The Sandlot Information

The Sandlot is a 1993 American sports, comedy, coming of age film directed by David M. Evans about a group of young baseball players during the summer of 1962. Filming location was in Glendale, Salt Lake City, Utah. The film was released with the title The Sandlot Kids in Australia and the United Kingdom.

Plot

The film is told through the perspective of Scott "Scotty" Smalls, (Tom Guiry), who is reminiscing about the summer of 1962. Smalls moves with his mother (Karen Allen) and stepfather Bill, (Denis Leary) to a new neighborhood outside Los Angeles. One afternoon, he decides to follow a group of neighborhood boys, and he watches them play a game at a small field,which they call the "Sandlot." Smalls despite his inexperience chooses to play with them, but fails to catch a simple fly ball and properly throw the ball back to his infielders. All the other players, except for Benny Rodriguez (Mike Vitar), begin to laugh at Smalls for these blunders, prompting him to leave the sandlot in embarrassment. Benny, who is the best player in the neighborhood, shields Smalls from the insults of his peers and invites him to rejoin their game, reminding the other players that they make plenty of errors and also look awkward. Benny proceeds to give Smalls advice and helps him earn the respect of the other players.

As Smalls continues to play with them, while experiencing many unfortunate adventures with his new friends. He learns that players avoid hitting home runs over the sandlot's fences, as the property beyond them is guarded by a massive and ferocious dog, a 300-pound English mastiff called "The Beast." When a home run is hit, the game is over for the day (or until the group manages to obtain a replacement ball). The team has several misadventures, including a trip to the pool, where Squints, who can't swim, deliberately jumps off at the deep end to get his lifeguard crush Wendy Peffercorn to rescue him. While she was busy trying to resuscitate him, Squints promtly kisses Wendy during mouth to mouth. She is offended by this and it results in a permanent ban from the pool. However, it also cements Squints and Wendy's relationship. Later, the team plays a night game on the Fourth of July where, everyone except Benny is more interested in watching fireworks, than playing. Later the team, is confronted by a snooty rival team, who begins the insult at Benny about playing with a bunch of rejects. After the two teams spew insults at each other, Ham shouts the unforgivable insult "You play ball like a girl!" provoking a challenge from the other team. But the Sandlot kids have an easy victory over them. Later, they experiment with chewing tobacco at a carnival, with disastrous results.

One day, while Smalls' stepfather is on a business trip, Benny hits a ball so hard, the leather ruptures, causing the ball's entrails to come out. While the others are impressed about this, Benny feels guilty because the group does not have 98 cents to buy another baseball, and is forced to retire for the afternoon. However, Smalls runs to Bill's trophy room, and steals his stepfather's autographed ball, in hopes to preserve the game. The team is impressed with Smalls' gesture, and allows him to have the first at bat with the ball. He proceeds to hit the ball out of the sandlot, but is shortly enveloped by fear once he realizes that he has lost Bill's ball. The situation is further worsened when Smalls realizes that the ball was autographed by Babe Ruth, and is almost irreplaceable. Although even Benny is annoyed that Smalls would even play with such a valuable ball, the team immediately scraps up change to buy a new ball and they forge Babe Ruth's signature on it to temporarily replace the missing ball until they can come up with a plan.

Squints says that Mr. Myrtle is a mean old man, and would not return the ball, so Smalls and his friends begin engineering elaborate plans to recover the ball from The Beast. After five failed rescue attempts, including, a stick, a pot on a metal rod, a vacuum cleaner, Yeah-yeah on a pulley system, and a catapult composed of an Erector set, Smalls prepares to accept his fate. Around the same time, Benny has an enlightening dream, where he is visited by Babe Ruth, who encourages him to run into the Beast's domain, and use his speed to recover the ball and escape. Ruth leaves Benny with the words, "Heroes get remembered, but legends never die." Benny rallies his friends the following morning at the sandlot, and prepares to recover Smalls' baseball. Using his PF Flyers ("shoes guaranteed to make a kid run faster, and jump higher"), he steals the ball from the Beast, and successfully manages to elude the dog as it chases him through town with the sandlot gang following him. The Beast chases Benny through an alley, a movie theater, a carnival, the pool, and back to the sandlot. Growing exhausted from the chase, Benny starts to slow down and the beast starts to catch up to him. Benny returns to Mr. Mertle's home and hops the fence. The race ends with the fence falling on the Beast. Smalls and Benny both feel responsible for the ordeal, and they help The Beast escape the rubble. After being rescued, The Beast, whose real name turns out to be Hercules, becomes much more friendly towards the boys, even showing them where he had buried all the baseballs that had gone into the yard over the years. Benny and Smalls then decide to tell the dog's owner, Mr. Mertle (James Earl Jones), about the ordeal, and he reveals he would have simply returned the ball if they had just asked him. The rest of the boys are upset at Squints for making up the story of Mertle being 'the meanest old man that ever lived' and blame him for it. Squints defended himself and told his friends that at least they should be happy to get the ball back. Benny and Smalls eventually learn that Mr. Mertle was a professional baseball player in the Negro League and a friendly rival of Babe Ruth himself. Mr. Mertle, whose career ended after a hit by a stray pitch blinded him, agrees to give Smalls a ball signed by Murderers' Row " several of the best Yankee hitters in the late 1920s (including Ruth). In exchange, the boys are to visit Mr. Mertle once a week to talk baseball with him. Smalls proceeds to give his stepfather the ball that Mr. Mertle gave him.

While Bill is pleased with the Murderers' Row ball, he is still upset about the Babe Ruth ball, but he only grounds Smalls for a week. He and Bill become closer than before. While out playing on the Sandlot, Smalls goes on to explain what became of all his friends, including Mr. Mertle's dog, Hercules. Yeah Yeah's parents sent him off to military school, after the army he became one of the pioneer developers of bungie jumping (presumably because of the pulley he was on earlier). Ham became a professional wrestler called "The Great Hambino". Timmy and Tommy became architects and invented mini malls. Squints married Wendy Peffercorn, had nine kids, and bought Vincent's Drug Store. Bertrum got "really into the sixties", and no one ever saw him again. DeNunez played Triple A ball, now owns a business, and coaches a little league team that his sons play on, called "The Heaters", which is name after a trademark pitch of his. And Hercules lived to be 199 years old in dog years. The film then jumps 30 years into the future, where Smalls is a radio sports commentator for the Los Angeles Dodgers (wearing the same hat Benny dissed when they were kids) and owns the fake Babe Ruth ball, the chewed up real one, and the Murderer's Row ball, given to him by his friends, Mr. Mertle, and his stepdad. Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez is one of the team's star players, wearing #3. While he is in the twilight of his career, Benny manages to steal home in the movie's final moments, then flashes a thumbs-up to Smalls in the press box. The movie ends with Smalls looking at a photo of the team from 1962.

Cast

The Sandlot baseball team

• Tom Guiry as Scott "Scotty" Smalls - a shy and academic boy who recently moved into the neighborhood.
• Mike Vitar as Benjamin Franklin "Benny the Jet" Rodriguez - the leader and eldest of the boys who is deemed as the best player on the team.
• Patrick Renna as Hamilton "Ham" Porter - a chubby boy who is usually the catcher of the team.
• Chauncey Leopardi as Michael "Squints" Palledorous - a smart aleck who wears glasses with thick black frames.
• Marty York as Alan "Yeah-Yeah" McClennan - given his nickname as he frequently says "yeah-yeah" before beginning a sentence.
• Brandon Quintin Adams as Kenny DeNunez - The team pitcher.
• Grant Gelt as Bertram Grover Weeks - wears glasses like Squints but with thin frames.
• Victor DiMattia as Timmy Timmons - Tommy's older brother.
• Shane Obedzinski as Tommy "Repeat" Timmons - the youngest and smallest boy on the team and Timmy's younger brother. He earns his nickname due to always repeating his brother's words.

Other characters

• Arliss Howard as adult Scott "Scotty" Smalls
• Denis Leary as Bill, Scott's Stepfather
• Karen Allen as Scott's Mom
• James Earl Jones as Mr. Mertle - Owner of "The Beast".
• Marley Shelton as Wendy Peffercorn - lifeguard of the local swimming pool.
• Art LaFleur as Babe Ruth - legendary baseball player whom the Sandlot boys admire.
• Wil Horneff as Phillips - leader of a baseball team that rivals the Sandlot boys. Shares a particular antagonistic relationship with Ham, as the two always exchange insults when they meet.

Reception

Critical

The Sandlot has received mixed to positive reviews from critics. The film currently holds a 61% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 22 reviews. The sites consensus says "It may be shamelessly derivative and overly nostalgic, but The Sandlot is nevertheless a genuinely sweet and funny coming-of-age adventure." Critic Roger Ebert gave the film three stars, comparing the movie to a summertime version of A Christmas Story, based on the tone and narration of both films. He said of one scene, "There was a moment in the film when Rodriguez hit a line drive directly at the pitcher's mound, and I ducked and held up my mitt, and then I realized I didn't have a mitt, and it was then I also realized how completely this movie had seduced me with its memories of what really matters when you are 12." Bob Cannon of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B+, praising its simplicity and strong fundamentals.

Leonard Klady of Variety gave the film a mostly negative review. He praised the cinematography and score, but felt the baseball team did not come together, and that the film, while sincere, was "remarkably shallow wade, rife with incident and slim on substance."

Box office

The film grossed $4 million in its opening weekend and a further $32 million through ticket sales. Figures for worldwide, VHS and DVD sales are estimated to be at $76 million. Since its release on both VHS and DVD, the film has become a cult favorite.

Defamation suit

In 1998, Michael Polydoros sued 20th Century Fox and the producers of the film for defamation. Polydoros, a childhood classmate of David Mickey Evans, the author and director of The Sandlot, claimed that the character Michael "Squints" Palledorous was derogatory and caused him shame and humiliation. The case reached the Supreme Court of California, which ruled in favor of 20th Century Fox.

Sequels

• The Sandlot 2 (2005) " A direct-to-video sequel in which a new Sandlot gang is featured. The only returning cast member is James Earl Jones in his role of Mr. Mertle.
• The Sandlot: Heading Home (2007) " Another direct-to-video sequel starring Luke Perry as Tommy "Santa" Santorelli who gets knocked back to 1976 from 2007 and relives his childhood. Chauncey Leopardi reprises his role as Squints.
• The Sandlot 4: Back To Home Run" Another direct-to-video sequel

Soundtrack

The film's original score was composed by David Newman, and was unreleased until 2006, when a limited edition was released as part of the Varèse Sarabande CD Club.

Songs in order of appearance:

1. "Finger Poppin' Time" - Hank Ballard and the Midnighters
2. "Smokie Part II" - Bill Black's Combo
3. "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" - The Tokens
4. "There Goes My Baby" - The Drifters
5. "This Magic Moment" - The Drifters
6. "America The Beautiful" - Ray Charles
7. "Green Onions" - Booker T & The MG's
8. "Tequila" - The Champs
9. "Wipe Out" - The Surfaris