SOURCE CITATION
"Matt(hew Frederick) Christopher." Major Authors and Illustrators for Children and Young Adults, 2nd ed., 8 vols. Gale Group, 2002.Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2007.
BIOGRAPHICAL ESSAY
Geared to the boy or girl with an average reading ability and an insatiable appetite for sports, Matt Christopher's books strongly reflect their author's interest in sports, especially baseball. Sports are not the only emphasis in a Christopher book, however. Many stories also feature young people who find the courage to overcome difficult physical or emotional traumas through their involvement in athletics. Christopher's writing philosophy mirrored his straightforward storytelling. "I was . . . able to put down on paper what I had enjoyed doing in real life, and enlarge upon it using my imagination to the fullest," he once commented in an essay for Something about the Author Autobiography Series (SAAS). "If I have learned anything at all worthwhile from writing, it is this: Don't ever stop doing what you believe in. Don't let anyone stop you from realizing your dream."
Christopher was the firstborn of nine children. Some of his earliest childhood memories revolved around his mother Mary, a Hungarian immigrant who, despite numerous physical ailments, always found time to spare for her children. Christopher's father worked in the coal mill of the Penn-Dixie Cement Company. Because the Depression made it difficult for Fred Christopher to find work, the family moved around a bit before finally settling down in Portland Point, a company town in upstate New York. Because they lived in an area where a great deal of quarry blasting was going on, the Christophers often had to leave their house for the relative safety of a nearby field. They also had to contend with the possibility that their home was haunted. Christopher told SAAS: "We ignored a rumor that the reason (the house had been) vacant was because it had a scary reputation: some twenty years before a person had been murdered there, and since then a ghost had been seen prowling around the premises, even going as far as invading the house."
Christopher became very interested in baseball at an early age. He and his friends did not have any fancy equipment, however; they made do with broom handles for baseball bats, flat stones for bases, and old tennis balls instead of baseballs. "We had from four to seven players on a team because there weren't more than that living in the town. Sometimes the four to seven included girls, some of whom developed a throwing and hitting eye that equalled the throwing and hitting abilities of the boys. . . . There was a cherished dream in each of us in wanting to hit that ball farther than anyone else. I was no different from the next kid. I loved to hit, and I usually did, in spite of the pitcher steaming in the ball as hard as he could," Christopher wrote for SAAS. In later years, Christopher played on his high-school baseball team, gaining fame as an excellent base thief.
Christopher began writing poetry and short stories at the age of fourteen; at eighteen, he entered a Writer's Digest short-story contest. While he did not win the competition, Christopher did get a prize--he placed 191st out of 200 story winners. "I felt certain that it was an inspiration for me to continue writing," the author noted in his essay. While working full-time during the day and playing semi-pro baseball in the evenings, Christopher found the time to write a 4,000-to-5,000-word detective story each week for nearly a year. Eventually, he made his first sale. Although he received only fifty dollars for it, the story served as the break he needed to get started in the business.
Over the next few years, Christopher got married and began raising a family. He also continued to write, with varied success. One Thanksgiving weekend, Christopher picked up some story notes that he had been working on during breaks at his plant job. After some rewriting, the notes eventually became The Lucky Baseball Bat, the story of a little boy who desperately wants to get on a baseball team. With the support of his sister and a "lucky" baseball bat, the boy is able to realize his dream. Christopher submitted his story to a children's book editor at Little, Brown; it was accepted for publication in the spring of 1954.
Christopher followed The Lucky Baseball Bat with a long series of sports novels. He also continued to write mysteries, including Return of the Headless Horseman and Favor for a Ghost. Christopher's work was briefly interrupted in the fall of 1985 while he battled a brain tumor. He explained in SAAS: "I had symptoms of double vision which resulted in the removal of a tumor that had grown underneath my brain. A year and a half later the symptoms returned and radiation treatments were recommended. . . . I survived the treatments in good order, not letting the problem hinder my writing a single bit." Several years later, however, the tumor did recur. The author underwent three operations, beginning in 1993. Christopher suffered complications following his third surgery and died on September 20, 1997, at the age of eighty.
Christopher was quick to point out that one of the perks connected with writing books about sports is doing the research. In the Fifth Book of Junior Authors, Christopher described the fun of learning about motor sports for Dirt Bike Racer and Drag Strip Racer: "They were sports I had never dreamed I would write about. But they were growing sports, and I thought I would like to try my hand at them. I had fun going to the races, talking with the participants, taking pictures, and learning all I could about the sports so that I'd be able to convey the excitement of them onto paper. It is research such as this that helps make my job enjoyable."
Christopher was a disciplined author who wrote everyday from nine in the morning until three or four in the afternoon. He maintained that the key to his success was always a matter of hard work, perseverance, and finding the right audience. "Perhaps that's why I've specialized in writing for children," he told SAAS. "They're a multitude of plot ideas. Not that adults don't fit into that category, too. . . . It just happened that my work in the children's book field has been more successful. And, regardless of the field you're in, success--usually synonymous with happiness--is the goal we shoot for." Christopher has endeared himself to two generations of fans, many of whom credit his stories with awakening their interest in reading. His books have sold some six million copies worldwide. Even after his death, the spirit of his work continues to flow from the pens of authors who write under the "Matt Christopher" banner.
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Born August 16, 1917, in Bath, PA; died of complications following surgery for a brain tumor, September 20, 1997, in Charlotte, NC; son of Fred and Mary (Vass) Christopher; married Catherine M. Krupa, 1940; children: Martin, Dale, Pamela, Duane. Avocation: Sports, music, movies, and traveling. Education: Graduated from Ludlowville, NY, high school, 1935. Religion: Catholic. Memberships: Society of Children's Book Writers.
CAREER
Cayuga Rock Salt Co., Myers, NY, laborer, 1935-37; Allen-Wales Adding Machine Co., Ithaca, NY, assembler, 1937-46; Smith-Corona Typewriter Co., Groton, NY, adjuster, 1947-49; General Electric Co., Syracuse, NY, group leader, and assembler, 1949-54; General Electric Electronics Center, Ithaca, technical editor, 1955-56; National Cash Register Co., Ithaca, member of production planning staff, 1956-63; full-time writer, 1963-97. Former semi-pro baseball player, Canadian-American League, in Smiths Falls, Ontario, Canada. Member of Boy Scout Committee, 1953-57; publicity director and editor of bulletin, Lansing Lions Club, Lansing, NY, 1961-73.
