"His conversation with the librarian, along with a rejection letter from a publisher (who recommended that Christopher concentrate on writing stories for kids since he seemed to "have a talent for writing about children"), inspired Christopher to sit down over Thanksgiving in 1952 and write "The Lucky Baseball Bat", whose publication by Little, Brown, and Company earned him $250 net.Thanks to that success he continued writing and his second children's sports novel, "Baseball Pals", was published in 1956.