Archive: Around Town

'The Kid Who Only Hit Homers' by Lansing author Matt Christopher has been a best seller since it was published in 1972, with over a million copies sold to date.  The book is finally becoming a movie thanks to the persistence of two of his children, Dale and Duane, who, along with screenwriter and producer Wayne Chesler, have persisted for more than a decade to realize Matt's dream of turning his books into movies. 

"That was what he always said when we were growing up," Duane Christopher says. "Back in the 60s, in the 50s, he really had that idea that maybe some day one of his books would become movie. And, sad to say, he's not alive to see it happen. But Duane and I have been pushing and pursuing his dreams for all these years and it's finally paid off."

Matt ChristopherThe movie is being produced by MiMO Studio, a new production company created by Cyma Zarghami, a former Nickelodeon and Viacom Media Networks Kids & Family Group president.  The company is focusing on making short movies for kids, and 'The Kid Who Only Hit Homers' is its first project.  Chesler is Executive Producer (Dale and Duane have also been given that title), and the movie is directed by Carlos González.

The story follows a kid named Sylvester, who loves baseball, but is a terrible hitter.  Sylvester wants more than anything to be part of his neighborhood team, the Hooper Redbirds.  He meets the mysterious George Bruth (yeah, its the legendary Babe Ruth, who died in 1948 -- the movie makes no secret of it), and from that point on Sylvester literally can't miss.  But the story is also about the meaning of teamwork, dealing with success, and standing on your own.

An homage to Chris and GreensThe film is currently in post-production, and Dale says the director's cut should be completed around Mother's Day. 

Dale says the story has been updated so that modern children can better relate to it.

"Dad wrote the book in '72 and everybody had wooden bats and the Little League rules were different," he notes. "For this film they certainly update it. They use metal bats and the kids have cell phones and play video games. Those aspects of the movie are up to date. But the basic story is still the same. That's what was important."

Dale notes that there are still Christophers in Lansing, and for folks who know the family they might catch on to an homage in the movie to Chris and Greens, which used to be next to the plaza where the Lansing Post Office is located.

"Years ago my uncle Fred had a restaurant on Route 34 in Lansing," Dale says. "In the film they created a diner called 'Dale and Duane'."

Matt Christopher wrote over 100 novels and 300 short stories. Born in Bath, Pennsylvania, his family moved to Ludlowville, where he played several sports including baseball and football.  He played third base for the minor league Smith Falls Beavers (Ontario, Canada), then played semi-professional baseball in New York until he suffered a knee injury.  Soon after his marriage and the birth of his first son he began having works published.  All four children graduated from Lansing High School, and eventually Christopher moved to Rock Hill, South Carolina.

After Matt's death in 1977 his children were determined to continue his legacy.  Over the years Dale says the family has been approached by various people who wanted to turn the books into movies, but it was Chesler who really believed in the properties and persisted in finding a production company that would turn the dream into a reality.

Chesler -- a producer, writer, and director -- optioned the movie rights, and set about finding a production company to fund the project.  In 2009 Dale said Little Brown and Company (Christopher's publisher) and NEHST Studios had made a movie deal, but it never resulted in a film.  But Chesler, who fan of the Matt Christopher books when he was a child, never gave up.  Over a decade later he made a deal with MiMO Studio, and filming on the TV movie began.  Earlier this year Dale and Duane Christopher visited the set in Orlando for a couple of days.

"It was just totally amazing," Dale says. "I can remember when we were there and we were sitting on the sideline and watching it and Wayne would come around like you did at one point. And, and started talking to us about it and, and, and tears came to my eyes with the reality that Dad's book was here in real life. It just choked me up to know that this was happening finally, after all these years."


Dale says Zarghami will be shopping the film to outlets, once the editing and post-production is complete and a trailer is created.

"They will send the trailers out to the different possible marketing people like Disney, Hulu or Netflix," says Dale. "They will have access to the film, and hopefully  somebody will pick it up and screen it. And it's only about an hour. So I kind of doubt that it would ever go to the big screen. I mean, if somebody wanted it to go into theaters, I'm sure that they could probably have enough film  to do that. But right now that's not their intent. MiMo stands for 'Mini Movies'."

Meanwhile the Dale and Duane continue their father's legacy.  They maintain the Matt Christopher Web site, and new books continue to be published under his name, and the original books continue to be very popular.  In 2004 Little Brown published Dale's biography of his father, 'Behind the Desk with... Matt Christopher.'  Dale says that if the first film is successful more Matt Christopher books are primed to be made into movies.

"Dad's fans go back 50 years and 60 years and we're hoping that those fans, who are all adults now, and their children who are now reading Dad's books, will certainly enjoy this one," Dale says. "The book has sold well over a million copies and, maybe after the movie it'll sell another million. I don't know...  It would be nice!"

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