Dave Mellor, the Red Sox groundskeeper at Fenway Park for the last 23 years, announced Saturday that he will be retiring after Sunday’s game.
Mellor has spent 39 seasons in Major League Baseball, also caring for the diamonds of the California Angels, San Francisco Giants, and Milwaukee Brewers. Once dubbed the “Rembrandt of groundskeeping” by Brewers icon Bob Uecker, legendary Fenway grounds boss Joe Mooney hand-picked Mellor as his replacement in 2001. That was enough to woo Mellor from Milwaukee, where Mellor also spent eight years servicing historic Lambeau Field for the nearby Green Bay Packers.
“With mixed emotions I’m stepping back from my daily responsibilities as Senior Director of Grounds for the Boston Red Sox,” Mellor wrote on social media just before the start of Saturday’s game against the Rays at Fenway Park.