Ah, The Sandlot . The movie that made every boy on planet earth wish they had a secret baseball field to play in.
All we had in my hometown were public baseball fields and the occasional secret soccer field.
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But who in their right mind wants to play soccer? Like, the whole world you say? Psh, a bunch of mad people.
1. Squints wanted a *Playboy* in exchange for good behavior.
Apparently, the boys were goofing off for the whole first week of filming and the movie’s director of photography, Anthony Richmond, had to talk to them about it.
After a heart-to-heart about acting on a professional set…
Chauncey Leopardi, the kid who played Squints, made the D.O.P a deal: They would behave if Richmond got them the latest issue of Playboy .
The next day at lunch Richmond gave into their demand, and the boys were better after that.
2. How They Got The Beast To Lick Smalls
We find out that “The Beast” isn’t a vicious creature, but rather an English mastiff that licks people’s faces when they come into his yard.
They got “The Beast” to lick Smalls (Tom Guiry) by smearing his face with baby food.
3. Everyone Crushed On The Lifeguard.
Tom Guiry told Time that when they were filming, everyone had a crush on Marley Shelton, the girl who plays Wendy Peffercorn.
Hey, just like the boys in the movie!
4. The S’mores Scene
It may feature one of the film’s most iconic lines — you’re killing me, Smalls — but it actually took a while to finish.
Why? Because the boys could not stop laughing during the scene.
The way that Tom Guiry remembers it, Patrick Renna kept making him laugh.
“I remember we were cracking up during it. Patrick was hilarious, and we did, like, 12 takes to get the master shot. It must have been difficult to work with kids.”
5. The Pool Scene
It must have been really uncomfortable to film the pool scene because it was filmed in 50 degree weather.
(That’s 10 degrees Celsius for our non Fahrenheit-using brethren and 283.15 Kelvin for all our alien brethren).
6. The Chewing Tobacco
You know the scene where the boys go out to the fair , share a bag of chewing tobacco and then proceed to puke it all up when they’re on the spinning ride?
It, thankfully, wasn’t real tobacco.
But what was the tobacco made out of?
It’s not like the filmmakers could have given children actual chewing tobacco… Or could they?
No, they couldn’t. Apparently, the chewing tobacco was made out of licorice and bacon bits.
Believe it or not: it was still pretty nauseating!
7. Squints’ Direction
During the scene where lifeguard Wendy Peffercorn is supposed to perform CPR on Squints, the director gave the young actor one solid piece of advice:
“Keep your tongue in your mouth.”
Very good advice.
8. Squints Sued Over His Portrayal.
Not the Squints in the movie, but the real-life Squints.
Yes, there is a real-life Squints! Apparently, director David Mickey Evans once knew a kid named Squints back when he was a kid.
It was a man named Michael Polydoros who had the nickname Squints.
(The Squints in the movie was called Michael Palledorous and had the nickname Squints).
Michael sued the people behind The Sandlot , claiming that the movie had caused him serious harm.
The L.A. courts did not agree.
9. The Boys Loved Seeing James Earl Jones.
Bet you’re wondering why a couple of preteen boys would be excited to meet James Earl Jones.
Two words: Darth Vader.
Apparently, even though it was only for two days, some of the boys remember meeting Jones as one of the best moments of their lives.
10. The Boys Were Snuck Into A Showing Of *Basic Instinct*.
There was one moment during filming where Guiry’s older brother offered to sneak them all into a showing of Basic Instinct so they could, you know, see Sharon Stone’s famous scene.
11. Baseball Camp
The boys went to a baseball camp in order to hone their skills.
Here’s a breakdown of the boys’ skills, according to Evans:
“Mike Vitar, who played Benny, was — and remains — a supreme athlete. Pat Renna can hit and throw. And the other guys could sort of do that, but not as proficiently. So I hired a guy named Daniel Zacapa, and he’s one of the best character actors in the world, and he also happens to be a baseball fanatic and a terrific player. So I told him, ‘You gotta sharpen these guys up.'”
12. Tom Guiry still hears “You’re killing me, Smalls!” everywhere he goes.
Sometimes even as much as four times in a single day! Even as the film approaches its 30th anniversary, it seems that fans still haven’t forgotten that iconic line!
13. Patrick Renna did his fair share of ad-libbing.
Who could forget “Is that your sister out in left field… naked?” or my all-time favorite: “If my dog were as ugly as you…”
This film taught me so many excellent swears and insults as a child.
14. Tom Guiry actually knew how to play baseball in real life.
He was coached to make it look like he didn’t know how to throw or catch. According to Tom, this made his little league coach incredibly unhappy once he got around to finally seeing the film.
16. Patrick Renna was the last boy cast in the film.
It’s crazy to think because “Ham” makes the whole movie! It supposedly proved difficult for production to find their ideal actor but after Renna had his audition, he was offered the part on the spot.
17. Tom Guiry found it easy to relate to Smalls.
“There were a lot of differences, but I could see a lot of similarities between us, too,” Guiry said. “I remember moving when I was little, and it was hard for me to make friends. I think as an actor, you always bring a part of yourself into the role.”
18. Marty York landed the role of “Yeah-Yeah” by accident.
Marty was originally cast to play Bertram but the original kid cast for the part of “Yeah-Yeah” became ill and had to bow out.
At the last minute, they turned to Marty to fill his shoes.
19. Tom Guiry’s favorite scene was the 4th of July sequence.
“That’s one of my favorite scenes in the movie. They shot right at ‘magic hour,’ when the sun is going down and the camera’s following Ham stealing the food? That was great.”
What’s your favorite moment from The Sandlot ? Leave a comment and let us know!
