Classic Trailer Rewatch: ‘The Sandlot’ – One of the Best Baseball Films
by Alex Billington
July 5, 2024
Source: YouTube
“A little piece of paradise, a half a block wide, and a whole season long.” A classic trailer rewatch from the 90s – an iconic baseball movie about kids getting into trouble. The Sandlot was one of my favorite films growing up – I watched it over and over and over so many times. In the summer of 1962, a new kid in town is taken under the wing of a young baseball prodigy and his rowdy team, resulting in many adventures. It’s not only the perfect slice of suburban Americana, with all the usual happenings, it’s a great baseball movie about a group of kids who – even if they can’t really play all that well – build their friendships around the game anyway. The Sandlot stars Tom Guiry, Mike Vitar, Art LaFleur, Patrick Renna (also seen in You Gotta Believe), Chauncey Leopardi, Marty York, Brandon Adams, and many others. There are many baseball movies in Hollywood history, and while this may not be everyone’s fave, it’s one of ours. We also posted a fantastic baseball movie montage video recently, and there’s a whole new book about them called Baseball: The Movie that we recommend as well (even though its author Noah Gittell isn’t a big fan of The Sandlot – oh well). I’m also a fan of the doggie in this – “The Beast” – who gets his time to shine at the end.
Here’s a selection of classic trailers + TV spots for David Mickey Evans’ The Sandlot, direct from YouTube:
Scotty Smalls (Tom Guiry) moves to a new neighborhood with his mom and stepfather and wants to learn to play baseball. Benny Rodriguez, the neighborhood baseball guru, takes him under his wing and he soon becomes part of the local baseball buddies. They fall into fun adventures involving baseball, treehouse sleepovers, the desirous lifeguard at the local pool, the snooty rival Little League team, and the travelling fair. Beyond the fence at the back of the sandlot menaces a legendary ball-eating dog called the Beast, and the kids inevitably must deal with him. The Sandlot is directed by American filmmaker David Mickey Evans (aka David M. Evans), his second feature film at the time after first making Radio Flyer (though he pulled his name from this film) and before he went on to make First Kid and the direct-to-video sequels Beethoven’s 3rd & 4th. The screenplay is written by David Mickey Evans & Robert Gunter. Produced by Dale de la Torre and William S. Gilmore. The Sandlot originally opened in theaters in April 1993, earning $32 million at the box office in its original run. It’s available to stream on Disney+ and on VOD in many places.
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