Matthew F. Christopher was born August 16, 1917, in Bath, Pennsylvania, the first-born of nine children of Fred Christopher, an Italian immigrant, and Mary Vass Christopher, a Hungarian immigrant. At the age of seven, his family moved to Upstate New York where in 1935 Christopher graduated from Ludlowville High School. Christopher played sports, especially baseball, at an early age. His athletic career continued through high school and culminated when he played professionally in the Canadian-American Baseball League for a short two months, before being released for inconsistency in hitting. Still he loved baseball and played semi-professional ball while working at factory jobs.

He began writing poetry and short stories at the age of fourteen. At eighteen he entered the Writer's Digest short story contest and was one of two hundred winners, enough encouragement to keep him writing for several years through lunch hours and at night. After...