Press Release
Safe at Home:
A Season in the Valley is now
available as an e-book for only $2.99. Each chapter contains a link to the Safe at Home on-line photo album where
Melissa Dodge’s outstanding photographs that appeared in the printed version
may be viewed in full color. It’s worth the price just to see those photos!
Safe at Home is available for Kindle, Apple, Barnes & Noble,
Sony, and Kobo and may be ordered through the Kindle
Store or Smashwords.com. You may
download a free Kindle application for your PC, Mac, iPhone, Blackberry, iPad,
Android, or Windows 7 phone by clicking here.
Synopsis
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.
What they’re saying about Safe at Home
Austin Gisriel has written a very interesting book about the
progression of a baseball season in a small community, New Market,
Virginia. Becoming better players and
gbetter people from the values learned on the field and in that community is
the essence of this excellent book.
--Tom
Petroff, a member of the American Basebll Coaches Hall of Fame, has taken two
different teams to the College World Series in Omaha.
Talk about bringing back some great memories of my time in
the Valley League! This wonderful book
tells of the passion that many of us have shared as we chased our baseball
dreams in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. A must read for the baseball fan who
appreciates small towns producing future stars!
--Lorenzo
Bundy is an instructor in the Los Angeles Dodgers’ minor league system and has
served as a coach with the Marlins, Rockies, and Diamondbacks. He is also a former New Market Rebel
(1978-1979).
***
Melissa Dodge, a first grade teacher at W. W. Robinson Elementary
School in Woodstock, VA is the
official team photographer and website designer/administrator for the New Market Rebels. Her photos not only grace the pages of Safe at Home: A Season in the Valley, they also appear
throughout this website.
 More from our resident author: cover photo by Melissa DodgeTheir Glorious SummerNew
Market, VA—July 21, 2011 New
Market Rebels' Director of Publicity, Austin Gisriel has just released Their Glorious Summer, the story of the
battle between the Winchester Royals and the New Market Rebels in the summer of
1981. It is available as a free download
at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/75258 At the
bottom of the page, you will see a list of formats to which you may download
the article. If you do not have an e-reader, you may go to Kindle Download to
download a free Kindle app for your computer. This takes but a minute and is
easy to do.
An abridged version (only 1,600 words) of Their Glorious
Summer will be appearing in two parts this Friday and Saturday in the Winchester
Star.
In 1981, the Rebels featured future big leaguers Tom
Browning and John Kruk on their opening day roster and when Kruk was drafted,
head coach Preston Douglas signed another future major leaguer, Dan Pasqua, to
take his place. It was the Royals, however, who at least for that summer, had
the more talented team and were led by Dennis Clow (50 RBI in 20 games!), Clay
Daniel, and Steve Peruso. Peruso would produce one of the Valley League's
greatest single-game performances in Game 4 of the President's Cup.
Their
Glorious Summer features comments from Douglas, Peruso, his
host parents, Bruce and Peggy Saville, Jim Phillips, Bruce Alger, former Royals
owner Keith Lupton, and former Royals' head coach Larry Bryant.
CONTACT: Austin Gisriel, 301-988-4000, agisriel@yahoo.com, nmrebelspr@yahoo.com;) By Austin Gisriel for Seamheads.com |
Click the photo above to order your copy
See the Safe at Home Facebook page
About the Author
Austin Gisriel
Author Bio
Austin Gisriel grew up in Baltimore County
playing baseball and rooting for the Orioles. Early on, his chosen career path
was to take over third base for the Birds when Brooks Robinson retired, and it
was only a lack of talent that prevented him from accomplishing this goal.
A 1975 graduate of Loch Raven High School and a
1979 graduate of Western Maryland College, where he obtained a B. A. in
psychology, Gisriel obtained his Masters of Theological Studies from Wesley
Seminary in Washington, D. C.
Gisriel is a frequent contributor to
Seamheads.com as well as Hagerstown
Magazine. A member of SABR, Safe at Home: A Season in the Valley is his first
book. The host of Baseball in the Valley, a podcast which is part of the Seamheads
National Podcast Network, he is often found during home games doing
play-by-play in the Rebel’s webcast booth with partner Charlie Dodge.
Read more from Austin on his website @
http://austingisriel.com/
 If you enjoyed Safe at Home: A Season in the Valley,
please go to the book's Amazon
page and leave a positive review. It does not matter if you read the hard
copy or if you have read it as an e-book, we encourage you to help our resident
Rebel author! You may also do the same thing for Their Glorious Summer by clicking on this link, creating an account
(easy to do), and leave a positive review. Remember, Their Glorious Summer is a free download. You don't have to write
anything long, just let Austin and the world know what you think!
|
