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Bruce Bates, who tended the Marlins and Dolphins’ field of dreams, dies at 63

The grass was always greener wherever Bruce Bates had been.

That’s because it was his job in the sports turf industry to make sure that the fields players from the Marlins and Dolphins and University of Miami Hurricanes played on were in great shape on game days.

Coaches and athletes relied on Bates and his work crews and colleagues to make sure that Marlins Park in Miami, Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Mark Light Field at Alex Rodriguez Park at UM in Coral Gables and scores of high school football and baseball fields in the tri-county area were just so.