Matt Christopher facts for kids

Matthew Frederick Christopher (born August 16, 1917 – died September 20, 1997) was an American writer. He wrote many books for children, mostly about sports. He wrote over 100 novels and 300 short stories. Even after he passed away, new books are still published under his name. His family makes sure his name continues as a special brand for sports stories.

His Early Life and Sports

Matthew Christopher was born in Bath, Pennsylvania. He was the oldest of nine children. As a kid, he was a great athlete. He was good at almost every sport he tried. He especially loved baseball and football. He played these sports in high school. His family had moved to Ludlowville, New York.

After high school, Matt kept playing baseball. He played in a semi-professional league. Then he played professional baseball for a short time. He was a third baseman for the Smith Falls Beavers in Canada. Even though he started well, he found it hard to hit the ball consistently. He decided he wasn't good enough for that level. He went back home to New York. He played semi-professional ball until a knee injury ended his career.

Matt married Catherine M. Krupa (Cay) on July 13, 1940. Their first son, Martin, was born a few years later. They had four children in total. In 1941, two of Matt's early writings were published. These were a one-act play and a detective story. He earned a small amount of money for them. He then worked full-time for National Cash Register in Ithaca, New York. He kept this job until 1963. By then, he had enough money to write full-time.

Matt Christopher passed away on September 20, 1997. He died in Charlotte, North Carolina. This was due to problems from surgery for a non-cancerous brain tumor. His son, Dale Christopher, later wrote a book about his father's life.

Becoming a Writer

Matt Christopher remembered winning a short-story contest when he was 17. He was one of 200 winners. He said he became interested in writing at age 14. This was when he was a freshman in high school.

He used to sell magazines like Saturday Evening Post. He would read the adventure and mystery stories. He thought it would be amazing to write stories for a living. He decided to try writing them himself. He wrote a detective story every week for 40 weeks. He sold his first story in 1941. It was called 'The Missing Finger Points'. He sold it for $50 to Detective Story magazine.

For the next twelve years, Matt wrote many novels. These included science fiction, mystery, adventure, and romance stories. But he couldn't get any of them published. His short stories, however, continued to sell.

In 1953, he finally sold his first book. It was a 60,000-word detective novel called Look for the Body. He sold it for $150.

His First Children's Sports Book

His real success came in 1954. This was with his book The Lucky Baseball Bat. Matt said he decided to write a baseball book for children. He was living in Syracuse, New York at the time. He talked to a librarian there. She was very interested. She told him that they really needed sports stories.

This conversation, along with a publisher's advice, inspired him. The publisher suggested he focus on writing for kids. They thought he had a "talent for writing about children." So, in 1952, Matt wrote The Lucky Baseball Bat. It was published by Little, Brown, and Company. He earned $250 from it. Because of this success, he kept writing. His second children's sports novel, Baseball Pals, came out in 1956. Both books were about 120 pages long.

By 1963, Matt had 15 novels published. Most of them were by Little, Brown. He was finally able to stop his full-time job. He could then focus only on writing.

Sports He Wrote About

Matt Christopher wrote about many different sports. His most common subject was baseball. Some of his best baseball books are Wild Pitch, Catcher with a Glass Arm, and The Kid Who Only Hit Homers.

He also wrote many books about football. These include Tough to Tackle and Crackerjack Halfback. He wrote about soccer, like Soccer Scoop. He also wrote about basketball and hockey. He even wrote books about snowboarding, dirt bike racing, volleyball, and golf. He also wrote biographies about famous sportsmen and women.

When asked why he wrote sports books for children, Matt said: "Sports have made it possible for me to meet many new people... and these are grist for this writer's mill." This means he got ideas for his stories from the people he met through sports.

In 1993, he won the Milner Award. This award is given to the author whose books are most liked by children in Atlanta, Georgia.

Matt Christopher Books After His Death

New books credited to Matt Christopher are still published today. This is more than 20 years after he passed away. The name "Matt Christopher" is now treated like a brand name or a trademark. This means it's a special name for a series of books.

The authors of these new books are usually mentioned inside the book. For example, in 2002, several Matt Christopher books were published:

• Dive Right In, written by Robert Hirschfeld
• On the Ice with—Mario Lemieux, written by Glenn Stout
• Run for It, by Robert Hirschfeld
• All Keyed Up, written by Stephanie Peters
• You Lucky Dog, by Stephanie Peters
• On the Field with—Alex Rodriguez, by Glenn Stout
• On the Field with—Venus and Serena Williams, by Glenn Stout

Stephanie True Peters is one of the writers who has written many Matt Christopher books since 2000.