Roger Bossard is the head

groundskeeper Groundskeeping is the activity of tending an area of land for aesthetic or functional purposes, typically in an institutional setting. It includes mowing grass, trimming hedges, pulling weeds, planting flowers, etc. The U.S. Department of Labor e ...

Guaranteed Rate Field Guaranteed Rate Field is a baseball stadium located on the South Side, Chicago, South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It serves as the home stadium of the Chicago White Sox, one of the city's two Major League Baseball (MLB) teams, and i ...

, home of the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

. Bossard joined the White Sox in 1967 working as an assistant to his father, Gene Bossard, and became the official head groundskeeper when his father retired in 1983. He is known amongst the industry as "The Sodfather" and is highly influential in the development of new ballparks. He is the longest-tenured groundskeeper in major-league history and has been with the Sox longer than any other employee. His grandfather Emil Bossard and uncle Marshall Bossard worked for years for the Indians and were inducted into the MLB Groundskeepers Hall of Fame. His father, Gene Bossard, was the Sox’s head groundskeeper at old Comiskey from 1940 to ’83. Nineteen of 30 major-league teams use a patented drainage system that Bossard developed for the opening of Guaranteed Rate Field in 1991, including Chase Field in Arizona, Comerica Park in Detroit,

Miller Park American Family Field is a retractable roof stadium used primarily for baseball. It is located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, just southwest of the intersection of Interstate 94 and Brewers Boulevard. It is the home of Major League Baseball's Milwauk ...

in Milwaukee, Busch Stadium in St. Louis, T-Mobile Park in Seattle, Nationals Park in Washington, and both

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

ballparks, including

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a Major League Baseball (MLB) stadium on the North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home of the Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charles Weeghman's Chicago Wh ...

, as well as spring training complexes for the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

, the

Montreal Expos The Montreal Expos (french: link=no, Les Expos de Montréal) were a Canadian professional baseball team based in Montreal, Quebec. The Expos were the first Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise located outside the United States. They played in t ...

, the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

, the St. Louis Cardinals, the Arizona Diamondbacks, the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...

, and the

. In 1984-85, Bossard designed and built the first natural turf soccer fields in Saudi Arabia for the royal family. On Sunday, June 12, 2011, the Chicago White Sox gave out Bossard bobblehead dolls to the first 20,000 fans in attendance vs. the Oakland Athletics.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bossard, Roger Living people Chicago White Sox personnel Groundskeepers 1949 births