Cover Story

Keys to show baseball classic ‘The Sandlot’

BY RYAN MARSHALL

rmarshall@newspost.com

Frederick baseball cinema fans will have a chance to see Ham, YeahYeah, Repeat and other favorites next week, when the Frederick Keys hold a screening of the classic film “The Sandlot” at Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium.

The July 23 event will feature an appearance by Chauncey Leopardi, who played the character Squints in the 1993 film.

Gates will open at 5 p.m., while the movie will start at 6 p.m.

The movie centers around the efforts of Scotty Smalls to make friends as the new kid in town in the summer of 1962. He falls in with a group of neighborhood kids who play pickup baseball, and, in the course of their games, they must figure out how to retrieve a baseball autographed by Babe Ruth from a lot next door that’s guarded by a dog named The Beast, which is the source of many a neighborhood legend.

Their adventures also include summertime trips to the pool, a carnival and an ill-fated first sampling of chewing tobacco.

Almost inevitably in a movie for kids, the rag-tag sandlot team must prove their baseball bonafides in a match-up against a preppy Little League team for local bragging rights.

“The Sandlot” wasn’t Leopardi’s first time starring in a Hollywood hit. He had previously starred in the 1991 Steve Martin and Diane Keaton film “Father of the Bride.”

After his appearance in “The Sandlot,” Leopardi went on to star with Christina Ricci, Bill Pullman, and

Eric Idle in 1995’s “Casper” and the cult classic TV series “Freaks and Geeks,” along with “Gilmore Girls” and other movies and television projects. He also appeared in the direct-to-video project “The Sandlot: Heading Home,” which was released in 2007. In a strange twist, Leopardi and four of his “Sandlot” teammates — Patrick Renna, Marty York, Brandon Quinton Adams and Grant Gelt — would all appear in various episodes of the 1990s sitcom “Boy Meets World.” He told People magazine that he mostly works on things other than movies and TV these days. “I spend most of my time being a dad and a husband, a business owner, IF YOU GO just working hard doing my thing,” The Keys will celebrate one of the most popular baseball movies of all he said. Nearly 30 years after its release, time, “The Sandlot,” on July 23, when “The Sandlot” it’s screened on the video board maintains its hold at Nymeo Field in Frederick. Gates on members of open at 5 p.m., and the first pitch the Frederick is at 6 p.m. There will be fireworks County baseball after the game. Fans can meet and community. get autographs from Chauncey Leopardi, who played Squints in the movie. July 23 is also Scout Night, where members of the local boys and girls scout troops can watch the “For me, [it’s] one of the best baseball movies,” said Urbana High School coach Mike Frownfelter. Keys game and camp out on the field While he was a overnight. Tickets start at $7. Go to little older than its mlbdraftleague.com/frederick/tickets/ target audience promotions for more information or when the film to purchase tickets. was released in 1993, Frownfelter said it brings back childhood memories of getting friends together and playing ball at the local park. “You don’t see that around anymore,” he added. The film has also become his 8-year-old son’s favorite movie — and turned him into a New York Yankees fan, Frownfelter said. For a dad who’s involved in baseball, “The Sandlot” was a great way to get his son into the game, and they watch the movie

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A film still from “The Sandlot.”

together often. It’s a hit with his high school players, too.

Catoctin High School coach Mike Franklin estimated he and his 10-year-old son have watched the movie together at least 20 times.

The film is “a feel-good movie for anyone who’s ever played the game,” he said.

It has lots of scenes you can relate to, like roaming around the neighborhood in the summer with nothing to do or getting some friends together to go to the pool, he said. In a time without smart phones, he and his friends

COVER STORY

Keys to show baseball classic ‘The Sandlot’

Fathom Events

got together and played sandlot

Like Frownfelter, Franklin finds it’s a good way to connect with his players as well.

He’s been known to goodnaturedly mutter perhaps the film’s most famous line, “You’re killin’ me, Smalls,” when a player botches a fundamental that they’ve covered a dozen times in practice.

Today’s players always get the reference, he said, which proves the lasting appeal of a sports classic. “That’s a 5-star movie if ever there was one.”

This movie will last for-ev-er

BY JOSH SMITH

jsmith@newspost.com

There are countless reasons.

Some large.

Some Smalls.

That’s why my love of “The Sandlot” will last forever.

Or, rather, as Squints says in the cult classic baseball flick, “until for-ev-er.”

“The Sandlot” was released in 1993. It’s about a ragtag group of boys set in the summer of 1962. It’s scheduled to be shown at Nymeo Field at Harry Grove Stadium, home of the Frederick Keys this weekend.

The Keys are holding the event because, sure, the movie’s primary subject matter aligns with their business. But also because, in terms of general family entertainment, there may not be a bigger home run.

There is no expiration date for when this movie will stop drawing laughter and making new fans. It’s comfortably among my top three favorite baseball movies.

Most famous baseball movies are centered on the professionals, men who are playing, typically struggling, often mightily, with a sport that peddles failure but also, despite that, somehow tightens a vice-grip on hearts.

This movie, though, romanticizes baseball in the sweetest of ways — through kids, playing this kid’s game on a “team” they picked themselves.

This isn’t “Moneyball.” No cutting-edge general manager is trying to squeeze wins out of these handselected players. Nor are they inspired to spite a team owner with ulterior motives, which happens in “Major League.”

“The Sandlot” oozes a purity that harkens to the roots of baseball’s popularity: boyish passion. These neighborhood pals

My top 10 baseball movies

1. Field of Dreams. 2. Major League. 3. The Sandlot. 4. Bull Durham. 5. Moneyball. 6. A League of their Own. 7. The Natural. 8. Cobb. 9. Bad News Bears. 10. Rookie of the Year.

get together every summer day to play baseball because they love the game.

In jeans and T-shirts, they play against each other — until a challenge comes from an uppity, uniformed, organized squad that they promptly whip.

If you’ve ever been on a team of any sort, ever had a friend group at any point in your life, you will be able to relate.

The boys all have nicknames. They all razz each other.

It’s all kind of childish.

There are genuine, grownup themes baked in, though.

You want acceptance and inclusivity? Scott Smalls, the baseball illiterate protagonist (and the film’s narrator), earns a place among this diverse gang of ballplaying boys who initially see this new kid as an “L-7 weenie” because he wears an ugly hat, can’t so much as throw and thinks Babe Ruth is a lady.

You want teamwork? The boys plan and execute grandiose attempts to retrieve a Ruth-autographed ball that’s smacked where “The Beast” roams.

You want self-fulfilling prophesies? Examples of leadership? Benny, the gang’s star player, takes it upon himself to singlehandedly solve their pickle after The Great Bambino, in ghost form, tells him, “Everybody gets one chance to do something great” to become a legend.

It gets kinda heavy.

Meanwhile, there’s no shortage of juvenile moments that involve creative insults, vomit, mythtelling and a spur-of-themoment scheme to snag a kiss from a legend of a much different sort.

That’s where Squints, played by Chauncey Leopardi — who will be at Grove stadium on July 23 — launches an iconic moment with a simple smile.

The greatness of this film is in its fine particles — the sand on the lot, so to speak.

It’s in that smile from Squints.

It’s in Ham’s final burp to end the chewing-tobacco incident, and the squeak in his voice when he screams “cannonball!” before splashing the “pool honies.”

It’s in the whip snap when Benny takes off on his rubber legs in a duel with The Beast for the coveted Ruth ball.

The movie is about baseball, but it’s not. That’s the beauty of the sport, the way it can translate to so many aspects of life, if you let it.

Haven’t seen it? Do yourself a favor: Make a trip to Nymeo Field this weekend.

Seen it already? Go see it again — at an idyllic venue that will make this viewing a completely new experience as you recite the lines and laugh again.

Take someone who will be watching it for the first time.

Chances are, they’ll also become fans. “The Sandlot” has a charm that lasts.

Josh Smith is the Frederick News-Post.

Maybe even, for some of us, until for-ev-er.

Josh Smith is the sports editor at The News-Post.