The Sandlot

Watching it on MLB Network right now. It's such a perfect coming-of-age baseball movie. Right up there with Field of Dreams, Bull Durham and Major League among my favorites.

 

In many ways sandlot/pickup baseball was more fun than little league (pitchers hand, right field closed)

 

For those with Disney+, the Sandlot is currently available for streaming as well.

 

I have a good friend who is a diehard baseball fan who has somehow never seen The Sandlot or Field of Dreams. And now that I’ve busted his balls about it so much, he’s dug in like a tick and won’t watch it. His loss.

 

2019 was a banner year in the BTExpress house. Saw Karate Kid AND The Sandlot for the first time.

 

It’s hard to believe that the Sandlot was not a hit. I vaguely remember a bad marketing campaign. I was 16 when the movie came out and now had no interest, but eventually found on cable and loved it.

 

Might have suffered from a lack of big names. The most well-known names -- James Earl Jones, Dennis Leary, Karen Allen -- aren't even that central to the movie and don't exactly put asses in the seats. And none of those kids became, say, River Phoenix or even Corey Feldman.

 

I kind of remember it being marketed as a little kids movie, but then reviews said it wasn’t for little kids so it stalled.

And yeah, there were no big names, though, one has to wonder what they were thinking casting Dennis Leary as the stepdad.

 

Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez was in "Mighty Ducks." Can't say any of the others did anything as actors.

 

The pitcher was in a ton of stuff as a kid, including the lead in Wes Craven's "The People Under The Stairs."

 

He was also in The Mighty Ducks 1 & 2.

The Great Hambino was in The Big Green, another kids sports film from the 90s (with Steve Guttenberg of all people), as well as some random TV spots.

The guy who played Squints is probably the one I've seen most recently. He's been in random TV shows here and there.