'The Kid Who Only Hit Homers' Nearly Became a Nickelodeon Project

ORLANDO, Fla. — One local man is breathing new life into his father’s famous baseball book, as The Kid Who Only Hit Homers becomes a feature film.

Dale Christopher, left, holds a copy of his father's book "The Kid Who Only Hit Homers" while on set for a new movie of the same name, along with his brother Duane Christopher, right, and Wayne Chesler, center, who helped bring this longtime project to fruition.

Dale Christopher, a longtime Wilton resident, and former Maple Avenue Middle School math teacher, has been on a mission to make this movie for more than a decade.

After years spent on this effort, The Kid Who Only Hit Homers was finally filmed in February near Orlando, Florida.

This baseball tale, written by Dale’s father, Matt Christopher, was originally published in 1972 and has sold more than one million copies. Of Matt’s more than 100 sports stories, some of which are still coming out as books today, The Kid Who Only Hit Homers is his most well-known.

“Dad’s life was writing,” Dale told The Record. “His passion was writing.”

While raising his family in the Finger Lakes region of New York, Matt’s debut sports novel The Lucky Baseball Bat was published in 1954.

Dozens more followed in the decades to come, all published through Little, Brown and Company.

Matt thoroughly enjoyed this hobby, which turned into a full-time career. However, his lifelong dream was to someday have one of his books made into a movie.

“That was always one of his dreams,” Dale said. “He just thought that would be the ultimate - which it is.”

Though Matt passed away in 1997, his books remain beloved by young readers, and his sons, Dale and Duane have continued pursuing their father’s dream of getting the stories on screen.

Helping them with this endeavor is producer Wayne Chesler, who contacted the Christophers and later turned The Kid Who Only Hit Homers into a screenplay all thanks to a request from his own young son.

For nearly 15 years, Chesler has been relentlessly working to find someone to fund this project. An agreement with Nickelodeon, unfortunately, fell through, but through a connection with former Nickelodeon Group president Cyma Zarghami, the movie is now being created by her latest venture MiMO Studio, a New York-based full-service production company set up create films for young audiences.

The Kid Who Only Hit Homers, one of Matt’s personal favorites, is about a young baseball player named Sylvester and his encounter with the mysterious Mr. Baruth. Overall, the book is about baseball, confidence, perseverance, and being a good teammate.

“It’s really quite a story,” Dale said, predicting that the movie version will be a hit with viewers.

Dale and his brother Duane, both executive producers of the film, were among the first to see their dad’s story in action when they watched The Kid Who Only Hit Homers being filmed earlier this year.

“We were on set for a couple of days, and it was just the most exciting thing that we’ve ever been to, I think,” said Dale, who is now retired and lives in Cambridge. “It was just so exciting to see dad’s booking coming to life right there in front of us.”

Dale particularly had fun working with the children on set. “The little boy that played Sylvester, he’s a super little boy and I can’t wait to see him on the big screen,” he said.

Some aspects of the story have been modernized, such as characters using metal bats instead of wooden ones, but the wholesome essence of Matt’s story is the same in the movie as in the original book.

The film, which is expected to be about an hourlong, is currently being edited as project leaders seek a buyer. “Hopefully that will happen in the next couple months,” Dale said, who is hopeful that this experience will lead to even more of Matt’s books becoming movies in the future.

Even though it took a long time to make it happen, Dale, along with lots of other Matt Christopher readers, look forward to the premiere of "The Kid Who Only Hit Homers."

He said, “It's just been an amazing journey.”

More information about author Matt Christopher and his books is available online at www.mattchristopher.com.

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