PROFILE
As director of field operations at Lehigh Valley, Andy and his full-time year-round assistant are in charge of the playing surface and seating hill, and recently added a full-time seasonal member to their team.
Andy served on the STMA Field of the Year Committee for several years, and also served on the STMA Board of Directors for two years. More recently, he has been involved with the Professional Baseball Sports Turf Managers Symposium.
“ I’ ve tried to help build a network across the minor leagues and get MLB on board to encourage attendance at SFMA Conference,” he said.“ It’ s important to use the symposium to continue to push for better compensation, networking, etc. I ' ve spent a lot of time the last two years collecting data on salaries to improve where we are and keep quality groundskeepers in Minor League Baseball.”
While Ty was younger, Andy was doing sports field management work on the side, as well as coaching and working on the fields on which his sons played. Ty got to see firsthand the work his father performed.
Said Ty,“ I sort of grew up working for dad, and hated every second of it. As a 13-year-old, being told to spend my afternoon working for free wasn’ t my favorite thing in the world.”
So Ty initially went to college as an Exercise Science major, with the goal of being a strength and conditioning coach.
“ The summer I started college was the summer my dad got the job in Lehigh Valley with the IronPigs,” said Ty.“ So, near the end of my freshman year, he needed an intern, and I didn ' t have a summer job.”
Ty ended up loving the work and came back the following summer. At that point, Andy told Ty,“ If you decide to pursue this, you need to go intern for somebody else in 2024. Get somebody else ' s name on your resume other than dad.”
So, after interning with the IronPigs in 2023, Ty transferred to Delaware Valley University to major in sports turf management.
The Gossel family. Left to right: Jacob, Ty, Andy, Elyssa and Laura with their dog, Scherzer. sportsfieldmanagementonline. com April 2026 | SportsField Management
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