The Greatest Payoff

The greatest payoff from Safe at Home:  A Season in the Valley has been all the wonderful and interesting people whom I have met throughout the league.  People have been most kind regarding Safe at Home and they have been anxious to share baseball stories with me.  Just last Thursday in Rockbridge I met several folks including Al and his wife Gail.  It just so happened that Al attended the "Thanks, Brooks" day at Memorial Stadium as did Martha and I.

In Waynesboro, I had the pleasure of meeting the parents of pitcher Greg Smith from Mars Hill College.  They even returned to their hotel room to retrieve their copy of Safe at Home to have me sign it.

I've met not only many great fans in Winchester, but many of the Royals operating staff including Sherry Shipp Newman who operates the concession stand, public address announcer Al McGilvray, and webcaster Mark Sawyer.  Mark even had me on during his broadcast, which was great fun.  I count all these folks now as friends; and indeed we are on Facebook!

At the VBL All-Star Game in Harrisonburg, I met Lynne Spangenberg, the mother of Winchester Royal and North squad MVP, Cory Spangenberg, who so loved the book that she ran out to her car to get hers signed.  She was even more thrilled when I introduced her to one of the "main characters," Mo Weber who happened to be at the signing table when she arrived.  Indeed, when Mo is around, I've taken to introducing him as "Chapter 4."  Folks get REALLY excited to have their books signed by one of the main "characters" and I mean that in every sense of the word.

Another all-star mom, bought the book an hour or so before the All-Star Game started, but was back to speak to me by the first inning.  "I'm only through the preface," she said, "but you've already made me cry.  You're a good writer!"

Then, of course, there are the Rebel players and their parents who have become my friends, not to mention about 1,799 of New Market's 1,800 citizens who have also befriended me.  Half of Mt. Jackson, too, for that matter.  Indeed, writing Safe at Home and becoming involved with the Rebels has been like walking down the street and finding a bag with a million dollars in it.  Only this bag has been full of great people and new friends and always seems full no matter how much I take out of it.

Thanks to all of you!  I'm rich beyond my wildest dreams, at least in the riches that count.

Comments

[Melissa Dodge]

That is the very reason so many of us are a part of the Rebels family. Sure, we love baseball but it is the friendships, both old and new, that sustain us. So glad to have the Gisriel family join the fold. What was that P.T. Barnum said?...