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Author | Matt Christopher |
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Publisher | Little, Brown & Co. |
Publication date | March 16, 1972 |
ISBN | 1-599-53107-0 |
The Kid Who Only Hit Homers (1972) is a children's novel about baseball written by American author Matt Christopher. [1] [2] It was the first in a series of four novels featuring a young man (Sylvester Coddmeyer III) who is trained to play baseball by supernatural visitations from former Major League players.
Sylvester Coddmeyer III is having trouble hitting on his little league baseball team and, as a result, is thinking about quitting baseball. Sylvester loved baseball, but he wasn't what you'd call a good hitter. He had decided against joining the team when he met George Baruth. He promised Sylvester he would help him become one of the best players ever. Before long he was hitting homers. When his friend "Snooky" tries to convince him this mysterious man was just a figment of his imagination, Sylvester tries to prove to him the truth.
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John Dale Sylvester was an American packing machinery company executive who was best known for a promise made to him by Babe Ruth during the 1926 World Series. Sylvester was seriously ill and hospitalized. Ruth said he would hit a home run on his behalf, which was followed by what was widely reported at the time as Sylvester's miraculous recovery.
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