The Sandlot (1993)

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Remember the magic of endless summer days spent outdoors with friends? The Sandlot perfectly captures that fleeting, golden moment in childhood when every day brought new adventures and time seemed to stretch forever. This week, we dive into the beloved 1993 classic that manages to be both a product of its time and completely timeless.

The film's portrayal of Scotty Smalls' journey from awkward outsider to accepted member of the neighborhood baseball crew resonates deeply with anyone who's ever felt like they didn't belong. We explore how Benny Rodriguez represents the ideal friend we all wished we had—talented yet humble, confident yet kind, and willing to believe in someone when no one else would. That relationship forms the beating heart of a story that's ostensibly about baseball but is really about friendship, growing up, and the memories that shape us.

What strikes us most rewatching The Sandlot as adults is how it documents a way of childhood that seems increasingly distant—kids roaming freely through neighborhoods, creating their own adventures without constant adult supervision. There's something both nostalgic and slightly heartbreaking about seeing these children experience a freedom that many kids today might never know. The film serves as a time capsule not just of the 1960s it portrays, but also of the 1990s when such childhoods were still possible.

Along the way, we unpack some baseball history (including whether Babe Ruth really "called his shot"), examine how the film's quotable lines have become part of our cultural vocabulary, and appreciate the practical effects used to create The Beast—that legendary neighborhood dog who becomes the catalyst for the film's final adventure. The Sandlot reminds us that childhood fears often loom larger in our imagination than in reality, and that sometimes the monsters in our lives are just misunderstood.

Have you revisited any childhood favorites lately? We'd love to hear which films still capture your imagination decades later. Share your thoughts and join us next week when we begin our two-part coverage of Andor Season 1.

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Twitch (Anthony):
https://www.twitch.tv/odysseywow

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to episode 117 of
Project Geekology.
This week's episode, theSandlot.
I'm your co-host, Rich joined,as always with Dakota and our
other co-host, anthony.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
I'm excited to talk about the Sandlot guys, because
I haven't watched it yet.
I prepared for Bad News Bearstoday.
Um, that's why the backgroundon my uh, you know, my zoom is
Bad News Bears, the 2005 versionwith, uh, yeah, anyway, um, so,
you guys, you guys talk aboutthis movie.
I'll I'll interject my thoughtsfrom when I was a small boy.

(00:39):
Uh, I have, I have, you know,pictographic memory, though, so
I don't need to rewatch this.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
Well, I did rewatch it this week and, honestly, I
was really, really happy to doso.
It led me down a couple ofrabbit holes.
I started looking up Ruth inthe 32 in the World Series
calling it a shot.
So we'll have to talk aboutthat as we get.
Yeah actually.
So, guys, I may be breaking somehearts out there, but that, uh,

(01:08):
it seems that that may not havehappened.
I've watched grainy footageover 50 times of ruth calling
his shot and it seems that hedoes indeed point at point uh in
in a direction that is fairlyleft field, but left of the
field, so it could have beenthird base, it could have been

(01:29):
someone in the dugout, couldhave been someone on the field.
Uh, there are multipleinterviews where there's one
time where he's like I don'tknow what you're talking about.
And then suddenly, like acouple interviews later, he's
like yeah, I did that, I calledmy shot, of course I did.
And then, like years later, hewas later.
He's like, yeah, I did that, Icalled my shot, of course I did.
And then, like years later, hewas interviewed again.
He was like, yeah, I don't know, but it was a good story,

(01:51):
wasn't it?
And it, it seems.
Uh, I, I grew up breaking myheart, leaving it because of
this movie you're killing me, Iknow I know, but it seems that,
uh, it may not have happened wasit ruth that?

Speaker 3 (02:02):
that's that guy that they call Bobbity right?

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Everyone's favorite Met.
It's the greatest Met of alltime, majin.
Buu Baby.

Speaker 3 (02:14):
Ruth.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
Majin Buu.
It is crazy to think I mean,and there are, you know, there
are, there are probably peoplewho don't know, uh, you know,
aaron judge, or, or juan soto,or any of the other big names
out there, but uh, the fact thatsmalls doesn't know, babe ruth
that.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
That was pretty yeah fascinating.

Speaker 3 (02:41):
Like I don't know the people that, the other people
that you named, but I do knowwho babe ruth is, okay, and and
like lou gehrig, and like I knowsome of like some of the oldies
, but yeah, like these new guys,bro, you could throw a name out
at me and be like, oh, is thatmy neighbor down the street?

Speaker 2 (02:58):
I don't think so.
But uh, so uh to.
You know, chime into uh rich'serin judge juan soto discussion
um.
Erin judge is a current yankeeplayer who I think hit the home
run record for a single season acouple years back.

(03:19):
Right, it was like 62 home runsin a single season.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
He broke, uh, he broke the yankees roger maris's,
uh, original.
Well, the it's a little bit.
If you look at the numbers it'sa little.
I think that judge legitimatelyalmost did it or tied it and
then overtook it because theyused to play 154 games.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
So oh, so by by technicality he's, they're
playing.
The current yankees are playingmore games, but yeah, it's I.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
I I looked up the stats.
Uh, I actually did, because itwas interesting that, like, even
when the guy who broke therecord before before judge, he
broke it and people debatedwhether it was legitimate
because the games had increasedactually as well when he started
playing, when he was playing.

Speaker 2 (04:08):
So it's kind of like you know boxing isn't up to 12
rounds anymore, or somethinglike that so it's one of those
things that the rules of thegames are different, but and and
juan soto is a former yankee,now a met player, probably your
favorite player right, you'd sayhe's definitely got a lot of
personality wait, hold onanthony.

Speaker 1 (04:28):
You gotta know.
Shohei otani, for example,right, he don't know sure I
don't know anybody shohei'sliterally like like you're,
you're speaking chinese to me,okay no, he's japanese.

Speaker 3 (04:40):
And even even if I know more chinese than I do
baseball players um, okay, holdon.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
So, uh, I have a little shohei otani story.
Um, I didn't know him.
I knew of him.
I had never seen him like playor whatever.
I just somehow never caughtthose those games.
But, um, when he was with thewhat is it?
The anaheim angels?
Right?
Yeah, he was with the anaheimAngels, right?
Yeah, he was with the AnaheimAngels a couple years back and I

(05:09):
was in Anaheim and we went togo see a Yankees game at a
different stadium.
So you know, we're rooting forYankees, blah, blah, blah.
I immediately clocked that thiswas a fantastic player.
Like, I didn't know too muchabout this guy, but I started
rooting for the other team justbecause, like, not because they
were winning, but because, likethat was like skill being

(05:31):
demonstrated and I was just likethat is really cool.
Um, so, anyway, that's the kindof baseball fan I am not.
I don't follow, uh, whoever'swinning or whatever.
I follow sportsmanship and youknow, well done plays and stuff
like that.
That's that's what I'm here for.
But even then, you know waymore than I do.
Yeah, I, I live in new york.

(05:52):
It comes with the territory.

Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah, man, like you know I can tell you soccer stuff
, but I can't tell you baseball.
Yeah, I don't know, I don'tknow much about soccer I even I
mean honestly, I know morefootball stuff and like I don't
even really watch football likethat.

Speaker 2 (06:06):
All right, guys, before we get too bogged down in
sports stats and all that,let's talk a little bit about
what we've been up to for thepast two weeks, because we've
been away for a week my fault,guys I was on vacation again.
I just can't stay in my house.
Anyway, let's start with you,anthony.
What have you been up to?
I feel like I haven't seen youin ages.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
I know, man, it's been ages.
You know, after our you know 16taco debacle.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Yeah, oh my gosh, I don't think we told Rich about
that.
Did we tell you that we, likewe went to a place called Hole
in the Wall in South Florida andTuesdays they have $1 tacos.
So you get a bunch of tacos fornothing.
I was just like you want tojust get, we'll get two of each

(06:57):
of the.
It was like four differenttypes of tacos and I told the
lady we'll get two each and Ididn't't really catch what she
said, like two each for each ofyou.
And so, yeah, she, she loadedlike eight tacos for each of us
and you know, we we ateourselves sick, but that was fun
, it was a good time yeah, wetook.

Speaker 3 (07:14):
We took those tacos up, man.
So I've been watching.
I've been watching a coupleshows actually, uh, one of which
, uh, was a couple weeks ago thesecond season of the last of us
came out and that I'm a I'm afan of the video game series and
I was pretty blown away by thatfirst season.

(07:35):
So I knew, coming into thesecond season, it was going to
be a little bit.
It was going to be a littlecontroversial, because when the
game came out it was prettycontroversial, especially with
some of the stuff that happens.
And but I mean, to be honest,like so far I've been enjoying
it because they've been hittinglike the beats and I know some
of the some of the issues arelike with the casting.

(07:59):
The first season people hadissues with the casting of ellie
and they, you know, we kind oflike accepted her, like you know
Bella Ramsey's from Game ofThrones and I mean she has like
the mannerisms and like thepersonality down which is like
important to me and she looksclose enough, you know.
So it's not like they they'retaking somebody that looks

(08:20):
completely different, it'ssomebody that looks similarly
enough and then, like theattitude or the, the personality
, kind of like takes the rest ofthe way.
And it's the same thing withanother big character and this
season is uh, abby, and so, likein the game she's like really,
really jacked, but in the showshe's like pretty, like skinny,

(08:42):
but the actress that'sportraying her looks close
enough, I guess, like at leastlike feature wise, and she kind
of has like a bit of thepersonality down.
So for me, as, as long as likethey hit the beats and like some
of the, the deviations oradding, or anything that they

(09:02):
add to it, kind of helps enhancethe, the experience, rather
than trying to completely changeit, then then I'm I'm all for
it, you know.
So I mean, I've been enjoyingit so far.
I think that it's been prettygood, you know season two's been
shocking a bunch of people yeah, oh yeah, absolutely especially
after the last episode.
But I knew that that was coming,because there's a whole like

(09:24):
group of people that don't knowwhat's happening unless, like
they, you know somebody who'splayed the game or if they've
watched the game, you know, ordecide to play it after the
first season.
But yeah, no, it's.
It's definitely like shockedsome people and also I have been
watching an anime.
It's also on max and it'scalled lazarus and it's made by

(09:48):
the same creator of cowboy bebopsick.
Yeah, so it's pretty much oflike this.
Is it newer?
Yeah, it's new.
I think there's only like three, maybe four episodes out.
Okay, so it's so.
Yeah, it's it's new.
But yeah, it's pretty much aboutlike this ragtag team called
lazarus and they're looking forthis doctor that had created

(10:10):
this um, kind of like miraclepainkiller that would like just
get rid of everything, andpeople are like using it for
everything you know, like foractual pain, for like emotional
pain, for they're using it indrugs and all that stuff.
And then like news came outthat after like I, like
everybody that's used it, likethey have this much time left

(10:33):
before they die and so like theshow kind of like picks it up
where they have like a month tolike find this guy and I guess
like try to figure things out,and so it's.
It's been interesting so far.
I've been enjoying it's a coolconcept yeah but, but yeah
anything else but yeah, no,mostly, and then, like you know,

(10:53):
hanging out with you when youcame down, and that was fun,
that's always fun.
When, when, uh, when dakotashows up, yeah, when dakota
shows up, and you know we tearit up, you know, especially with
tacos we tore down eight tacosI was.
I was like knocked out thatnight, like tacos, or tacos are

(11:17):
about to like come back out, ohmy gosh.
But yeah, man, no, but yeah,other than that and the lady.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
The lady came back.
She asked if we wanted more.
I was like no, no, we were good.
Yeah, yeah, we had a couplebeers and tacos and we were out.

Speaker 3 (11:32):
But yeah, uh, how about you, dakota?

Speaker 2 (11:35):
I'll throw it over to you uh, yeah, so the the reason
we are, we're out for a week,um is again my fault, my fault
Went down to Florida, visitedfamily.
I have a, my cousin has a baby,so we're trying to, you know,
go down there and, you know, seehim as much as possible as he

(11:57):
is, you know, in hisdevelopmental years.
So that's been, that's beengood.
And I went to Disney World,spent a couple days there,
stayed at Coronado Springs,which is really nice.
It's like a Spanish-themedresort.
Like a Spain-themed resort, ohnice.
But it has an Aztec or Mayanruin pool thing.

Speaker 3 (12:23):
Oh, that's cool.

Speaker 2 (12:24):
The pool is like this big like overlooking the pool,
I should say is a big likepyramid, kind of like you would
see at like an Epcot or whatever, or you know the Mexican
periods, obviously.
And yeah, that was fun.
Theming of that resort wasreally cool and we decided we
were just going to kind of, youknow, try new foods and just not

(12:44):
try to focus on the ridesbecause you we tend to spend so
much time in lines and stuffthat.
But anyway, we we decided tolike like, really like, uh, go
hard on like pin trading.
And yeah, we we did, we werelike really successful with that
, like we found a lot of coolpins, um, throughout the parks
and yeah, that was.
That was a really good time.

(13:05):
And since I've been back, Ihave been watching andor.
Andor came out a couple daysago oh yeah, that too are you
are you caught up?
caught up?

Speaker 3 (13:20):
no, no, I'm just an episode.
I had started episode two, butI haven't finished it, okay.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
Yeah, I've, I've finished the first three
episodes and it's crazy good,like it's.
I mentioned on Twitter, likeyou know, those dreams where you
go on a crazy adventure.
Everything is like super fun,you, you, or or you get like a
gift, or you buy something, oryou find something that is just
exactly what you want in thatdream, and then you wake up and

(13:50):
it's gone Like, and you justlike you're.
There's a brief moment of like.
Oh, I hate that so much.
Well, I keep thinking like andor feels like it should be one
of those things, like itshouldn't exist.
You know like it feels like anadventure you would have in a
dream like these are charactersthat shouldn't have their own tv
show yeah but they doinexplicably.

(14:11):
They have their own tv show.
My cat is like going crazy inhis litter box right now.
Sorry, if you can hear that.
Um, yeah, I, I'm like I wasre-watching one of the episodes
because I'm writing a short likevideo on it that should be out
tomorrow.
It should be out by the timethat this podcast is up.
Nice, and, yeah, I was writing ashort script and I'm rewatching

(14:33):
these episodes and I'm like,how does this exist?
How did they like get the okayto like just spend hundreds of
millions of dollars on Mon,mothma and andor and and, uh, a
bunch of like really tertiarycharacters and somehow make it
the best show of the year?
Basically, like, if you look atthe like the rotten tomato

(14:54):
scores, the metacritic scoreslike this season, because you
know, critics have reviewed the,the full season.
They've seen the full season atthis point, this season is the
most, or the the highestreviewed season of television
that has come out so far overthese past four months this year
anyway.
But yeah, so it's, it's justcrazy good.
It's crazy good tv and I can'tbelieve it exists.

(15:15):
And um, yeah, I'm gonna be sadwhen it's over because they're
doing three episode chunks,which is great because, uh, it
does make sense that they'relike showing every arc of what's
going on um each week.
But I'm gonna be sad when it'sover because that's that's it.
It'll basically catch up torogue one and we know what
happens from there yeah, yeah,pretty much, yeah, they.

Speaker 3 (15:37):
I remember showing you was that last last week that
yeah, they had shifted fromlike that initial idea of like
doing five seasons down to, likeyou know what we could do it in
two.

Speaker 2 (15:50):
So yeah, but yeah it's.

Speaker 3 (15:52):
It's crazy because it is some of our best like star
wars content and I agree withyou.
This is the.
These are characters that wenever really asked for, but like
they gave it to us anyway andit's just oddly really good like
it, just you know.
And but speaking of that, likenow while we're on topic, that

(16:12):
is going to be so.
Season one of andor is going tobe our next two episodes.
We're going to break it up intoto two, two parts.
I mean that that that'sdefinitely a show that we have
to break down in two parts.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
We can't do a one and done.

Speaker 3 (16:31):
We have to give it the same respect.
We did that with Skeleton Crew,so we 100% have to do that with
Andor.

Speaker 2 (16:38):
Yep, yeah, so I'm excited to cover that and,
honestly, by the the time wecould probably go straight
through andor season one andandor season two, like in four
episodes.

Speaker 3 (16:51):
If we decide to do that, we could, we could take a
break after the first season, ofcourse but yeah, I would say,
give people kind of some time tolike catch up because it is
fresh and new, yeah, um yeah, sothat's what we're going to be
covering next week for episode118 and 119.

Speaker 2 (17:05):
So 118 is going to be the first six episodes of
season one of andor, and thesecond, or 119, will be the last
six episodes of the firstseason.
So we're going to do two arcseach and, yeah, that'll be good.
Yep rich, let's send it over toyou.
What have you been up?

Speaker 1 (17:22):
to one.
Uh, by the way, it's foolhardyto think that after we do two
episodes of Andor that we'regoing to take a break.
We're going to be so jazzed upthat we're going to be like
let's go, because it's going tojust have ended, basically.

Speaker 2 (17:35):
By the time we finish episode 119, I'm just going to
be like one way out, One way out.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
Well, so it's funny because I've I mean, you know,
we have similar interestsprobably.
Why, uh, we get together once aweek, so uh, I don't even know
you're watching I, uh, I wasalso, so, you know, over the the
kind of break we've had.
I, uh, I.
I also went away, though I didgo to oaxaca, mexico, uh, so got
to check out a bunch of coolstuff.
Went to see the petrifiedwaterfall.

(18:08):
Pulled my back before I went onan hour hike up a mountain which
was fun, that's crazy.
Slightly afraid of falling, Idon't mind the heights, but I
don't want to be on like likewhen everyone goes to the edge
to take a picture.
I'm like no, it's okay, I'lljust go hold that tree there,
you know and not fall off ofthis thing, uh, but that's,
that's fair and and fairlynormal actually.

Speaker 2 (18:29):
I I hear tell that you've had 22 hot dogs this year
and your favorite was a mexicanhot dog yes, it was actually a
uh, I had the fantastic this isnot hyperbole, no, I'm, I've
been asked to count how many hotdogs I've had during the year.

Speaker 1 (18:45):
So I'm taking in my notes on my iPhone.
I have, you know, one notededicated to hot dogs and I'm
just writing down when I've hadthem, what kind they were, like
you know give them a griefrating like out of 10.
Yeah, well, like one day atschool, like I thought I was
going to end up getting likechicken nuggets and instead they
didn't have chicken nuggets.

(19:05):
And my student said you know, Ijust saw the chili cheese dog
and I just thought that you'dlove it.
And I was like you thoughtright.
You thought right, kid.
I suddenly became Wilson Fiskwhen I thought about that.
I did have, but in Mexico I gotto.
We're coming home.
I got to see a living legend,one of the uh micro estrellas of

(19:29):
lucha libre, that's, the uh,the mini guys, the little people
.
This guy's name is que bonito.
He wears a blue gorilla costume.
He's been in the business forlike 40 years and my son and I
got to meet him.

Speaker 2 (19:38):
So that was great and then still doing it oh well,
he's not wrestling, uh, he'sjust.

Speaker 1 (19:43):
Uh, he's just performing, he.
He just showed up.
He didn't even perform, he justliterally.
It was like a line to meet him.
Gotta take picture with him Igotcha, yeah, yeah like
sometimes, uh, independent showsare really big on getting a
star to not even wrestle, justbe there and then you watch the
other guys.
And the way home we didn'tthere, nothing was open.
So saw a street cart and sawhot dogs and I was like, why not

(20:05):
?
And they slathered some mayo onthere.
There was an offer of jalapenos, which I turned down because I
didn't want to die, but dicedtomatoes, which other than a
Chicago dog, I rarely have on ahot dog.
That's interesting, but it allcame together beautifully.
Grilled onions I had two.

(20:27):
I was very pleased.
One of the reasons why I knowI'm going to get to 50 this year
, as I always do, is because allyou're asking me to do is hey,
rich, have hot dogs 25 times ayear and if I have them 25, I'm
going to have two, right, soguarantee.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
Oh, so you always get two, okay.

Speaker 1 (20:47):
Yeah, you always get two.
Okay, yeah, I always get two,you don't get one.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
I mean, what's the point, you know?
And then so the mets.
Was it kind of like street cornin that respect, where they
kind of doctor it up in a way?
That is just like superpleasurable, okay, nice it was,
uh, it was, it was really.

Speaker 1 (20:59):
Yeah, it was delicious.
And you know, uh, I mean I hadsome five dollar dogs from uh
city field which they tastedelicious because you're paying
less, so I can.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
I'm watching Anthony's face.
I don't know if he believes theconversation that we're having.
He's just.
It looks like he's just tryingto see if, like, we're being
serious about this hot dogconversation or if we're just
BSing for the sake of it.
For the past two minutes, what?

Speaker 3 (21:21):
what, what part of?
What part of it?
I mean because him talkingabout a hot dog getting dressed
up in Mexico, I mean I totallybelieve it.
Elote is one of my favoritethings, but him getting to
eating 50 hot dogs, I mean in365 days, very plausible.
Now, if you're saying 1,000,then okay, that'd be something

(21:43):
else.

Speaker 2 (21:45):
Anthony's doing the math out here.

Speaker 1 (21:48):
Yeah, 1,000 would be ridiculous.
No, that would be weird.
'd be something else.
Anthony's doing the math outhere.
Yeah, it doesn't be ridiculous.
No, that would be.
But I love it.
But other than other than hotdogs.
I just uh watched Andor as well.
I'm I'm two episodes in.
I'm a little behind because Iwasn't able to watch a lot when
I was away and I uh, I did.
Uh, I finished Daredevil, uhBorn Again, and I also started
Last of Us.
So can I jump in a couple?

Speaker 2 (22:08):
of things, how was Daredevil Born?
Again, I haven't watched mostof it.

Speaker 1 (22:12):
I thought it was fantastic.
Honestly, I very rarely I hadmy breath taken away by some of
the violence, and I don't thinkit's just because it was violent
, but the way they told thestory so that when the violence
happened it kind of knocked thewind out of me and kind of shook

(22:33):
me a little bit.
To be honest with you in a goodway, feel I also you know,
maybe I'll put it up with uh,actually, like joel will, last
of us, right, uh, where some ofthat violence just goes, it just
takes your breath away.
You're, you're like, oh man,what's, why do I keep?

(22:56):
You know, why would I keepwatching this almost?
And that's how I, uh I felt acouple times.
You look it, look they, they'rethere.
If you want to poke holes in it,you can poke holes in it.
I and I know that some peoplemaybe have said heard me like
I'm kind of a marvel and starwars show apologist sometimes,
but I didn't like secret war, asecret invasion.

(23:17):
Okay, like I do have a line ofself-respect, but I actually
really do recommend daredevil ifyou liked the street low, if
you like the netflix show, and,honestly, even if you didn't
watch the netflix show, you'dstill be okay, but it's
definitely way better if you didwatch the netflix okay, good to
know.

Speaker 2 (23:35):
Yeah, I'll definitely watch it eventually.
Um, I was waiting for it tofully come out before I, you
know, kind of I wanted to bingeit like netflix style.
I didn't want to wait weekafter week.
But yeah, I'll definitely getto that eventually.
Another show, you know now thatwe're, you know, on the topic,
I don't think you guys have seenepisode three of andor season

(23:55):
two yet.
It it is.
Uh, it does have a scene thatis definitely not kid friendly.
So just if you're listening andyou haven't seen Andor season
two, don't show your kids that.

Speaker 3 (24:08):
Well, even honestly like the show is probably not
going to really interest them.

Speaker 2 (24:13):
No, they're not going to understand it.
Yeah, it's so subtle in likewhat it's trying to portray and
it does a really good job ofthat subtlety.
But yeah, it's heavy stuff whenit can be.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (24:26):
I agree, all right guys.
Should we talk about Bad News?

Speaker 2 (24:27):
Bears of that subtlety, but but yeah, it's,
it's, it's heavy stuff when it,when it can be, yeah, I agree,
all right, guys, should we talkabout bad news?
Bears?
I mean, uh, sandlot, oh wait,not league of their own, not
league of their own.
No, I'm all right, I haven't.
I haven't seen it, guys, I'msorry.
Uh, no, let's, uh, let's, let'sdo sandlot is that?

Speaker 3 (24:40):
this is that wiffle ball movie, right, wiffle ball
yeah, it's.

Speaker 2 (24:44):
It's the game that never ends in like some guy's
back backyard.
Yeah, all right.
So this is the first time I'veseen this since I was I don't
know.
It must have been like summercamp that they played this.
It wouldn't.
It wasn't a movie that I wouldhave ever like willingly put on.
It was never like in mywheelhouse.

(25:04):
It was, you know, justsomething that was around during
my childhood and I think it waseven.
It predated me a little bit,because this, this was a 93
movie.
I was born in 91.
So by the time I was old enoughto really appreciate it, it had
probably cycled out a littlebit.
Anthony, you're probably in thesame boat as me cycled out a

(25:26):
little bit.

Speaker 3 (25:26):
Anthony, you're probably in the same boat as me,
yeah, well, I mean absolutely,but this is a movie that I had
seen a handful of times as a kid.
I've said it a couple times,I'm not really somebody that
sits down to watch baseball, butthis is one of those movies
that has been around.
I've watched it as a kid, I'veI watched it, you know, again

(25:49):
like as I got.
I've seen it like a handful oftimes, like oh, over the years
and you know I definitely dolike appreciate it.
It's it's for me.
It's not, you know I, I knowthat like baseball's the
backdrop, but what gets me islike this group of friends and
kind of like the like coming ofage story that they have going

(26:11):
on and dude, it's got my boy,james Earl Jones, in it.

Speaker 2 (26:13):
Come on now.
I totally forgot he was in thatmovie.
So like when he showed up atthe end I was like, oh yeah.
But you know, when I was a kid,I didn't know who James Earl
Jones was.

Speaker 1 (26:32):
You know, he kind of sounded like Mufasa.
When I was a kid.
I didn't know who james r joneswas.
You know, he kind of soundedlike mufasa when I was a kid.
But, yeah, rich, when was thelast time you saw this?
So it's been a while since I'veseen it, but it had, it had to.
It was pretty regular viewing, Imean my friends and I.
So when this came out I was 11.
Uh, this, okay, so it's perfectage.
Yeah, I, I don't.
It's hard for me even to pullthis apart because, yeah, I mean
I'm 11.
You're putting me in aboutsixth grade, right?

(26:53):
So the thing is, I lived acouple blocks away from the park
.
We would get a bunch of kidstogether, wasn't a bunch of us,
me and a friend.
We found this spot next to theschool build, the public school
building near the basketballcourts that had a fence that
essentially could form ourcatcher backstop and allowed us

(27:18):
to like we.
You know, we'd have rules.
If you hit the ball on thestairs, it was a triple.
If you hit over on the orangeabove the window, it was a.
So we basically made rules tomake up for the fact that we
didn't have fielders and it wasjust us playing a one-on-one and
I mean, I, I so did I watchsandlot and then say, hey, let's

(27:39):
go to the park, or did, were wedoing that?
and sandlot came out and we werelike, oh, that's great.
I can't separate those two, tobe honest, but it's it's right
around the same time when thismovie came out, I was out
gathering as many people as Icould in the neighborhood to try
to go play baseball, so thiscame out at the perfect time for

(28:00):
me.
In my life I saw it a bunch oftimes and I think the only
reason I didn't watch it morewas because we wanted to watch,
like the adult baseball movies,you know.
So we're like, oh, we're gonnawatch major league.
It's rated r, you know.
And we, we liked that so muchand felt like we were breaking
the rules that that one kind ofreplaced sandlot.

Speaker 2 (28:20):
Okay, but this was always close to your heart just
because it kind of mirrored yourown childhood.

Speaker 1 (28:25):
That's pretty cool yeah, other than you know, like
I didn't grow up in the 50s.
Uh, just just what you want toclarify for the audience that's
good to know.

Speaker 2 (28:33):
Uh, I mean I wouldn't have guessed with.

Speaker 3 (28:34):
You know the amount of times that you're like oh,
I'm ancient, you know?

Speaker 1 (28:38):
I thought you were born in 1945 man, I mean I
wasn't, you know, I wasn't thecrowd during the filming of I
love Lucy.
Was it no, no, no I was likewait what I was like, how long
did I Love?

Speaker 2 (28:54):
Lucy run.

Speaker 3 (28:54):
Oh, that's funny, yeah.

Speaker 2 (28:58):
So let's talk about some of the characters, some of
the motivations of saidcharacters and the journey that
they go on.
Let's start with, obviously,smalls, who moves into this
neighborhood in the early 60sand is immediately just almost
incapable of getting friendsbecause he just doesn't know

(29:19):
what he's doing.
He likes the idea of playingbaseball.
He wants to learn how to playcatch.
He's always asking his, hisstepdad, to teach him catch and
he just doesn't get it.
Like he did, something isn'tclicking for him until he meets
this group of kids.
What do you guys think ofsmalls at this?

Speaker 3 (29:40):
point in the movie Small smalls like his, his just
like kind of social interactionsand just like his just ability
to do things, almost makes itseem like he was born yesterday,
like it's like, dude, what'shappening?
That's a good point.
Are you a robot?
Like?
Are you a real person?
Is this really happening?

Speaker 2 (30:00):
He does, kind of you know, act like Haley Joel Osment
in AI.

Speaker 3 (30:08):
Yeah right, oh my gosh but yeah, it's like dude,
what like you know?
Like what do you need like asoftware upgrade, like what's
going on?
But I mean he, he is like the,pretty much like the main
character and most of it is orthe, the movie is like narrated
by like an older version of hima few times.

Speaker 2 (30:29):
A few times it confused me the narration
because it would be likenarrating him but focused on his
, his friend, I think benny.

Speaker 3 (30:37):
Benny was the name of the friend yeah, yeah, benny
rodriguez, the like, other kindof like main character yeah, the
, the, the guy who helps himbecome who he eventually becomes
, yeah, um, yeah, I.

Speaker 2 (30:50):
I really liked, uh, their interactions because he,
benny, is the older of thesandlot kids, of the
neighborhood kids, and hedoesn't ever hold that against
anybody in the crew.
He's actually a very like,kind-hearted person because I
don't think there's ever a scenewhere he does something selfish
or something belittling to theother players or characters.

(31:14):
Rather, and he really takesSmalls under his wing where the
other seven kids are activelybullying this guy who doesn't
know what he's doing, can'tthrow a ball, can't catch
anything, doesn't know what he'sdoing, can't throw a ball,
can't catch anything, doesn'tunderstand where center left
field is.
You know he doesn't knowanything.
He doesn't.
He thinks babe ruth is a, is ahot girl.

(31:35):
His, his dad knew, uh, I lovethat.
You know they had all thesenicknames for babe ruth and he's
with them every day, butsomehow, like by the end of the
movie he still doesn't get likewho babe ruth is, who the great
bambino is that part is to methe weirdest.

Speaker 1 (31:58):
I don't he spends enough.
Okay, we have to accept thatthere's a good, there's a
passage of days and time, right,yeah, and I don't know Bill's
schedule, all right, I don'tknow how often he's away on
business, but I just don'tunderstand, because it's like
right after the first day of himbeing like a normal boy, like

(32:19):
his Pinocchio moment where Bennyhelps him and gives him a glove
and everything, and, you know,gives him a glove and everything
.
Like I'm surprised that, like,we don't get a scene at a dare
room table where he's like hey,bill, I'm playing the baseballs
that you like, and bill goes oh,the baseballs, I got a baseball
signed by you know this, thesultan of swing, you know and

(32:41):
and goes and shows him likethat's a good point, yeah, it's.
It's just so weird that thisgiant life change happens, right
, like he goes from his mombeing like I'm scared that
you're going to kill yourselfbecause of your erector sets,
and now he has this new thing inhis life, because it doesn't
bother me that he doesn't knowat first, it bothers me at the

(33:02):
end, when he still doesn't knowwho it is.

Speaker 2 (33:05):
Yeah, it just kind of goes to show oh sorry end when
he still doesn't know who it is.
Yeah, it just kind of goes toshow oh sorry, um.
It kind of just goes to showhow, like out of touch the
father or the stepdad is clearlydoesn't want to help this kid.
You know, play catch.
I mean he doesn't.
I think he does want to be inthe kid's life, but he's
completely self-absorbed in inhis, his career and his job and

(33:26):
is always putting the kidssecond place until his mother
basically like coerces him, likeno, you're going to do this now
.
And what I will say is that themom I think the mom knows that
like he is playing with hisfriends, playing baseball, like
he's constantly telling mom, I'mgoing to go play a game or I'm
going out with my friends, likehe's constantly telling mom, I'm
going to go play a game or I'mgoing out with my friends, so he

(33:47):
seems to have a goodrelationship with his mom.

Speaker 1 (33:52):
And the mom most likely knows that he's playing
baseball.
Do you think that it was thathis first dad, Indiana Jones,
was never around to play catchwith him and that's why he
doesn't know how to play catch?

Speaker 2 (34:00):
Wait, what you threw me with Indiana Jones.
Well, we know his father.
I'm trying to like make thatconnection.

Speaker 1 (34:06):
Father's missing his mother in the movie is played by
the uh the actress.
Uh, who's?
Oh, marianne, oh, I waswondering, so now, maybe this is
like you know, indy's baby thathe had with the young girl and,
uh, boom, sandlot I forgot, Itotally forgot that that's.

Speaker 2 (34:23):
I love the casting.

Speaker 1 (34:24):
I just that's kind of my way of just uh like, I liked
, uh, I think, leary as a kindof deadbeatish.
Uh, stepdad uh works reallywell.
I mean I just buy it.
I mean he, he plays like a youknow jerky character so well
that I think it was great.
I I thought, uh, she reallykind of looks like a 1960s mom,

(34:47):
so it she does you know I boughtit and it was I, I don't know
for me, I know it's.
I know anthony you were sayingthat, like he doesn't know
anything.
But we were talking about thisjust before the show started.
Like it's like, as I wasstarting to watch sandlot, like
I've been wanting my son, Iwe've kind of had the
conversation in the house likethe kids are on the block, why
aren't you outside, like go playwith them, you know.

(35:08):
And it's almost like I went togo watch the movie and suddenly
he's like dad, I'm going to goplay wiffle ball with some of
the guys in the backyard.
And I was like yes, yes, go, go, go, go.
You know, like he just knowsnot to take my Doc Gooden.
He's like Dad, you have thisbaseball signed by your dentist,
doc Gooden, and I'm like whatare you talking about?

(35:31):
But luckily I've taught himenough that he knows who Doc
Gooden is.
So for me I don't know if itwas just the timing of my life,
but now, after watching it as akid, I kind of watched it as a
dad and so I kind of appreciatedit as a dad.
So I kind of appreciated thosekind of interactions and the
parents or the mom sentimentthat she wants him to go out and

(35:54):
make friends and get.
What does she say?
You're supposed to fall down,you're supposed to get scrapes
on your knees and go get hurtNot too hurt, but just enough.

Speaker 2 (36:05):
Go get into trouble she says, which is an
interesting, it's very hurt, butjust enough, Go get into
trouble.
She says.
Which is an interesting?
It's very.
Yeah, she is right, you neverhear parents say go get into
trouble and mean it.
So I like that.
I like her as a character.
She seems really cool and, yeah, the casting for the mom and
the stepdad was really well done.

(36:26):
Anthony, what are your thoughtson the parents?

Speaker 3 (36:29):
You guys pretty much nailed it down.
You know the mom was soconcerned with him not making
friends so I know that you knowwhen he would kind of go out and
be like, oh, I'm playingbaseball with friends, like I
mean, that made her happy.
So I know that she reallydidn't really care for that and
I guess that gave the stepfatheran out also or you can play

(36:52):
catch with them.
I don't really have to do thatnow.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
That's a really good point, actually.
If he's preoccupied with hisfriends, he's not in the house.
He's not asking me to step awayfrom work, right.

Speaker 3 (37:05):
And this all takes place during the summer.

Speaker 2 (37:09):
Yeah, one thing I really liked about the Sandlot
re-watching it and, rich, I'mhappy to hear that your son is
kind of having that moment wherehe's playing with the kids
around the block and doing whatkids are supposed to be doing in
the summers, because you don'tsee that too much anymore.
Every, everyone plays videogames.
Now everyone you know kind ofmeets online.

(37:32):
Um, and you know, anthony, youand I like we grew up, uh, doing
stupid stuff around ourneighborhoods.

Speaker 3 (37:39):
Yeah, yeah, I would that.
I would say millennials werelike kind of like that last,
that last generation that gotthat I mean, because we did have
our indoor time, we did playvideo games, um, but we also did
spend time, uh, outdoors.
So like we were kind of likeone you know, one foot in and
one foot out, just like gooutside.

Speaker 2 (38:01):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Your dad would literally likekick us out of the house and
like play outside.
My dad would kick us out andjust go to the corner store and
grab like something.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (38:14):
Yeah, man, and like we would ride bikes like down
the street.
Like you know, that was like a15 or so minute like bike.
You know the bike ride over soyou know, yeah, you're
definitely not gonna be seeingmany kids, like you know, leave
their neighborhood and go outsomewhere else, but yeah, it was

(38:37):
it was cool seeing that umdepicted in san la is what I'm
trying to get.

Speaker 2 (38:42):
That, you know, like the, the idea that, um, this is
capturing that moment in thatsummer with these, uh, nine
individuals, and it was justbasically a perfect summer until
it wasn't obviously um, youknow, there was a little bit of
a hiccup near the end but, um, I, I really love the, just that,

(39:07):
that depiction of like theperfect summer for a kid, and
we've, we've all had that, atleast on this podcast.
We have all had the perfectsummer.
I don't know how, I don't knowabout kids these days.

Speaker 3 (39:17):
I'm hoping that they do um, but yeah, yeah, I mean we
, we, we spend a lot of summersoutdoors too, you going to the
day camp and whatnot.

Speaker 2 (39:28):
Yeah, and also it's a depiction of a time now gone,
where your parents didn't carewhere you were.
That does not happen anymore.
There's no Parents have to carenowadays.
And yeah, it's, it's, it's justcool, it was it's cool, but

(39:50):
it's also like sobering because,like life isn't like that
anymore and it's a shame.

Speaker 3 (39:54):
Yeah, no, no, definitely it's nice, like kind
of getting a glimpse of a time.
You know it's a time capsule,so yeah, it's fun.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
Yeah, it's funny because it's very clearly a 90s
movie but it's also very clearlya 60s movie and it kind of
bridges those gaps pretty wellbecause it plays like a 90s
movie.
You know, it's very muchdirected almost like a Ferris
Bueller's Day Off kind of vibe,putting it as a period piece a
couple decades before that, Ithink it's like 30 years before,

(40:28):
or something like that.
It does a really good job ofjust capturing, you know, two
different eras.
Yeah, it's like doublenostalgia, I guess.
For me it's nostalgia for atime that I never knew and a
time that I was born into.

Speaker 1 (40:41):
So uh, the end of the movie recap, where I think it's
uh, is it?
Yeah, yeah, uh, the who fakeshis, he fakes drowning in the
pool, yeah, and I think at theend the recap, if I'm correct,
is that he, he ends up marryingthat lifeguard and they have
nine children.
Yes and like I like how that'ssupposed to be, like undercover,

(41:05):
like he's a wild sexualstallion, like that was like a
line for the parents.
You know, like, because youknow like kids are, you know, if
you're just a kid, you're like,oh, that's a lot of, that's a
lot of siblings and stuff right.
But you know, when you hearlike nine, like that lady was
pregnant for 10 years more umand uh.

Speaker 3 (41:27):
It's funny because, like you know, some of the stuff
that they get into really doesremind me of, like you know,
just like you know, being withina group of kids and then like
egging on that one kid to gotalk, to talk to that girl that
he likes yeah, I think a lot ofthat happened there, wendy
peppercorn yeah, yeah, yeah.

(41:48):
It's funny.
There's definitely, you know,like growing up that age there's
there's definitely a lot of youknow you always had like that
crush, I think the character wasSquints.

Speaker 2 (41:59):
Yeah, his name was Squints Squints yeah, I know
that because I was trying tolike piece, like they say, each
of the kids' names, like reallyquickly in the beginning and I
don't remember most of them.
But I remember Squints becausehe takes his glasses off, rubs
it on his face and then pokeshimself in the eye.
And he starts laughing andlooking at the camera like did I

(42:20):
do something wrong?
I love that I had to go back.
I was just like that's a reallyfun, like gaffe that that they
just kept in I was even, uh, Iwas laughing.

Speaker 1 (42:33):
So when, uh, you know , they're trying to get smallss,
benny's trying to get Smallsaccepted and he just says, like,
stand there, put your glove out.
You know, close your eyes,catch the ball and he's able to
hit it to him.
You know, it wasn't the same,but I was playing with my friend
and we were playing we actuallyhad a full like squad, so we
had like nine on nine and I wastalking a little bit of trash to

(42:56):
him so he purposely hit it atme.
All right, and remembering themovie, I literally just kind of
took two steps forward and Isaid, and he was screaming at me
, this thing and I, I justclosed my eyes and I just closed
my eyes and I opened the gloveand just seren, it went into my
glove and I just closed and he,like afterwards, he was just

(43:17):
like you're, he's like that waspure luck and I was like, yeah,
100.
I was like it's just likesandlot, like I, you know.
But you know, sandlot it wasskill, like I, I literally it
was the skill of the batter, youknow, and I still put it on my,
my friend, uh, bruno, he, hehit him.
I mean, it just so happenedthat I got lucky and protected
myself with the glove, but uh,that's, that scene was great.
I mean, there's just sohappened that I got lucky and

(43:37):
protected myself with the glove,but that scene was great.
I mean, there's just so manyfun moments and, like you said,
the character Benny being justso absolutely Wholesome.
Yeah, and it's not like thecharacters at Seven Heaven who I
want to just assault.
They're supposed to bewholesome but they're not really
wholesome.

Speaker 3 (43:57):
Oh, okay, yeah, yeah okay.

Speaker 1 (43:58):
Yeah, yeah, I, I.
I find no malice in him, andnot because he's a poorly
developed character Like I orlike too much of a caricature,
it's just like he's that nice ofa guy.

Speaker 2 (44:09):
He's, he's just the.
He's the guy that is alwaysdoing the right thing.
Yeah, Um, yeah, so that, sothat was cool.
Benny's awesome.
I like that idea, though Idon't know if I like it, but I
thought it was funny.
Where to unlock Small's power,all he needed was a little bit
of luck from another or a skillfrom another player.
Just close your eyes, lift upyour glove Don't keep your eye

(44:33):
on the ball, because why wouldyou need to do that and it goes
into his glove and then it'sjust like baseball unlocked and
he can throw.
Now he can hit the ball now, hecan catch now it's a confidence
thing, you know I guess so but.

Speaker 3 (44:50):
But you know it's, it's.
It's crazy, though, like thethe, you know the supposed
precision that that benny hadwith that bat.
You know, on par with the thecalled shot.
Hey, you know like, yeah, juststand over there, I'm gonna hit
it right to you.
So yeah, but you know that,that, that, that's that's

(45:10):
interesting um there's also.
Ham, which is like anothercharacter, that kind of like,
sticks out a little bit.

Speaker 2 (45:17):
He's like the larger ginger kid yeah, no, um, sorry,
you mentioned the cold shotagain and I'm still thinking
about it.
And rich, you ruined abeautiful moment in my head.

Speaker 1 (45:27):
I was just like that is legendary, like like I didn't
mean to do it like, like what?
Happened was I literallystopped the movie and said you
know what I got?
My son needs to know about thecold shot, right oh, so you
wanted to.

Speaker 2 (45:40):
You wanted to get as much information about it as
possible yes, I was like youknow, is there video?

Speaker 1 (45:44):
and I start reading that like and it's recent, like
a couple years ago.
I mean this has like beenmostly it wasn't.
It's not like it's beendiscussed for a very long time.
It's like a very recent thing.
If you just like put in thecold shot like it's been
discussed for a very long time,it's like a very recent thing.
If you just like put in thecold shot like it starts to, you
know it's like did it reallyhappen?

Speaker 2 (46:10):
And I'm just like no, it broke my heart act.
Or the single hardest or mostdifficult action in any sport is
to hit a baseball at the speedsthat pitchers pitch.
You know, nowadays they pitchlike 90 mile an hour balls
regularly.
That's just the norm, and youget about a second, if not less

(46:33):
than a second, to decide whetheryou're going to swing or not,
and then you actually have tomake contact with the ball where
you want it, on the bat.
It's said to be the single mostdifficult action to do in any
sport.
So the idea of someone beingable to not only do that but
kind of call your shot likeyou're playing billiards know

(46:55):
eight ball in that pocket, or,yeah, eight ball in that pocket
to do that and then hit the ballon the on the next pitch and
make that that play it's.
It's just kind of a such anincredible story that I I've
always kind of just assumed itwas real, but now I don't
believe it anymore.
Um, but it is to baybrood'scredit.

(47:15):
That is a really cool, uh story.
I would have definitely ranwith it for a couple years until
, you know, I was just tired of,but it is to Babe Ruth's credit
.
That is a really cool story.
I would have definitely ranwith it for a couple of years
until you know.
I was just tired of it.

Speaker 1 (47:22):
They kind of made the point that baseball players
were very proud back then, youknow, I mean, even in the 90s
they were more proud than theyare now and they would defend
themselves.
And one thing would happen isif a guy did that, the very next
pitch would be at his headright like.
It'd be like uh, you can't hitthis one so yeah yeah, that's.

(47:44):
Uh, you know that that's part ofthe problem with like accepting
that it happened, because inthat era they just would have
plunked them right away it alsokind of amazes me, like the
evolution.

Speaker 3 (47:55):
So you know kind of like the evolution of that sport
and it's in like line with withother other sports.
But like, if you look at baberuth, that man looks like after
after he, or he looked likeafter he played baseball.
He just like he.
He had beers and hot dogs allthe time, like he was chubby,
like you know he, he was like achubby guy during it.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
You know, chubby during it, yeah, you know so.

Speaker 3 (48:19):
So like you know like he, he wasn't built like an
athlete, but that man you knowhe did what he did, so you know
it's, it's wild.
And then, like you look at umathletes now you know baseball
players, uh, I would say like,like, most of them are like
pretty built and cut and they gothrough.
You know there's training andand I'm pretty sure that there's
like there's like a you know afat percentage that they have to

(48:42):
stay below.

Speaker 2 (48:43):
So well, you'd be surprised though there's some
big dudes.
There's some big dudes.
I have some facts baseball.

Speaker 3 (48:50):
Um, I mean that I wouldn't be surprised.

Speaker 2 (48:52):
Football I wouldn't be surprised either oh yeah, oh,
go ahead, go ahead.

Speaker 1 (48:56):
I have a fact about babe ruth and hot dogs, uh,
tying everything together here.
Uh, so it is uh that there is alegendary story of babe ruth.
During a double header, betweentwo games, he ate between 12
and 24 hot dogs.
It is the numbers that the bearwe know.
The bare minimum is 12 hot dogsbetween two games and eight

(49:19):
bottles of soda eight bottles ofsoda so, uh, you know I this is
.
And then he ended up blackingout and a week later uh had to
get go surgery for intestinalabscesses.
So it seems that, uh, the onlything that could stop babe ruth

(49:40):
was, uh was indeed the hot doghot dogs and soda.

Speaker 2 (49:44):
Yep, it was probably the the eight bottles of soda
like that's a lot of that isyeah, and that a lot of sugar, a
lot of carbonation, real sugar,you know the, yeah, that real
cocaína sugar.

Speaker 3 (49:57):
Yeah, back then right .

Speaker 2 (50:00):
Yeah, that's crazy, rich.
What's your take on the?
It's kind of like pitchersweren't pitching as fast as they
are today back then, in BabeRuth's time.
How do you think he would standin today's sport?

(50:21):
And also, one thing peoplenever really compare is they'll
say, oh, he'd never be able toplay in today's sport.
The game has moved on from that.
Skill level is not the same,it's not comparable.
But if you take someone likehim who's naturally talented and
put them in the trainingregimen that these other players
today are the same, it's notcomparable.
But if you take someone likehim who's naturally talented and
put them in the trainingregimen that these other players

(50:41):
today are, where do you thinkhe'd stand?
You know, just based on thecomparative level of skill that
he had back then.
What do you think?
So?

Speaker 1 (50:50):
I think that some of his success had to be attributed
to the fact that pitcherspitched the entire game, so you
have okay, not only do we havean uptick in speed because the
truth is like they still hadguys who you know they didn't
have obviously the radar gunsthe way they do now and they
judged it differently.

(51:10):
But there were guys whodefinitely threw really, uh,
could throw fast, but now thething is it's more of a chess
match.
So I've seen you now twicealready today.
You've thrown me your bestpitches.
Maybe I picked up on how yourelease your changeup and now I
can see it coming on my thirdand fourth at bat.

(51:33):
So, and you had fewer pitchersin the league, you had fewer,
fewer teams.
So you also have this ideawhere, oh, it's this guy again.
I've seen him x number of timesover the last three years.
Uh, there was less free, therewasn't free agency, so you
didn't have guys just goingaround from team to team, so you
had guys with the same team forlonger time, so these guys got

(51:57):
to see the same pitchers.
Yeah, I think that he wouldhave.
Not, I don't think he'd put upthe numbers that he did back
then.
I think that he had anadvantage then.
But I think that with thetraining regimen I think he
would have still been a verygood athlete he was also he was
a pitcher and a batter he and hewas a very actually
accomplished pitcher.

(52:18):
He pitched way more than Ithink a lot of us actually think
.
Like that he it wasn't justkind of a flash in the pan for a
couple years.
So obviously no, the only thingis well, we're watching it with
otani.
He's the only real otherbaseball player at that level
that's ever pitched and and andkind of batted consistently yeah

(52:41):
uh.
So I don't think that even otaniis going to keep pitching.
If it's, if it's, if it's mymoney, I wouldn't.
Even they're just going to easehim out of it at some point
it's yeah, it's just toodangerous on the muscles, maybe
maybe keep him as like a randomreliever that, like in the
playoffs, it's like, oh, oh, mygod, shohei otani's coming in a

(53:04):
pitch, right, you know, that'san interesting.

Speaker 2 (53:06):
Yeah, that's an interesting, interesting
perspective.
I like that, and it does makesense that there were less
players in the league.
There was less teams in theleague.
You were gonna encounter thesame people regularly pitching
the same curveballs that theythey normally do, and you're
gonna you're gonna learn theirtricks, and that's a good point.
About pitchers pitching thefull game when did they stop

(53:26):
that?
And obviously you still havesome games where, like, pitchers
will pitch the full game.
It's just not a regularoccurrence, right?
Yeah?

Speaker 1 (53:37):
I mean as recently as 2015, like in that, I can you
know.
I just remember like one of themets in the uh world series
actually almost pitched a fullnine innings.
Uh, when, and that was reallyrare, like, that was like whoa,
like, especially in the play.

Speaker 2 (53:56):
It would need to be a perfect, like almost a perfect,
game nowadays before, like,unless or is it.
Is it based on innings thatthey, you know, call a pitcher
or based on the number ofpitches?

Speaker 1 (54:06):
number of pitches really is most of the time what
they do now.
Uh, you know, whereas, like inthe 80s, still into the 90s, you
still had a fairly rareoccurrence I mean I'm not, I
mean a fairly all it fairlyhappened often that you would
see a guy go a whole game.
I know that doc gooden, in the80s still, he lost a game, he

(54:28):
that he pitched 10 innings.
You know, uh, that's just crazyto think.
Uh, nowadays it happens once ina blue moon, but it's's very,
very rare for that to occur.

Speaker 2 (54:40):
And I think it really like what I was saying, anthony
, to pitch a perfect game.
I think it's only happened likefour or five times in history.
It's basically like you strikeeverybody out, you don't walk a
single person, they don't make asingle hit at bat, and it's,
it's like it, you, you runthrough every inning so fast

(55:05):
that you never get tired.
Basically it's it's uh, yeah,and it's only happened a couple
times.
So, yeah, it's very rare uh,I'll just jump in.

Speaker 1 (55:15):
Uh, so it is super rare, but it has happened 24
times shockingly I I okay yeah Iknew the number four was in
there.

Speaker 2 (55:25):
Let's, let's jump back in yeah, let's.

Speaker 3 (55:26):
Yeah, we're over.
Well, as far as like recording,we're over the hour mark, let's
just.
Uh, so you know, we kind of wetalked a little bit, not not
about all the characters, to behonest, like not every character
is memorable.
I would say like really justlike for them, and then like it
kind of trickles down like afterthat I like the younger brother

(55:48):
that uh repeated everything theolder brother said.
I thought that was oh, um, andthen, yeah, you, you talked
about like how it was a perfect,perfect summer and that summer
turns to not be so perfect andthat's because, uh, smalls
decides to use his stepfather'sbabe, ruth, signed baseball to
play baseball and it goes over.

(56:08):
It goes over the the fence intothe yard where, like this, guy
supposedly had like the beast orlike the monster, like the
monster creature in his yard andit really just ended up being a
really large dog and it wasowned by James Earl Jones.

Speaker 2 (56:26):
Yeah, I really like the depiction of the beast
throughout the whole thing,because this is obviously very
much pre-CGI.
So they're using big puppets toto, like you know, showcase the
size of this gigantic dog thingand how like evil and like and
and huge it is.
And every time they try to getthe ball back he does something

(56:51):
absolutely insane, like that'sthat's.
That's the part that gets me islike he's like destroying like
all this, like mechanicalequipment.
He's destroying all thismechanical equipment.
He just puts his paw down.
He destroys this pot.
He's an extremely powerful dog,but when you actually see him
he's just an English Mastiff.
They're big dogs.

(57:11):
They can get up to 200 pounds,but they ain't that big.
It up to like 200 pounds, butthey ain't that big.
Um, so I I like the idea thatthese kids have like built up
this dog in their head to to adegree that you know he is the
beast, like they have legendsabout this dog that you know
predate their their time in thesandlot.
I I think it's fun yeah, no, itreally was.

Speaker 3 (57:32):
And like that, the whole chase scene between the
dog and benny.
Like you know, benny like heputs on like this nice pair of
shoes to like run in, and umthat that the whole chase scene
between the dog and Benny, likeyou know, benny, like he puts on
like this nice pair of shoes tolike run in, and that that the
whole chase scene was likereally fun.
But it's really cool when theylike do finally get to meet the,
the owner and he's just like areally cool, like blind dude
that really loves baseball.

Speaker 1 (57:52):
Yeah, like he.
He.
You know there's a little kindof Easter egg.
I don't know if you guysnoticed.
I can't remember thecharacter's name.
I remember him as Jesse, justbecause I remember him from the
Mighty Ducks movies.
He's the pitcher.
He was wearing a hat that had aKC on it and it was red, and
that's from the Kansas CityMonarchs of the Negro Leagues.

(58:14):
So I just thought, and then youend up, and then you end up
having James Earl Jones, who youknow was a Negro League player
essentially, and he had hispicture taken with, with Ruth
and I think it's Gehrig at theend.
I think it's LeGuerre again sothat was kind of like a little

(58:36):
because I noticed, just becausewhen I play mlb the show you
play in some of the nico league,uh, like games, and so I
recognized the cap and then.
And then when they kind ofreveal, that's cool, I would
have never, I would have nevercaught that.

Speaker 2 (58:49):
I was like nice, I wrote some notes down or just
like some, some things I, youknow, either liked, or like
quotes that I liked, but likeone thing that, like you know,
we we're still.
I'm still a littleflabbergasted that this kid
never figured out who babe ruthwas, who the great bambino was,
because he even writes down inhis notes like uh, baseball
stuff to remember and number oneis who is great bambino?

(59:11):
He just never asks anyone.
I, I love it, I love that kid.
I do really like the recap atthe end where it kind of just
goes on to say that no summerwas quite like that first one,
and I think that may not haveactually been true, but the way

(59:32):
our memory works, like thefurther back in time we go, the
the the nicer the memories get,or like the more uh, adventurous
and magical our memories get.
So I I kind of like that youknow each as they they grew up
and grew apart.
Like he still remembered all ofthese characters and I like the
little recap that we get ofeverybody, especially squints

(59:53):
and wendy peffercorn and thenyeah, I loved uh that he's.

Speaker 1 (59:58):
You know he's calling the game and uh yeah benny's
like, uh, a veteran at thispoint and uh, I mean it's so I
you know anything?
I know you don't watch a lot ofbaseball, so I the the that
part is so ridiculous, all right, because, like, when you bring
a pinch runner in right, there'salready this idea that they

(01:00:20):
might steal.
All right, so they're beingwatched a little bit more.
Okay, stealing home plate is II've only like legitimately seen
it.
I've never seen it.
I think I've seen it one time,like like over the course of
like regular baseball watching,like not like espn showed me

(01:00:41):
like I was watching a game andit ever happened and I I mean I
can't tell you how many baseballgames I've watched.

Speaker 2 (01:00:46):
So the fact is, you're in, you're, you're in the
peripheral of the pitcher, like, so, like the.
The idea of you being able tolike outrun the pitcher to home
play is just, you're not runningthe ball, you're, you're out
running the how a 90 mile anhour.

Speaker 1 (01:01:01):
Throw the ball everybody has to not be paying
attention.
And the thing is, he wasbrought in with the purpose of
doing what he did, so like every, and he was known for being
fast and that's what he was goodat.
So like everybody would havebeen looking at him.
So the fact that he justsaunters up the crowd is
chanting for a pinch runner,right, which never happens, all

(01:01:26):
right.
So they're chanting this guy'sname and then he just casually
takes home plate.
Uh, is, is.
It is almost like calling yourown shot in the in the world
series.
I mean, it's kind of.

Speaker 3 (01:01:37):
He's just.
You know, he's just a legend,like that man.
That's just what he does.
You know that's Benny man.

Speaker 2 (01:01:43):
Benny Rodriguez.

Speaker 3 (01:01:45):
Benny steals them on the daily man Dude.
He steals home plate likestealing candy from a baby man.

Speaker 2 (01:01:53):
Jesus, my wife told me about a new slang, uh at
school that she has been hearing10 toes down.
Basically it just means, likeyou, you've got your your ish
together.
Like you've got your your toesto the ground.
So he, benny, was 10 toes downyeah, 10 toes down I haven't?

Speaker 3 (01:02:13):
I work at the same school, damn it well, get, get,
get caught up on it, rich.
Yeah, I don't know, Did youguys have any last minute things
that you wanted to add to this?
I mean, it's definitely a funmovie to watch.
There's no deep lore.
I mean, the characters are thecharacters.
It's a fun story and if youhaven't seen it in a while and

(01:02:35):
you you remember having fondmemories of it, go back and
watch it.
Yeah, I watched it on disneyplus, so it should be on there
it's still there, guys.

Speaker 2 (01:02:44):
It's on disney plus.
Yeah, last last thoughts Ireally liked the july 4th scene.
I just thought that was just areally I did too I don't know,
it's a man.
It's like july 4th already has akind of magical feel.
But like playing baseball, Ican't imagine.
And like seeing stuff like thatit must have been really cool.
But anyway, I really like that.

(01:03:06):
I like the movie, I had a goodtime with it and, yeah, would
watch again, would even watchanother baseball movie.
I'm not a big like sports moviekind of guy but I agree, I
would.
I would do it, I would watchanother baseball movie.

Speaker 3 (01:03:21):
I tell that to rich I , I didn't hear me.

Speaker 1 (01:03:24):
I I think, uh, I mean I loved it.
You know, I look, I, I like Ican watch the most baseball
baseball movie and I can alsojust watch it as a backdrop as
well and enjoy it.
And you, you know, I don't know, like you guys kind of like
said earlier, the things aren'tthe same.
I mean, maybe my kid outsideplaying with his friends has

(01:03:47):
given me a little hope thatmaybe it keeps going.
It's given me hope.
For me.
A lot of my summers werecentered around baseball.
You know, it really was uh,watch of some baseball movie,
play a little baseball on supernintendo, uh, go get sunflower
seeds.
So you looked like the guys,because in that time they could

(01:04:08):
still chew tobacco and uh, youknow, and go play and then uh,
and then do it again the nextday.
That those were our summers, uh, and so this to me is like you
know, I didn't grow up in thesame time period, but it just it
very much was reminiscent of,of kind of like, how I spent my
time and uh, it's a great one.

(01:04:29):
If you haven't seen it in awhile, uh, there are definitely
things that I forgot about itthat made me laugh again.
I forgot, uh, why I uh, me andmy friends all say you're
killing me smalls.
Uh, especially to me, myfriends just say it all the time
just because I'm small.
Uh, I forgot why my friends andI all say forever, forever,

(01:04:50):
like we.
There are lines that I now I'mlike, oh crap that you know,
that's where we got it from andit's, it's uh, that's how much.
It's a bit ingrained in me thatit's like we didn't even
remember why we're saying it,but it was.
It was kind of just languagethat we, uh we adopted because
of the movie, because it's kindof so iconic yeah, and you've

(01:05:11):
been talking about that.

Speaker 2 (01:05:12):
Um, start track the next generation episode for a
couple weeks.
Um, that you wanted to go intowith your kids and your school
and the episode's Darmok andit's the idea that this alien
race is incapable ofcommunicating outside of the
cultural and popular culturememes of their own race.

(01:05:37):
So it's impossible tounderstand from an outsider's
point of view because there's noway to understand of their own
race.
So it's impossible tounderstand from an outsider's
point of view because there's noway to understand another
meme's race.
So if I tell someone who'snever seen You're Killing Me
Smalls, they're not going tounderstand the reference.
Or they might if they've seenthe sound lot.
But that's another one that'sjust been, you know, co -opted
into the popular consciousness.
Like You're Killing Me Smalls.
I've probably heard that moreon like random TV shows than

(01:06:01):
I've heard on the Sandlot, youknow, like it's just part.
It's just.
You know, luke, I am yourfather.
It's one of those you know.

Speaker 3 (01:06:08):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:06:08):
So yeah, Guys, speaking of Luke, he's not going
to be in the next episode, butwe're covering star wars and or
episodes one through six of thefirst season in next week's
episode.
So be there or be squareblockheads.
Um so I'm trying to use lingofrom the this movie.

Speaker 1 (01:06:28):
Face up you blockheads don't forget guys, uh
, just before you leave, uh,just just like, uh, you know,
just like good old Randy Savagewould appreciate if you guys
just snapped into a juicy, superjuicy five star review, juicier
than all the, all the dribbleand the slobber that was coming

(01:06:52):
off the beast.
That's too viscous.
We want it to be just reallyjuicy, a juicy five star review.
Not juicy in the sense Likethat's too viscous, right.

Speaker 2 (01:06:59):
We want it to be just really juicy, a juicy five-star
review.
Not juicy in the sense of, youknow, like when the kids were,
you know, dipping chewingtobacco on that Not that juicy.
Slightly less juicy than that,maybe, like when they first put
it in their lips and theystarted chewing it, but after
that point, no, we needed justthe right amount of juicy guys.

(01:07:20):
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(01:07:42):
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(01:08:04):
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Goodbye y'all.