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Out at Second
Should Manny keep his promise-even if it puts his friend in danger? When the Grizzlies' first basemen is sidelined two days before the playoffs, catcher Manny Griffin and second baseman Stu Fletcher take it upon themselves to help his replacement become a better player. The three practice together and all is going well-until a wild throw hits Stu right in the head! Manny gives his word to keep quiet, but a few days later, Stu starts acting funny. Now Manny faces a difficult should he break his promise and let Stu and the team down... or keep silent and hope that he's not putting Stu in danger?Matt Christopher is the name young readers turn to when they're looking for fast-paced, action packed sports novels.
- GenresSports
137 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 20, 2011
8 people are currently reading
21 people want to read
About the author
Matt Christopher
467 books141 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 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 16, 2016
This book is about Manny a first baseman on his baseball team and his best friend Stu gets a concussion and Manny promises not to tell anyone but the next day Stu starts acting funny and Manny is faced with a hard choice: Should he break his promise to his friend or keep the promise and might be putting him in danger.
I would recommend this book to baseball fans because it talks about baseball a lot and it is a really exciting book.
I would recommend this book to baseball fans because it talks about baseball a lot and it is a really exciting book.
May 30, 2017
I think that the theme in this book is to never be afraid of someone else's opinion. We see throughout the book how manny has countless rimes to stand up for hi and his teammates and speak his thoughts but he doesn't. Then, at the end, we see that he finally does that and all turns out well for them. That is the theme of this book.
August 28, 2021
I would say this is best for die hard baseball fans since there is a lot of focus on baseball rules and form throughout the story. The book focuses on safety and working together as a team (and finally doing the right thing). I really hated the keeping a secret for a friend even though the risk was great to the friend's health. My son enjoyed this one much more than I did though.
March 20, 2019
Audiobook. I am huge baseball fan and thank goodness, a lot of the writing was easy for me, as a fan, to follow, but maybe not for kids who have little experience with the sport. I lost interest towards the end, but I liked the message about sports safety.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 9, 2019
It was an ok book. I have nothing really against it, it just didn't hit home for me.
June 15, 2018
A little more than I was expecting for a children's story, but a great message about health and safety, being a good teammate, and integrity.
September 1, 2017
Out at Second ● by Matt Christopher, Stephanie True Peters
When the Grizzlies' first basemen is sidelined two days before the playoffs, catcher Manny Griffin and second baseman Stu Fletcher take it upon themselves to help his replacement become a better player. The three practice together and all is going well-until a wild throw hits Stu right in the head!
Manny gives his word to keep quiet, but a few days later, Stu starts acting funny. Now Manny faces a difficult decision: should he break his promise and let Stu and the team down (they could loose without Stu) or keep silent and hope that he's not putting Stu in danger?
A kids book highlighting the dangers of concussion and head trauma. That's all good.
But this is a ridiculous story to give mommy manners to baseball kids and coaches. Everyone is happy and kind, even the gruff coach turns over a new leaf. The kids lecture each other on proper safety and gear and good manners. This was written by a ridiculous mommy who knows her boys are always safe and kind. OMG what BS!
When the Grizzlies' first basemen is sidelined two days before the playoffs, catcher Manny Griffin and second baseman Stu Fletcher take it upon themselves to help his replacement become a better player. The three practice together and all is going well-until a wild throw hits Stu right in the head!
Manny gives his word to keep quiet, but a few days later, Stu starts acting funny. Now Manny faces a difficult decision: should he break his promise and let Stu and the team down (they could loose without Stu) or keep silent and hope that he's not putting Stu in danger?
A kids book highlighting the dangers of concussion and head trauma. That's all good.
But this is a ridiculous story to give mommy manners to baseball kids and coaches. Everyone is happy and kind, even the gruff coach turns over a new leaf. The kids lecture each other on proper safety and gear and good manners. This was written by a ridiculous mommy who knows her boys are always safe and kind. OMG what BS!
July 23, 2016
This one deals with concussions and how serious they can be. A pretty timely topic since it has been all over the news lately. I thought this book handled it in a very realistic way. Kids in sports might want to take a look at this book.
August 14, 2014
i liked it
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews