractor. The outfield is inspected for damage and insidious invaders such as bugs and plant pestilence.

He helps set up screens and the wheeled backstop for batting practice.

Then he lines the field.

"Have you ever seen him do that?" American Legion coach Danny Evans said. "He does it freehand!"

All it takes is practice, practice, practice.

"At Loving Field and all the softball fields, there are days when he'll line 10 in all," Hart said.

Then it's time for the ballclub to practice. If things go right, Martin and crew go to another park to work for a couple of hours.

"I'm always glad when the team is out of town for a few days so I can catch up," Martin said.