5 Lessons from “The Sandlot”

The best children’s movie of all-time

Simply the best

My best friend and I had just played a little league baseball game.

Our dads decided to take us to the movies. This was unexpected. The year was 1993 and I was 6 years old.

Were we going to the newest Disney movie? Nah, our dads wouldn’t want to see that. What was happening? What were we going to see?

Our dads were taking us to a movie called The Sandlot that just came out. I had never heard of it. I don’t remember any anticipation or build-up for the movie. It was a surprise…and what a pleasant surprise it was.

The Sandlot instantly became my favorite movie. I lived by it. My mom got me a t-shirt that said, “baseball is life.” I even got in trouble for jumping over my neighbor’s fence and yelling “ohhh shit!” I was pretending that I was Benny “the jet” Rodriguez and I was running away from “the beast.”

I have watched The Sandlot approximately 87 times since that day at the movie theater. I still love it. There are so many beautiful lessons to take from this movie. Here are my top 5:

1. The Harsh Realities of Moving (Especially as a Kid)

Shortly after that beautiful day at the movie theater, I moved from Kentucky to Florida. I moved away from my best friend and started all over. Two years after that, I moved from Florida to Michigan, and started all over again. I was about 9 years old during the first move and 11 years old for the second move. Moving at that age is tough…I feel for Smalls. The main character, Scotty “Smalls”, moves to a new town at about the same age I did. He has no friends and he’s a nerd. The only way to fit in is through baseball. He needs to be good at baseball in order to be accepted by the neighborhood kids (oh, how times have changed). He can’t throw. He can’t catch. He needs help…

2. The Mom and the Stepdad

Smalls’ parents teach us multiple lessons in The Sandlot. His mother delivers the best summer speech ever to Scottie.

I don’t want you sitting around in here all summer fiddling with this stuff… like you did last summer and the one before. I know you’re smart, and I’m proud of you. I want you to get out into the fresh air and make some friends. Run around, scrape your knees, get dirty. Climb trees, hop fences. Get into trouble, for crying out loud. Not too much, but some. You have my permission.

My own mother loves this quote. It is everything that should be said to a kid who is spending too much time playing with his erector set. You can substitute the erector set with an iPad or video games these days.

The stepdad plays a very important role in this movie, as well. He kind of stays in the background, but his character is vital to the plot.

I love how nervous Smalls is about asking his stepdad to play catch.

I’m not saying you should be that nervous to ask your stepdad a question. I just like how Smalls respects his stepdad’s work. His stepdad is busy. He is “under the gun.” Playing catch would be a big deal. His stepdad loves baseball and eventually they both share a common bond over the game. His stepdad’s trophy case (and baseball signed by Babe Ruth) end up playing a huge role in the movie.

3. Summer Love

Wendy Peffercorn

Wendy. friggin’. Peffercorn. The Squints-Wendy Peffercorn dynamic took this movie from good to great. “This Magic Moment” truly epitomized what young boys think about when they aren’t thinking about baseball.

When Squints faked out the lifeguard and planted the famous kiss, movie history was made. Young boys across the nation started to act like they couldn’t swim just to see what would happen.

“Squints grew up and married Wendy Pefforcorn. They have 9 kids. They bought Vincent’s Drug Store and still own it to this day”

Downright hilarious.

4. There are no Participation Trophies

This concept has become impossibly difficult for people to grasp these days. There are no participation trophies. The best win. Benny goes on to play for the Los Angeles Dodgers, the others do not. This movie also teaches you that just because you have the most money aka:

• The best jerseys / equipment
• The best ballfield
• Brand new bikes

…does not make you the best. Believe it or not, the “no participation trophies” idea is not evil. Benny doesn’t beat the douchey kids who challenge him because he has more money, he beats them because he works harder. He works harder than all of them.

“For us it was a game, but for Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez, baseball was life.”

5. Facing the Beast

Children’s movies don’t typically have this many adult lessons in them. This is what makes The Sandlot exceptional. It hits you from all angles. It gives you adult lessons designed for children.

The mystique of “the beast” looms over the entire storyline. There are rumors of:

• Its’ size and aggression
• It has killed men
• The owner is even meaner than the beast itself
• “You can’t go in there. The last kid who did…he got eaten”

Face your fears. How many children’s movies tell kids to face their fears anymore? Discover that you can conquer the beast. Smalls starts as the wimpy coward and finishes as the one who faces the beast face-to-face (with a little help from Benny).

“Well, first time that anybody got the best of old Hercules. Why didn’t you just knock on the door? I’d have gotten it for you.”

Classic.