Soggy Yard? Meet the Drainage Solution MLB Can't Live Without

Ever wonder why some yards bounce back from heavy rain while others stay muddy for days? The secret lies in drainage technology, and as our conversation with Joe Zellerman of Hydraway reveals, not all drainage systems are created equal.

Did you know the iconic Field of Dreams baseball field—site of MLB's most-watched game ever—relies on Hydraway drainage? When a deluge of three to four inches of rain fell the night before this historic game, groundskeepers were still able to mow the next morning. The system worked so efficiently they needed to add a second pump station just to keep up with the water removal.

Traditional drainage systems use pipes with small slit holes that only offer about 5% open area, easily becoming clogged with sediment while actually holding water rather than moving it. Hydraway's revolutionary cavity design changes the game completely by allowing water to drain through all sides simultaneously. With percolation rates of 18-28 inches per hour per square foot, it's no wonder professional sports venues trust this system for their multimillion-dollar fields.

For homeowners tired of soggy yards and mud puddles that tear up under the lawnmower, Hydraway offers the same professional-grade solution used at the highest levels of sports. Whether you're a passionate lawn enthusiast who puts lines in your grass every weekend or simply want a yard that drains properly after rain, this conversation reveals why moving water—not holding it—is the key to landscape drainage success. Check out our full 30-minute interview to learn even more about how Hydraway transforms golf courses and other challenging drainage environments.

Chapters

• 0:00 Hydroway vs. Traditional Drainage Systems
• 1:15 Field of Dreams MLB Success Story
• 3:19 High Performance in Professional Fields
• 4:13 How Hydroway Prevents Water Buildup
• 5:20 Percolation Rates and Technical Advantages

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

visually, you know it's hard to see, but once you've done the testing and you've researched it, those slit slot holes can get clogged with, you know, your fines and sediment and everything else when Hydroway doesn't. Hydroway is a cavity system. It's going to allow the water to drain through all sides.

Speaker 2: 0:15

Hey, michael Church, crawl Space Ninja, how much do you care about your yard? I live in a neighborhood where the folks are out on Saturdays and Sundays and taking care of their grass and making sure everything looks great, putting the lines in the grass and all that sort of stuff. But if you have a yard that is not draining properly, then that lawnmower is going to tear up your yard. You're going to have low spots that have a lot of standing water and mud and make your yard look nasty. Water and mud and make your yard look nasty.

Speaker 2: 0:48

So I sat down with Joe Zellerman of Hydroway and he shared with me that this product is used by Major League Baseball's number one viewed baseball game of all time. So why did Major League Baseball trust the Field of Dreams field with this product? He's going to share with us why this product is way better than the other slit slot products that you'll find at your local box stores. Also, if you stay tuned to the end, we did a full 30-minute interview about Hydraway, how it's used in golf courses and other areas as well. So there will be a link for that at the end. Let's get started. I've heard a lot of rumors and you all are the ones to confirm these rumors right? So the first rumor I heard is that Hydroway was used in the Field of Dreams field. Is that correct?

Speaker 1: 1:31

Yeah, so Hydroway was the only flat panel drain specified and approved by Major League Baseball for that field. So it is the most televised Major League Baseball game to this day. And in that field the Major League Baseball wanted to put Hydraway in a horizontal application on a natural field because it's a high-performance sand-based field. So they dug one-inch trenches and laid Hydraway and then put the sand mix and root zone on top of it to establish that root zone mix. That was a mixture that they did and in doing so the day before the game they had a substantial amount of rain three to four inches of rain the night before and they were cutting the grass the next morning and in doing so, in center field is the pump station for the drainage, and HydroA removed so much water they actually had to put in a second pump station for the drainage and hydroway removed so much water they actually had to put in a second pump station behind the first base dugout. So it's pretty unique application.

Speaker 1: 2:31

It was one of the first that they did in the high performance sand base fields where they actually it's just a shallow trench where hydroway lays in and your compression strength allows for the mowing and the turf and it establishes about a six-inch root zone Because Major League Baseball when I worked for the Cardinals the outfield grass is basically a little bit taller than a putting green. So the foot traffic and the cutting and it's cut anywhere from two to three times a day and then it's rolled as well. As you know, your infield grass is a little bit shorter than your outfield grass but, yeah, it's cut two to three times a day and rolled so let's speak to a six percent opening moving water versus an eighty percent opening.

Speaker 2: 3:15

Joe, like you were talking about how the pumps couldn't even keep up. Now that may sound like a well, I don't want to install that because now I gotta have pumps. But no, you're moving water. That's what you want, right? So could you, could one of y'all speak on that for me?

Speaker 1: 3:28

Yeah, so it's just a visual conception round pipe versus a flat panel, four inch you know diameter versus an inch width. Hydroway is never going to hold water. It's going to remove water and when you have a slit slot hole theory, as you do in pipes, the water has to make its way, you know, down through the eight inch, 10 inch trench and then get into those slit slot holes and there's only about a 5% open area so for that water to get in there and then move out. Visually, you know it's hard to can to see, but once you've done the testing and you've looked and researched it, those slit slot holes can get clogged with, you know, your fines and sediment and everything else.

Speaker 1: 4:13

Where hydroway doesn't hydroway the cavity system, it's going to allow the water to drain through all sides so it doesn't have to go around the pipe and seep in.

Speaker 1: 4:20

It's going to go through our pipe to a point to where it can't drain anymore and when it does and it starts to come back up, it hits our system and immediately, on all sides, exits to your collector system, where a round pipe has to.

Speaker 1: 4:33

It builds up and it, you know it, gets the pressure and then moves it out. It just has a bigger area to hold water. I don't want to hold water, I want to move water, and in the video that we've dissected it feels like a million times, but it just makes more sense when you're talking to people. What you get most of your problems on a natural turf field is from standing water, and that standing water is because it doesn't percolate through the pipe. Where Hydroway, we have an 18 to 28 inch per hour per square foot perc rate and that's why we allow for the clean core sand in the USGA standards at 0.2 millimeter to 0.5 millimeter, which is basically a P gravel. It allows that water to go through the system and then our system captures that water at a point to where it can't drain anymore and moves it out.