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• First Book Published:
  1954 -- THE LUCKY
  BASEBALL BAT
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Fast Facts

1. Matt Christopher took story ideas from his own life experiences playing baseball, football and soccer in high school.



2. He was awarded a baseball scholarship to Cornell, but fell one class short of fulfilling Cornell scholarship requirements and was unable to attend.



3. At age 21, he played third base with a Class C minor-league baseball team in Smiths Falls, Canada



4. Before becoming a full-time writer, Matt Christopher had a variety of jobs including driving trucks, selling umbrellas and working in a theater.



5. Christopher began his writing career in 1940, when he wrote a detective story that was accepted by Detective Box Magazine. He had written over 100 stories before finally getting one published.



6. In 1952, over Thanksgiving weekend, Christopher wrote his first children's book, THE LUCKY BASEBALL BAT, which was published by Little, Brown and Company.



7. Christopher was receiving between 30 and 40 letters a week from children and teachers and librarians thanking him and telling him how much they enjoy his books.



8. Out of all the books he wrote, he said his favorite was THE KID WHO ONLY HIT HOMERS.

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