The Submarine Pitch

by Matt Christopher

When he learns why his best friend taught him an unbeatable pitch instead of using it himself, Bernie learns a sad lesson about friendship.

Genres: Sports, Fiction

137 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Matt 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.

Reviews

[Nicholas Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read “Submarine Pitch” by Matt Christopher. Bernie Shantz loved baseball, but he never was a good pitcher. He wanted to play, but he couldn’t pitch or hit. One day his best friend, Dave Grant, said he wanted Bernie to try this new pitch. Bernie said he would try the pitch that they called the Submarine Pitch. Bernie thought it was crazy, but his friend said, “Since I can’t play will, you do this for me?” Bernie’s sister, AnnMarie and brother, Frankie said he should do it too. They wanted to see him play baseball because they both loved baseball too, but they were too young to play. He used the pitch and was very successful with the pitch, that year, and he even was getting some hits. Dave, Frankie, and, Ann Marie went to all of his games. Bernie always wanted a bike, and he was saving up for one with a job painting a fence for a widow. Bernie was twenty dollars short. Dave called Bernie one day, and asked him if he would go down town with him, so Bernie did. Dave showed him, he was saving up for the boat, The Constitution. Bernie had a game that day which was his last game of the year, and found that Dave wasn’t there. He knew something was wrong, so when he got home he asked his mom to call the hospital and sure enough Dave was there with cancer of the liver. Dave wasn’t doing very well. Bernie knew his best friend needed him right now, so he went and bought the boat Dave always wanted.


Bernie was the kid that would do anything to play, and if that meant throwing a new pitch, he would do it. Bernie always wanted to be a good pitcher, and he knew it wouldn’t be easy. Dave, his best friend, showed him the new pitch and convinced him to play. Dave had liver cancer but he didn’t tell anyone. Ann Marie and Frankie thought Bernie should give pitching a try. They loved watching and playing baseball, but they were too young, so they were trying to help their brother out. They all looked out for each other like a family is supposed to do.



The book takes place in a small town in New York. It’s summer in the story because there is no school and they are playing baseball. It’s hot almost all the time when he is pitching for his team. His family moved across town when their parents got a divorce. They live with their mom now.




The author’s message in the book is that best friends are not around forever, and if you think something is wrong ask them and talk to them. If a friend helps out, we need to do the same and help friends out when they need it most, because they have our back. People will have friends the rest of your life if you know how to talk about things, and don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone and talk about more personal than just sports and games. Everyone needs friends. It’s how people act and treat them that determines your relationship.


I would recommend this book to anyone who loves baseball. This book is easy to read and understand. Girls and boys in middle school and high school would like this book, and it serves as a good point. The books not very big, but it teaches a lesson.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good adolescent sports story, yet the amount of self-doubt expressed by the main character is a little more than I could handle. While he loves baseball, Bernie Shantz is thinking about giving it up. His skill set is such that the only feasible position for him is pitcher and he is having problems with his arm. His best friend Dave is in total opposition to Bernie giving up baseball and convinces him to dramatically alter his delivery. With Dave’s assistance, Bernie learns what is known as the submarine delivery, where the pitcher’s hand passes within a few inches of the ground.
Since Bernie is playing in Little League, all the opposing players have never seen such a pitch and Bernie’s arm retains most of its strength, so Bernie does well at first. However, his friend Dave starts to demonstrate signs of being very ill and Bernie’s concern for Dave and increasing self-doubt lead Bernie to difficulties on the mound. Eventually, Dave comes clean about his health issues. Not surprisingly, Bernie manages to pitch and bat well enough for his team to win the “big game at the end.”
Since adolescents are prone to self-doubt, having the characters in a book of adolescent sports fiction express them is natural. However, Bernie’s thoughts frequently waver from baseball to doubt and worry. So much so that the italicized segments of Bernie’s thoughts get in the way. It would have been much better if some of the time Bernie would have been thinking about the batter and game context rather than Dave.

[Aloughn Jefferson]

I read the “Submarine pitch” by Matt Christopher and found it to be very interesting and heartful, a book that I would recommend to ages 8 and up. This book was about a boy named Bernie who wanted to play baseball but couldn't pitch or hit the ball. Bernies best friend Dave Grant , his sister Ann Marie, and his brother Frankie all thought that he should attempt to do the submarine Pitch, Later on in the book it has like a sad setting to it and I thought to myself that this shouldn't be in the book like I thought it was gonna be about just a kid making it big time but then it results to a kid who’s best friend has a disease and is very emotional about it and it doesn't even tell you if like he gets better or not like if he dies which really left me confused and hanging. I like this book I would rate it on a 6/10 because I didn't think that it focused on the topic that it should have been but that's just my opinion.

[Eagle · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Submarine Pitch by Matt Christopher is an eloquent book. It's about a boy named Bernie. He was about to quit baseball when he read an article in the newspaper. It was talking about the submarine pitch. It's almost an underhand pitch but not exactly. Bernie tries the pitch. Read the book to see if Bernie can strike batters out with his secret weapon. By Joseph.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

this alonf with the fox steals home are my favorite matt christopher because I have always been a fan of the submarine pitch

[Ramtheman]

Had mixed emotion. One thing he was happy about the other he was sad about at the same time. Good though

[Andy Pham]

This is my second time reading this book and I felt like I enjoyed it more than I did the first time I read it. The climax of when Bernie finds out Dave had liver cancer had a bigger impact on me now than it did when I read this book in middle school. I could feel the sharp emotional pain Bernie felt when Dave wasn't there to cheer on Bernie for the last game. The moment when Bernie got home from his game to tell his mom to call the hospital to check up on Dave was a very pivotal moment in the book that tied all loose ends in the book.