The Sandlot

The Sandlot is a sports comedy film that was released in 1993 and is co-written, directed, and narrated by David Mickey Evans.

## Plot

In the summer of 1962, brainy, reserved fifth grader Scotty Smalls moves with his mother and recent stepfather to the Los Angeles suburbs, where he has difficulty making friends. He tries to join a group of boys who play baseball daily in a local sandlot, but his inability to catch or throw the ball causes the team to laugh at him, and he runs off in embarassment. An attempt to learn to play catch with his stepfather, Bill, results in a black eye.

Nevertheless, he is invited to join the team by their leader and best player, Benny Rodriguez, who mentors him. With Benny's help, Smalls improves his skills enough to join the team as their left-center outfielder. He befriends the rest of the team including the heavyset short-tempered catcher, Hamilton "Ham" Porter; the easygoing African American pitcher, Kenny "The Heater" DeNunez; the nerdy smartmouthed shortstop, Michael "Squints" Palladorus; the impatient 3rd baseman, Alan "Yeah-Yeah" McClenna; the rebellious 2nd baseman, Bertram Grover Weeks; the suffering 1st baseman, Timmy Timmons; and Timmy's younger brother, the annoying right-center outfielder Tommy "The Repeater" Timmons.

One day, when catcher Ham hits a home run into an adjacent backyard, the team becomes irritated. Smalls attempts to retrieve the ball but is stopped by the other boys, because of "The beast" the lives in the backyard. That night, the boys have a campout at the nearby treehouse, where Squints tells the legend of "the Beast", a large and aggressive English Mastiff that has become a neighborhood legend, for his size. Many baseballs hit into the yard over the years have all been claimed by the Beast, which is kept chained up by its owner, Mr. Mertle. It is rumored that he once ate another kid who attempted to enter the yard.

One particularly hot day, the boys visit the community pool, in lieu of baseball. Squints has a crush on lifeguard Wendy Peffercorn, and fakes drowning in order to get her to administer mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. After he awakens and kisses her, the sandlot team is banned from the pool, but Squints' reputation is boosted. On the Fourth of July the team plays a night game by the light of the fireworks, and Smalls observes that although to the rest of them baseball is just a game, it is Benny's true passion. Later, they are challenged to play against a rival Little League team whom they handily defeat. To celebrate, they visit a fair where they try chewing tobacco obtained by Bertram and ride the Trabant; the combination has disasterous results.

One day, Benny hits the team's only baseball so hard that he knocks the cover off. With Bill away on business for the week, Smalls borrows a baseball from his trophy room that is autographed by legendary player Babe Ruth. Being ignorant of baseball history, Smalls does not realize the ball's value, and hits his first home run, sending it into the Beast's yard. When the other boys learn of the autograph, they tell Smalls its value and try to come up with a way to retrieve it. First they scrap up money to buy a baseball and Benny forges Babe Ruth's signature on it, to temporarily replace the autographed ball, and keep Scotty's mother from noticing the other one is missing.

The team agrees that Mr. Mertle will not help them retrieve the ball, so they make several attempts to get the ball out of the yard using makeshift retrieval devices, but each is destroyed by the Beast. Just as all hope seems lost, Benny has a dream in which the spirit of Babe Ruth advises him to used his speed and skills to retrieve the ball himself, and that this will be the moment that makes him a legend.

Benny goes over the fence and "pickles" the Beast to retrieve the ball, but the dog breaks its chain and leaps over the fence in pursuit. It chases Benny through town, resulting in several comedic mishaps, and eventually back to the sandlot. Benny jumps back into Mr. Mertle's yard, but the Beast crashes through the fence, which falls down on top of it. Smalls and Benny lift the fence to free the dog, who shows gratitude by licking Smalls, and leading them to its stash of baseballs.

They meet Mr. Mertle, who claims he would've helped them retrieved the ball for them, much to the team's dismay. He turns out to be a former Negro-league baseball player who played with Babe Ruth but went blind after being struck by a baseball. He kindly trades them the chewed-up ball for one autographed by all of the 1927 New York Yankees, and asks Smalls and Benny to visit him weekly to talks more about baseball. Smalls gives this ball to Bill, and their father-and-son relationship improves (although Smalls is still grounded for a week for ruining his original ball). The boys continue to play baseball on the sandlot, the rest of the summer, with the Beast—whose real name is Hercules—as their mascot.

Over the next few years, the sandlot kids continue to play together, but then they start to go their separate ways. Yeah-Yeah is enrolled in military school, enlists in the Army, and later develops bunjee jumping (a callback to one of their devices the team used when trying to retrieve the ball), Bertram joins the 1960's counterculture, and is never heard from again, Timmy and Tommy become an architect and contractor, and become wealthy upon inventing Mini-Malls, Squints marries Wendy, has 9 children, and takes over the local drug store, Ham becomes a professional wrestler: "The Great Hambino", and DeNunez plays in the Minor Leagues, but he later becomes a business owner and coaches a Little League team. Benny's exploit with the Beast earns him the nickname "the Jet", and he goes on to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Smalls becomes a sports commentator, and covers a game against the San Francisco Giants in which Benny successfully steals home. Celebrating his victory, the two exchange thumbs up. Afterwards Smalls, looks at his three baseballs on display: the Murderers' Row ball, the forged signature ball, and the chewed up Babe Ruth Ball, and then at a picture of the Sandlot team from three decades ago.

## Reviews

The Sandlot got many positives reviews on IMDb, as well as people saying that it is one of the best movie with kids and being nostalgic.

## Trivia

* Vincent Drugstore from Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers appear in The Sandlot.