Local student lives his dream at Fenway

A.J. Taillacq with his baseball coach, Steve Yurek, who just retired in June from the Math Department at Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School.

Marlborough - Many young men who grow up in the Boston area have a dream to end up with a career in Fenway Park, but most of them expect to be wielding a bat, not a rake. A.J. Taillacq, a Marlborough resident, however, is perfectly happy with the tools of his trade and, in fact, is having his dream come true this summer as a member of the Fenway grounds crew.

Taillacq chose building and grounds management as his technical program while a student at Assabet Valley Regional Technical High, and did his senior project on "Turf Grass Designs on Baseball Fields," complete with a scale model of Fenway Park.

According to Taillacq, his best resources were the books written by Fenway's Master Groundskeeper David R. Mellor, and he was excited to learn that Mellor would be a guest speaker at the Boston Flower Show that year. Taillacq not only attended the event, but he also interviewed Mellor for his senior project and had a picture taken with him.

After graduation, Taillacq attended UMass-Amherst, and is currently enrolled in the Stockbridge School of Agriculture on the UMass campus, majoring in turf grass management.

In December 2006, Taillacq applied for an internship at Fenway and was disappointed when he wasn't chosen. But Mellor remembered the young man who told him that turf grass was his passion, called Taillacq and, in a highly irregular move, offered him a position on Fenway's grounds crew for the summer.

"As long as I'm one of the crew, I don't really care what the title is," Taillacq said. "Sometimes I'm the Pivot Guy, which means I make sure the hose doesn't dig into the skin of the infield as they pull it around. I'm just happy to be here, which is why I'm always smiling."

Taillacq said that he's often visible on the televised games, in his seat in Canvas Alley right behind where Tina Cervasio sits.

Taillacq came back to school the day he was issued his Red Sox jacket and cap (part of the uniform for the grounds crew) to seek out his high school baseball coach, Steve Yurek, and give him tickets for a Red Sox game.

"Coach Yurek was a big part of my life at Assabet, and I wanted him to know that at least one of his players made it to Fenway," Taillacq said.