Sager Becomes Groundbreaker As Head Groundskeeper

Butte is a little different than Raechal Sager expected.

A couple of days after Sager arrived in town from Milwaukee, Wis., to become the first female head groundskeeper in the history of the Pioneer League, her new baseball field was covered with snow.

Because it was Memorial Day weekend, Sager figured that was a bit strange.

“I was actually expecting Montana to be warm and dry,” the 20-year-old Sager said as her Milwaukee Brewers hat covered her shoulder-length, brownish-blond hair. “I think I was off.”

Later, Sager had to put the Brewers hat away because the Copper Kings’ closest rivals are the Helena Brewers.

“Lach (Copper Kings’ manager Bill Lachemann) said I need a new hat,” she said. “So they got me one.”

Since coming to town, Sager has not had a day off. She has been battling the wet weather and scrambling to get the Alumni Coliseum field ready for action for almost a month. The three-person grounds crew routinely puts in shifts or more than 12 hours. Sunday, the crew worked from 8 a.m. until 2 a.m.

“So I haven’t gotten to see a lot of the sights in Butte,” she said. “I was in the mineral museum, but I haven’t been to the mining museum.”

So far, the grounds crew has turned over the infield dirt, resodded and reseeded several areas, and widened the baselines from about 5 feet to 8.

Copper Kings officials say Sager is working wonders with the field, despite the heavy amount of rain and snow it sustained. The Tech field is notorious for its lack of drainage.

“The infield has already improved 100 percent,” Kings’ assistant general manager Dave Meyer said. “We’re very lucky to have her.”

“Raechal is doing a great job,” said assistant groundskeeper Brendan McDonough. “It (the field) is the best it’s ever been, without question.”

Growing up in a suburb of Milwaukee, Sager fell in love with baseball, especially her hometown Brewers. She is an only child and her parents, James and Bonnie, still live in Wisconsin.

Going out to the ballpark was always one of Sager’s biggest thrills.

“Now I’ve got season tickets,” she said of working at a ballpark. “I’ve got to work every game, but I’m there. I never thought I’d get paid to work in baseball.”

Sager started working in baseball two seasons ago as an assistant on the Milwaukee Brewers staff. The job, which she got off a bulletin board at school, prompted her to change her major from biochemistry.

“It sounded like a pretty good summer job,” she said. “I was convinced by the end of last season that I couldn’t imagine not going out on the field again.”

Now, Sager studies horticulture with an emphasis in turf and grounds management at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, where she also plays the French horn for the school’s marching band. She has three semesters to complete before graduation.

As the first professional groundskeeper for the Copper Kings, Sager is breaking ground in more ways than one. She’s one of only a handful of women head groundskeepers at a ballpark, on any level.

The number of women studying horticulture has been growing in recent years, but most are in it to work on golf courses, where more job opportunities exist.

Sager could probably make more money working on a golf course after graduation, but she said she’s not in baseball for the money. Groundskeepers generally aren’t millionaires like the players that play on their big-league fields.

“It’s not about money,” she said. “Not if you’re going to be in baseball it’s not. It’s about being in baseball.”

While the big-league ballpark in Milwaukee is the only major league field she’s been to, Sager is no stranger to big-time stadiums.

As she looks ahead to the future, Sager sees herself at a major league ballpark again. If not in Milwaukee as she prefers, it would be anywhere where she can be on the field, not just in an office like many head groundskeepers work.

“The reason we all chose to work out here is because we want to be outside, not in an office,” she said. “I want to be on the field.”

At Nicolette High School, from where she graduated in 1994, Sager played softball and basketball as well as playing in the school band. And even though she liked playing basketball and softball and she still enjoys playing with the band, baseball is Sager’s first love.

“I started out in tee ball and I’ve never stopped,” she says. “Now I don’t play as much, but I watch a lot. Between work and play, I’ve been on a baseball field my whole life.”