A total classic to me and probably the only movie about sports I can actually watch and enjoy has to be The Sandlot. I saw the movie first when I was in fifth grade. The night my mom took me and my sister to see it we were the only people in the theater. That is the first and only time that has happened. After I saw that movie I had the urge to play baseball for a few days, but trust me, the affect wore off.

I think one of the reasons I liked this movie was because it was set in the 50’s. Movies from that era always seem to have a feeling of old fashioned fun minus technology where kids had fun with the simplest things. It was cool to see how someone could love something and do it all the time like the characters.

For those of you who have no clue what I’m talking about here’s the lowdown. The movie is set in the 1950’s (as I said earlier) and a new kid named Scotty Smalls moves to a town in Arizona. He is shy but intrigued by a group of boys who play baseball at a rundown baseball field (aka The Sandlot). He would go chat it up with them only one problem. He didn’t know anything about baseball and couldn’t play baseball to save his life (reason being his dad died when he was really young). He didn’t even have a decent glove, just a plastic one he got for his birthday. His stepdad takes him in the backyard to teach him how to throw and finds out that Scotty is hopeless. That is until Benny comes in. Scotty is sitting on his front step looking sad when Benny (the leader of the group of boys who play at the sandlot) comes and invites Scotty to play. Benny wouldn’t take no for an answer. He even sweetened the deal by giving Scotty a cool baseball cap and his old glove. Scotty was pumped. That is until he arrived at the sandlot.

When it was time for him to throw the ball to third base he just couldn’t do it. He threw it and it went two inches. The other boys thought this was hilarious and fell down laughing (talk about harsh)! Benny went up to Scotty and told him to pretend it like throwing a newspaper and it worked!

One problem that faced all the boys was The Beast. What Benny described as “a big gorilla dog thing”. They were extremely frightened of this animal. Whenever a ball was hit over the fence and into The Beast’s area, you might as well “kiss it goodbye”. This was all fine and good until Scotty got himself into “one of the biggest pickles”. He borrowed his stepdad’s baseball from his trophy room signed by “Baby Ruth” after the boys’ last ball was hit into The Beast’s yard. He figured this was no big deal. That is until he hit the first homer of his life with that ball. Right over the fence into The Beast’s trap. He started freaking out. I am talking major freak attack here. Not because it was autographed by “some lady” but because it was his stepdad’s. Once he told the rest of the guys the truth andthat it was “Baby Ruth” who signed it they started freaking out as well. They corrected Scotty. It wasn’t “Baby Ruth” but their ultimate role model Babe Ruth!!! Now, they HAD to get the ball back. It just wasn’t a question.

Benny took it upon himself after dreaming about Babe Ruth visiting him and telling him he was meant to be a legend in life. Benny laced up his new sneakers, ran like he never ran before, and hurled himself over The Beast’s fence. He landed and was face to face with The Beast. A huge dog. He looked at the ball only to find it was trashed. The dog was having a little of his own fun with it. The dog was angry that Benny invaded his turf and chased Benny all through town. Through the movies, the pool, and even the Founder’s Day picnic. Benny ran back to the sandlot and jumped back over the fence. The dog jumped too and the fence broke. It fell on top of him and Benny felt bad. He tried lifting the fence when Scotty joined in and helped the dog get out.

They walked the dog to the door of the house and knocked on the door to let the owner know the dog got loose. The owner (James Earl Jones) wasn’t mad, but he asked how he got loose. Benny and Scotty explained the whole story. The owner told the boys to follow him. He had a baseball memorabilia paradise in his house! He traded Scotty the chewed on baseball for a baseball with a whole bunch of famous autographs on it including Babe Ruth’s. They both knew this wasn’t a fair trade so the owner said that if the two boys came once a week to talk about baseball he’d consider it equal. So, there was their deal.

That, of course, wasn’t the end of the movie and I did leave details out, but I don’t want to be retelling the entire movie and it’s more the reason to go out and rent/borrow it. This movie had some funny lines that I can not get enough of and that even can be recycled and used in your life! The boys in this movie were funny and the situation they get into are just as funny. I highly recommend this movie. I rate it an 8 ½. So, give it a chance.