Author Archives: Austin Gisriel

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About Austin Gisriel

You know the guy that records a baseball game from the West Coast in July and doesn't watch it until January just to see baseball in the winter? That's me. I'm a writer always in search of a good story, baseball or otherwise.

Post-Workout Post

What a morning it has been so far in Florida! After breakfast at Peach’s–I highly recommend the sausage, egg, and cheese croissant with fruit as a side–we found what might be the best park in which we’ve ever played. Located … Continue reading

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Valley League Baseball in Florida and Free Beer

Today took us to McKechnie Field here in Brandenton for the Baseball Industry Network gathering, which was followed by the Pirates’ opening exhibition game against the Blue Jays. The Baseball Industry Network, started by Tyrone Brooks, Pittsburgh’s Director of Player … Continue reading

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Waving Hello to Florida

Al and I have had a very busy day and we haven’t even seen any baseball. As we mentioned yesterday, we were determined to make sure the waves at Siesta Key Beach reached shore safely. We supervised them from 9:00 … Continue reading

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Poolside in Bradenton

This blog entry is 1,223 words long. The photo at right constitutes a thousand of those. As I type this, Al is working on our schedule for the week, which I’ll post tomorrow. That’s the only day we won’t be … Continue reading

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Half Way There

The first leg of our Spring Training sojourn is complete and we didn’t so much go from Maryland to South Carolina as we went from early spring to early summer. Between Columbia and Orangeburg, we passed many blooming trees, a … Continue reading

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Spring Training Sojourn Starts Tomorrow

The suitcases and the bat bag are all packed and waiting to go to Spring Training! At least, I think I’ve packed everything. Of course, when you turn a certain age–I’ll be 55 tomorrow–the most important thing to pack is … Continue reading

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Off the Beaten Basepaths

It appears quite possible that the Hagerstown Suns, Bryce Harper’s home for the first half of the 2011 season, will be moving to Winchester, Virginia. The Suns of the South Atlantic League had hoped that the city of Hagerstown would … Continue reading

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One Scrapbook Down

It took more than three weeks and resulted in over 60 pages of notes, but I finally made it through the first Boots Poffenberger scrapbook. The largest in the collection at 197 pages, this book chronicles Boots’ career from 1937-1940 … Continue reading

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Why Baseball?

Old friend and newly retired (as of today!) Al Smith and I are headed to Spring Training one month from today! It’s the time of year when the days are getting noticeably longer, hope is increasing, and the annual question … Continue reading

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Lose Weight the Boots Poffenberger Way

A very popular New Year’s resolution is to lose weight. The day you hang that new calendar on the wall, you swear that you’ll stick to this diet or that exercise program; however I have come across a much simpler … Continue reading

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