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Long Stretch at First Base
Bobby realizes that Tony Mandos is a better first baseman than Bobby's brother, Kirby, but Bobby sees an underhanded way that he can give Kirby an advantage when both first baseman vie for the all-star team. Reprint.
148 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1960
4 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
About the author
Matt Christopher
467 books142 followersMatt Christopher is the writer young readers turn to when they're looking for fast-paced, action-packed sports novels. He is the best-selling author of more than one hundred sports books for young readers.
Matt Christopher is America's bestselling sports writer for children, with more than 100 books and sales approaching six million copies. In 1992, Matt Christopher talked about being a children's book author.
"I became interested in writing when I was 14, a freshman in high school. I was selling magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Country Gentleman, and Liberty, and I would read the stories, particularly the adventure and mystery stories, and think how wonderful it would be to be able to write stories and make a living at it. I also read detective, horror, aviation, and sports stories and decided I would try writing them myself.
Determined to sell, I wrote a detective story a week for 40 weeks, finding the time to marry, work, and play baseball and basketball before I sold my first story in 1941, "The Missing Finger Points," for $50 to Detective Story magazine.
After writing and selling children's sports stories to magazines, I decided to write a baseball book for children. I was living in Syracuse, New York at the time, working at General Electric. I spoke about my idea to the branch librarian. She was immediately interested and told me that they needed sports stories badly. So I came up with my first children's book, The Lucky Baseball Bat. I submitted it to Little, Brown, and the book was published in 1954.
I'm sure that playing sandlot baseball and then semiprofessional baseball with a Class C club in the Canadian-American League influenced my writing. I had my own personal experiences, and I saw how other players reacted to plays, to teammates' and fans' remarks and innuendoes, to managers' orders, etc. All these had a great influence on my writing. My love of the game helped a lot, too, of course.
Out of all the books I've written, my favorite is The Kid Who Only Hit Homers. It's a fantasy, but the main character in it could be real. There are a lot of boys who would love to play baseball but, for some reason, cannot. The only difference between a real-life boy and Sylvester Coddmyer III is the appearance of a character named George Baruth, whom only Sylvester can see and who helps Sylvester become a good ballplayer.
I've written many short stories and books for both children and adults, and find that writing for children is really my niche. Being the eldest of nine children (seven boys and two girls), I've lived through a lot of problems many children live through, and I find these problems excellent examples to include in my books.
Sports have made it possible for me to meet many people with all sorts of life stories, on and off the field, and these are grist for this writer's mill. I'm far beyond playing age now, but I manage to go to both kids' and adult games just to keep up with them, and keep them fresh in my mind.Very few things make me happier than receiving fan letters from boys and girls who write that they had never cared for reading until they started to read my books. That is just about the ultimate in writing for children. I would never trade it for another profession."
Matt Christopher died on September 27, 1997. His legacy is now being carried on by his sons, Duane and Dale Christopher.
Matt Christopher is America's bestselling sports writer for children, with more than 100 books and sales approaching six million copies. In 1992, Matt Christopher talked about being a children's book author.
"I became interested in writing when I was 14, a freshman in high school. I was selling magazines such as the Saturday Evening Post, Country Gentleman, and Liberty, and I would read the stories, particularly the adventure and mystery stories, and think how wonderful it would be to be able to write stories and make a living at it. I also read detective, horror, aviation, and sports stories and decided I would try writing them myself.
Determined to sell, I wrote a detective story a week for 40 weeks, finding the time to marry, work, and play baseball and basketball before I sold my first story in 1941, "The Missing Finger Points," for $50 to Detective Story magazine.
After writing and selling children's sports stories to magazines, I decided to write a baseball book for children. I was living in Syracuse, New York at the time, working at General Electric. I spoke about my idea to the branch librarian. She was immediately interested and told me that they needed sports stories badly. So I came up with my first children's book, The Lucky Baseball Bat. I submitted it to Little, Brown, and the book was published in 1954.
I'm sure that playing sandlot baseball and then semiprofessional baseball with a Class C club in the Canadian-American League influenced my writing. I had my own personal experiences, and I saw how other players reacted to plays, to teammates' and fans' remarks and innuendoes, to managers' orders, etc. All these had a great influence on my writing. My love of the game helped a lot, too, of course.
Out of all the books I've written, my favorite is The Kid Who Only Hit Homers. It's a fantasy, but the main character in it could be real. There are a lot of boys who would love to play baseball but, for some reason, cannot. The only difference between a real-life boy and Sylvester Coddmyer III is the appearance of a character named George Baruth, whom only Sylvester can see and who helps Sylvester become a good ballplayer.
I've written many short stories and books for both children and adults, and find that writing for children is really my niche. Being the eldest of nine children (seven boys and two girls), I've lived through a lot of problems many children live through, and I find these problems excellent examples to include in my books.
Sports have made it possible for me to meet many people with all sorts of life stories, on and off the field, and these are grist for this writer's mill. I'm far beyond playing age now, but I manage to go to both kids' and adult games just to keep up with them, and keep them fresh in my mind.Very few things make me happier than receiving fan letters from boys and girls who write that they had never cared for reading until they started to read my books. That is just about the ultimate in writing for children. I would never trade it for another profession."
Matt Christopher died on September 27, 1997. His legacy is now being carried on by his sons, Duane and Dale Christopher.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 19, 2023
same nostalgia value as the other books from the same author, but a bit off put by some of the language that didn't age well (i.e. "his sister threw as well as a boy")
October 8, 2017
This is a story about familial loyalty within the context of a local baseball team. Bobby Jamison is a shortstop for the Redbirds youth team and while he has a great deal of range, so does his throwing arm. His throws to first are often just wild enough that the first baseman must dance around a bit to catch them.
Fortunately, his brother Kirby, a first baseman, is an excellent fielder, capable to catching and controlling Bobby’s errant throws. However, Kirby is a very weak hitter, which contrasts with Tony, a great hitter and mediocre fielder at first. The season has progressed to the point that the members of the All-star team are to be selected and Bobby wants Kirby to be selected over Tony.
Bobby hatches a duplicitous scheme to try to insure that Kirby is selected over Tony, but events transpire to show him how wrong his actions would be. At the end, it is Kirby that shows Bobby the way things should be, that loyalty to a brother should not get in the way of talent and ability.
The story is a simple one, easy to read and understand. Like most books of juvenile sports fiction there is a moral and a clear and understandable path to doing what is right. Modern readers may find the story a bit quaint, but the message is timeless.
Fortunately, his brother Kirby, a first baseman, is an excellent fielder, capable to catching and controlling Bobby’s errant throws. However, Kirby is a very weak hitter, which contrasts with Tony, a great hitter and mediocre fielder at first. The season has progressed to the point that the members of the All-star team are to be selected and Bobby wants Kirby to be selected over Tony.
Bobby hatches a duplicitous scheme to try to insure that Kirby is selected over Tony, but events transpire to show him how wrong his actions would be. At the end, it is Kirby that shows Bobby the way things should be, that loyalty to a brother should not get in the way of talent and ability.
The story is a simple one, easy to read and understand. Like most books of juvenile sports fiction there is a moral and a clear and understandable path to doing what is right. Modern readers may find the story a bit quaint, but the message is timeless.
November 4, 2011
Long Stretch at First Base was the best Matt Christopher book I've ever read. It's about a boy named Bobby who is trying to get his brother to the all-star game in Cooperstown, New York. He's trying to help him be a better hitter so he can go to the all-star game. Kirby is already a good first baseman so he doesn't need to help him with that. Bobby is afraid Kirby won't go because the other first baseman Tony is good at hitting and first base. At first Bobby thought Tony was mean, but one day they hung out together and Tony is a really nice kid and he didn't care that much if he gets to go to the all-star game, but he still trains Kirby. Read the book and see who gets to go. By Joseph
November 2, 2009
This book is about a kis who stretches far off the bag to get the out and win the game.It has it's interesting moments but other than that it is an ok book.I would not recommend this book to a friend. It was boring and it really didn't hook me like some of the other books do.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews