When the Red Sox take the field today at Fenway Park, David Mellor will be watching the weather. The park's official groundskeeper, Mellor is responsible for maintaining the nicest lawn in Boston and he's part of the team that makes the call when it's safe for the players to play.
WGBH News' Morning Edition team visited Mellor and his service dog Drago at Fenway twice over the last month as he’s been preparing for the Red Sox season debut in April. The first time we met, the field was unrecognizable, filled with large machinery and patches of sod.
“This is part of a planned field renovation,” Mellor explained.
But that didn’t last long. By our second visit just days before the home opener, the field was completely transformed into that lush, bright green and perfectly-cut field — the picture of spring. It almost seems like a super-human feat.
“It’s just been a lot of attention to detail,” he said. “The crew took all the pride and attention to details just making sure everything's smooth. Safety and play abilities are first priority, and my hat's off to everyone in appreciation for their contributions."
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Just days before opening day, you might expect the groundskeeper of a major stadium to be in a frenzy. But Mellor was calm.
“I'm honored and humbled to have the opportunity to stand on Fenway Park's field,” he said. He also said he probably wouldn’t have the job were it not for a tragedy that changed his life.
Growing up, Dave dreamed of making it to the big leagues. It was in his blood.
“My grandfather played ... in the majors," he said. "My dream was to follow in his footsteps.”
And it seemed like he would do it. Mellor showed promise as a student athlete, and was scouted to play in college. But that all changed after Mellor was hit by a car in the early 1980s, just months before going to college. The car ended up hitting him twice.
“I thought not only was my leg crushed, I thought my dreams were crushed,” he said. “My family urged me to find a career I would love to do.”
He still loved baseball and he loved being outdoors. He had enjoyed mowing lawns growing up, and he had been good at science. Becoming a groundskeeper just made sense.
“My dream was to someday stand on Fenway Park's pitcher's mound, and now I get to do that every day,” he said.
It was a long, bumpy road for him to make his way to Fenway, though. In 1995, Mellor was a groundskeeper for the Milwaukee Brewers when the seemingly impossible happened: He was once again hit by a car.
In the years since that first accident, Mellor wasn’t just dealing with the physical aftermath. The emotional toll of the traumas he faced was with him every day.
“I suffered in silence for 29 years having one to five horrific, 3D car crash nightmares every night and having flashbacks during the day,” he recalled. “And I kept that all bottled up — deeply inside. I was scared [and] ashamed to share that with anyone, even my best friend and my wife, because I didn't know how to explain that to someone.”
Mellor eventually did share and was diagnosed with PTSD. Now, with the help of counseling and his service dog Drago, he’s working through his trauma.
“I wish I would have reached out for counseling sooner," said Mellor, who wrote a book about his struggles. "Counseling changed my life for the better and my job is literally the next best thing to playing.”
Despite all that he’s been through over the years, he is optimistic.
“I figured 45 surgeries is better than 46,” Mellor said. “We all face struggles and challenges in our lives. And I just think it's important to never give up in facing those challenges. … I think I'm the luckiest person in the world.”
