Safe at Home: A Season in the Valley [Kindle Edition]

Austin Gisriel (Author), Melissa Dodge (Photographer)

Book Description

College baseball players hone their skills in summer leagues all across America. Often playing in small towns and living with host families, the players strive to develop their abilities to the point where they are signed to professional contracts. For the towns, the summer league team is often a major source of local pride and community involvement. Nowhere in America is this more true than in New Market, Virginia, where every game is “not just a game,” it’s an event. Safe at Home: A Season in the Valley tells the story of the 2009 New Market Rebels and the townspeople who house them, feed them, and root for them; welcome them into their homes in June and send them back to their schools in August. In the process, both players and fans become part of something greater than themselves, even if it is just a baseball team in a little town in the Shenandoah Valley.

Product Details

• File Size: 336 KB
• Print Length: 253 pages
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0052O4ZYQ
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #508,811 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down! May 15, 2012

By Bruce A. Kipps

Format:Kindle Edition

I relive the season each time I read the book! From the hail storm, the fog, the power failure, the Steve Owen catch, to the final game the memories come back.
I loved this book and have recommended it to many who have asked about New Market Rebel baseball. Austin has captured in a poignant way the spirit of the Rebel baseball organization, Valley League baseball and of the town of New Market, Virginia.

5.0 out of 5 stars Not just for baseball lovers! September 22, 2011

By Becky

Format:Kindle Edition

An excellent and engaging read. This book not only captures the grace of the game but also the family environment that is created around the home team. This book reads more like a novel and makes you feel like it is summer all over again when you read it. This book is not just for baseball lovers!

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved this book September 20, 2011

By nincin

Format:Kindle Edition

Fast, engaging read. The author paints great word pictures and the pace of the book is good. It was over way too soon!

More About the Author

"One of the very first baseball games that I ever went to, which was at old Memorial Stadium in Baltimore, ended when Brooks Robinson drove in the winning run in the bottom of the 9th. I've been a fan and a believer ever since!" says Austin Gisriel who applies his writing talents to the Grand Old Game.

Gisriel is the author of Safe at Home: A Season in the Valley which explores the relationships that develop in the course of a college summer league season, not only among the players, but especially between the citizens of New Market, Virginia and their team, the Rebels.

In addition, Gisriel has penned Their Glorious Summer which details the year that John Kruk, Tom Browning, and Dan Pasqua played in New Market, as well as articles and essays for Virginia Living, Baseball Digest, and The Sunpapers (Baltimore). A regular contributor to Hagerstown Magazine particularly regarding the minor league Hagerstown Suns, Gisriel also contributes frequently to Seamheads.com, one of the country's leading baseball blogs. He serves as the "baseball expert" on Gordy's Sports Connection, a sports-talk show on WCBG 1380 AM in Greencastle, PA.

During the summer months, Gisriel may be heard on-line providing the play-by-play for the New Market Rebels' webcasts. He handles public relations for the Rebels and also serves on the team's Board of Directors.

Gisriel is married to the former Martha Pratt. They have two daughters, Rebecca and Sarah, either one of whom would have been named Brooks had she been a boy.