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At the Plate with...Sammy Sosa
Throughout the 1998 baseball season, two names made the headlines more than any others: Mark McGwire, the eventual home run king, and Sammy Sosa, the runner-up in a race that won the hearts of baseball fans worldwide. Yet at the end of the day, it was Sosa who walked away with the National League's MVP award, not McGwire. Why? Because Sosa had dug the dismal 1997 Chicago Cubs out of the cellar not just with his home runs, but also with his spectacular all-around play. Yet Sosa's contributions off the field, both in the States and in his native land, the Dominican Republic, are even more impressive. In this powerful biography of one of the most admired sluggers in baseball, Matt Christopher, the number one sports series for kids, traces Sosa's life from his poverty-stricken childhood-when shining shoes put food on the table-to his professional career. For more information on the Matt Christopher Sports Bio Bookshelf, please see the last pages of this book.
128 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1999
About the author
Matt Christopher
477 books146 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 - 6 of 6 reviews
July 8, 2023
Checked this book out in early ‘02 when I needed a real pick-me-up.
July 24, 2008
I have to admit--I liked this. I can now see that the Matt Christopher books can be a great way to get reluctant readers into reading. The book is well-written, full of suspense, and it includes insightful details. And, this is a biography! Most kids would cringe at that word, but I think they'd feel otherwise about Matt Christopher biographies.
I did feel the beginning of the book stressed Sammy Sosa's impoverished background a bit too much. Sosa is from a poor family, and as illustrated in the book, his hard work ethic and personal dedication stems from his modest beginnings. But, I felt it was a little too much of the "feel sorry for this poor kid" attitude.
I'd be interested to look over some of Matt Christopher's fiction titles. I looked up Matt Christopher's website and found a lot of useful information. For one, many teachers and parents sent in stories of their children, may reluctant readers, becoming totally engrossed in a Matt Christopher story.
I did feel the beginning of the book stressed Sammy Sosa's impoverished background a bit too much. Sosa is from a poor family, and as illustrated in the book, his hard work ethic and personal dedication stems from his modest beginnings. But, I felt it was a little too much of the "feel sorry for this poor kid" attitude.
I'd be interested to look over some of Matt Christopher's fiction titles. I looked up Matt Christopher's website and found a lot of useful information. For one, many teachers and parents sent in stories of their children, may reluctant readers, becoming totally engrossed in a Matt Christopher story.
May 31, 2009
This book is about Sammy Sosa, one of the best baseball players in the history. This book discusses Sosa's time in the MLB and how good he was at baseball. It also talks about the baseball records that Sosa tried to break, like hitting the most homeruns in a single season.
I would recommend this book to poeple who want to learn more about baseball, and Sammy Sosa. From reading this book i learned that Sosa was one of the best baseball players ever around in my opinion.
If i were to rate this book out of ten, I would give it a 6. Its a typical biography about an athlete.
I would recommend this book to poeple who want to learn more about baseball, and Sammy Sosa. From reading this book i learned that Sosa was one of the best baseball players ever around in my opinion.
If i were to rate this book out of ten, I would give it a 6. Its a typical biography about an athlete.
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November 14, 2008alot of things like what position he plays uyou know things like that
February 3, 2009
interesting
Read
March 11, 2019In the story Sammy Sosa the main character is Carlos. Carlos is a big fan of Sammy Sosa. Carlos would sit outside of the stadium and listen to the game. One day Sammy hit another homer and Carlos was there to catch it. There was a program where kids would be able to meet with Sammy Sosa and get autographs.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews