Original subtitles

I'm David Mickey Evans. I'm a

screenwriter director.

And uh

talking to my friend Dante Luna and uh

I guess I'm best known for a movie

called The Sandlot. Co-wrote it,

directed it, and I narrated it. That's

my voice on that picture.

Seems like uh a lifetime ago, but it

also seems like it was yesterday. It's

based on

um

an incident from my childhood when my

little brother jumped over a fence on

our block where we lived to get a

baseball, and a big dog, literally named

Hercules,

Hercules

bit him.

Bit him really bad. And uh

bunch of bullies on our

street laughed at him cuz they thought

that was real funny.

And that uh incident just occurred to me

one day uh

as I was driving,

and I said, "Man, that's a that's a

that's a good movie, but who wants to

see a movie about a bunch of bullies

laughing at some poor little kid?" And

so, in a nutshell, I turned all the

bullies into heroes.

And uh

sort of wrote itself after I figured

that out.

My name is Marshall Moore. I'm vice

president of marketing and operations

for Utah Film Studios. I'm also the

co-chair for the 25th anniversary uh

celebration of The Sandlot of being

filmed in Utah. We're in the community

of Glendale. It's a an intimate

neighborhood on the west side of Salt

Lake. Um

Sandlot was filmed here

26 years ago because they actually

filmed the year before the movie was was

released. We're on a street called

Navajo Street, and uh it's just a bunch

of middle-class houses uh

where these neighbors live, and this is

kind of the area of The Sandlot. This is

the only place you can really enter.

So, this is it, The Sandlot. Um

You know what it is?

It's a great place to do the movie, for

sure.

Uh

It's kind of intimate,

surrounded by homes, as you can see.

But, it's just a field. It's a field of

weeds brought to life

by the kids that played ball here in the

movie.

Oh, there's the beast.

There's the beast.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

He's the one

beast.

That's cool.

Do you ever see the movie?

We just loved it. Loved it. So, and I

think a lot of people come by and take

pictures of the

Of the sandlot.

The original title of the script was The

Boys of Summer.

Um

it was I thought it was a great title.

But it turns out that a great

sportswriter by the name of Roger Kahn

had a book called The Boys of Summer.

So, we ended up not being able to use

that title.

And then when we were editing it

uh

me and Fox, the studio, you know, went

round and round with all sorts of

different titles and you know, simple is

always better, you know, most of the

time. And so,

after we cut the picture together, the

the word and the name The Sandlot was

mentioned um

you know,

a lot of times in the movie. The The

boys, the characters say it. So, it just

seemed uh

seemed like a no-brainer to call it The

Sandlot.

So, for people who've never met you

before, introduce yourself. What's your

name?

And um

you know, where are we right now?

Scott Evans.

I am a 53-year-old grandfather of five,

and we are standing on the original

sandlot

set. The original sandlot. This is where

the movie was filmed, baseball scenes.

Can you tell me the story about when you

went over the fence? Um

you know, what exactly happened that

day?

So, we were bullied as little kids cuz

we were in a new neighborhood moving

into a little area called Pacoima,

California, north uh about 15 minutes

north of downtown Los Angeles.

We just moved in and we were told to go

out and make friends.

So, we walked out the door and there was

a bunch of noise and kids sound like

they're having a great time way up the

street to the left.

So, I went over there and my brother,

oddly, who's a 2 and 1/2 years older

than me, so oddly, he didn't go with me.

He just went straight down the sidewalk.

So, the uh

the ball was pitched

and uh I wasn't playing that particular

game, but But, on the sidelines. So, so

the ball was pitched, the ball was hit,

and the ball landed in the backyard,

protected by a big dog. The actual dog

was a German Shepherd Doberman Pinscher

mix. But, at 8 years old, everything

looks big.

So, we all peeked over the wall.

And I said, "I'll get it." Because it

was the last ball we had. We were all

poor, and I was kind of being bullied.

So, we didn't Yeah, I I said, "I'll get

it." Because I can save the day. Because

once the ball is gone, the game the the

game is gone.

So, they laced their fingers together,

and boosted me up to the wall.

I landed in the backyard, and the dog

was chained up, and the ball literally

was about 3 in from the dog's nose.

But, I said, "Well,

the dog can't get it, so the dog can't

get me."

Went over. I leaned with my right hand.

I grabbed the ball. It was all slobbery.

Just like you saw in the movie.

I turned around. All the guys were

watching me.

And they saw what I didn't see. They saw

the chain break, and they screamed,

"Run!"

And then they dropped out of sight.

There was a tree kind of like a Dr.

Seuss kind of weird crooked growing tree

with a bottom branch cut off. So, I ran

for that tree.

I planted my left foot in that tree.

I reached up for the wall.

And the dog launched and grabbed me on

the left leg. While I was stumbling

home, somebody had gone and talked to my

mom

and told her what was happening. She

drove up in the 1972

VW van.

White on beige.

Sliding doors open.

And into the van, and off to the

hospital.

What's up? My name's Patrick Renna. I

play Ham Porter in The Sandlot. Thank

you, Vic. That's Victor DiMattia. He

plays Timmy Timmons.

Who do we got? We got Grant Gelt.

We got Shane Obzinsky. We got Marty

York. We got Will Horniff. We got

Brandon Adams. We got the whole gang

here. Did I miss someone? Oh, you're

killing me, Smalls. I forgot you. I'm

sorry.

We got Tom Guiry.

Only the star of the movie. The star of

the Sandlot.

One of the most famous lines ever

uttered in movie history, right?

By the great Bambino to this guy right

here 25 years ago. You know what it was?

1 2 3

YOU'RE KILLING ME, SMALLS!

COME HERE, TODD. DID YOU HEAR THE BABY

HEAR THAT?

I I like it when everyone says it.

That's really cool, man. I I hear it a

lot, though.

Have fun. Sandlot 30th anniversary

celebration here

I'm about to throw this heater out

there. Semi heater. I mean, I don't even

go for it.

It's going to

I ain't even going for it. It's going to

be lukewarm.

Long as I don't 50 cent it.

Shout out to 50.

It's New Years in Florida.

I like it.

You got a little heat on it. I like it.

It ain't the heater, but

I like it.

You don't need one. No, I'm just

playing. I don't know what I'm doing.

Oh, this is four.

We decided not to shoot it in Los

Angeles, which is sort of where it took

place in the northeastern San Fernando

Valley because it was too expensive. Um,

traffic, this, that, and the other

thing.

The only other place in the world that

looks like the Los Angeles Basin and San

Fernando Valley, which has purple

mountains all around it, is Salt Lake

City, Utah.

It's at a higher elevation.

In uh

the San Fernando, they have the San

Gorgonio mountains that go all all the

way around and and up to the Sierras,

but in uh Salt Lake City, it's called

the Wasatch Mountains. So, we said,

"Let's go there." Plus, it was a

right-to-work state. You know, people

have a great work ethic. It was

uh less expensive to shoot there. So, we

did a bunch of uh location scouting

there. Looked at a a bunch of elementary

schools. Didn't didn't didn't feel

right. Then, we went and looked at a

bunch of uh

Little League fields, which is uh it was

better, but still not. And my my

production designer, uh Chester

Kazinski, goes, "You know, we just got

to find some place and build this, you

know?" And and

we'll look around the older sections of

Salt Lake and see if we can find some

land that has some older '50s or

'60s-looking homes.

And he found that in no time. The reason

that is still there and it probably

always will be is cuz that little couple

of acres of land is owned

uh

in concert with all the homeowners

around there. For some reason, they all

have a a a piece of that land, but never

never nobody ever did anything with it.

So, you know, we made a deal with them.

There was no tree there. There was no

houses.

Uh you know, no Timmons' house, no So,

everything you see, we built. Um

the Timmons' house, the backyard, the

fences, the phone poles that you see,

the sand lot, Mr. Myrtle's house, all

that stuff we we built.

I'm Jackie Neelson, and uh this is my

home. And this is where the sand lot was

uh shot partially.

And uh Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez lived

in my house.

And uh

it was very enjoyable.

We found that block, and all those

houses had that, you know, uh '50s

suburban three-plus-two ranch house

vibe, you know? So, it was pretty pretty

easy to make that decision. Plus, those

houses are catty-cornered each other, so

filmically

it worked perfect. I think we shot there

for about a week or something.

The house that we that you see that that

Scotty is sitting outside of

is not the house we shot the interiors

in though. The interiors were shot in a

house down the street because it had a

better layout for us or whatnot. I don't

think we ever went into There was

actually a scene in the original script

written uh for the boys to be at Benny's

house watching a Dodger game or

something like that and they see Maury

Wills steal base and all that. But we

never got around to it and we had to we

had to cut it out.

Mike Vitar, Benny. Look, there's a

little something nobody really knows.

What when my little brother and I

we got beat up at home. We got bullied

and beat up on the way to school. We got

beat up at school. We got beat up on the

way back from school. And then we went

home and got beat up, okay? And that's

the way it was.

In the early '70s when we lived in the

San Fernando Valley,

the Sandlot takes place in '62 for an

entirely different reason, but '72 when

we were growing up, we were two of the

only little Caucasian kids in a three or

four block area, okay?

Most of the kids

uh were Chicano.

And where we went to elementary school

and and uh

junior high, same thing. When we wrote

the script, when I reimagined that idea,

and I said I turned all of those

uh bullies from my childhood into

heroes.

Um

he became

a really important character and figure

for me, right? Because

he's the hero,

you know?

But

he's sort of ethnically,

you know,

the guys that treated me very badly.

That was a very cathartic thing for me.

I got over a lot of hatred. I mean, you

know, those guys, man, up in my my my uh

early adulthood, they were taking up a

lot of space in my head, you know? And

that was a way for me to forgive them

or not forgive them. Forgive them, get

on with it, and and turn uh my bullies

into this one legendary hero.

Not quite sure what Freud would say

about that, but I really don't care, you

know.

Um, but Mike, listen, Mike was uh

Yes, he was as good-looking in person as

he is in the movie. He's really blessed.

He's a beautiful human being, and he was

Uh, he did all his own stunts, all his

own except for jumping off the fence.

That was a stunt man, but everything

else he did, and every baseball he hit

in that movie, he actually hit that

ball. He was really that good. I mean,

if he'd have played baseball through

college or whatever, I bet you he could

have made the majors. And he um

And he in in real life and off camera

was, and this was a blessing for a

director as well, he really was kind of

the

uh the boss, the general of all the

guys. They all looked up to him, you

know. Uh, and they all became fast

friends.

So, yeah, and he was the very first kid

of thousands and thousands that I ever

interviewed to be in that movie. He was

the very first kid I ever saw.

There's been some movies over time that

have been filmed in Utah, but not a lot

of them where people were able to really

identify with and say, "Wow, that was

um, you know, that that's homegrown

here, and that that's something The

Sandlot, um,

and it's become really kind of a cult

classic film.

And having that, you know, some some of

the quotes and things in the movie, The

Sandlot, I obviously still hear people

say it today. You know, you're killing

me, Smalls, or whatever it may be from

the film, and uh

you know, it's it's uh something that

really we take a lot of pride in. You

know, I also I

found out later after after several

years after the film came out that that

the uh I guess the swimming pool in the

in the uh film was filmed at Lorin Farr

Park, which is my

great-great-grandfather. It was Lorin

Farr, and so it's named after him, and

so I have a little bit of uh

association with it that way, too.

Uh, Wendy.

Um, Marley was the

She First of all, she was a total pro. I

think she was 17 or 18 when when we made

the picture.

And I never told the guys

who was going to play Wendy Peffercorn.

I never let them see a picture or or

introduce until the day we shot that

stuff.

So, when you see

when you see Chauncey, you know,

and you see her walking down the street,

man, that's pretty much the first time

he saw her. And and then uh

she was a total trooper,

totally professional,

totally game to to, you know, ham it up

with the oil ocean and the oiling and

all that. Absolute pro. She's had a

tremendous career. And I think

I think if memory serves,

Chauncey was like really really nervous

for weeks about doing that scene. He

constantly badgering me like, "We going

to do that scene now?" You know, you

know, when I when I cuz life guard, so

what do you think? We're going to do

that scene today, Mr. Evans? So, we

going to do tomorrow? We going to do

that scene?" Goes on and on and on. And

finally the day arrives and I go, "All

right, listen,

you know, we're going to do that scene.

So, uh

I took him aside and I and I said, and

he's I could tell he was just,

you know,

crapping himself. He was so nervous.

But he's really anxious to do it. And I

said, "Dude, I only have one direction

for you." I said, "You keep your tongue

in your mouth, pal."

He's like, "Oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah, I

know, I I I know, I know, man." He

trying to

pretend he's cool. So, they did We got

it on the first take, you know? And it

just was pitch perfect. The timing was

perfect. And that little

that little dude goes,

"I don't know, David. I I Can we do

another one?"

You know, the way we shot it, it just

felt very realistic as if we were I was

really a lifeguard at a

local swimming pool and Chauncey and the

rest of those guys are such good actors

and I remember we only got one shot to

do the dive because then I would be

soaking wet and it you know, take

forever to get dry.

And I when I watch the movie, I laugh

because it's like the worst dive. My

legs are, you know,

it's not it's not a very pretty dive,

but you know, I did rescue the kid. It's

incredible to see the legacy that it's

left and how people just have really

embraced this movie and it seems to just

stand the test of time and it's just an

honor to be a part of it.

It was cold.

Really, really cold.

Extremely cold, that's why I'm

shivering. I remember being excited and

nervous and

waiting for that kiss for all my life up

to that point, right? You know, normally

I don't wear glasses, I have perfect

vision, but

the effect of Squints is is missed

without the glasses. I mean, it's like

such an iconic thing, so

I put them on and for the fans, for the

pictures, because uh

just seeing me with the glasses and the

hat like makes makes it all different,

you know? They get to smile and have

that moment and that's what it's all

about.

Hey, what's up, man?

Dude, I love this board.

Can you go above

I want this board signatures.

You go above your name?

Yeah, just your nickname and just kind

of watch the other names on there cuz

the paint's not dry.

Oh, yeah.

You should be good, yeah, you should be.

You know, those ones were signed.

It's the official DGK Dirty Ghetto Kids

uh Sandlot deck. Uh special to me

because I have uh skateboarded pretty

much my whole life and baseball is my

favorite sport, so two and two

goes hand in hand. We drove from

Rochester, New York, so 6 hours away. Um

when uh

up down up down on the uh pattern there

to kind of keep it even, so just got to

get Benny "The Jet" at some point and uh

it's going to be complete.

Start it off anywhere?

Anywhere.

Anywhere, that's fine.

Oh, fresh.

Go.

Go.

What up, Marshall? How are you, man?

Good to see you.

What's your name, bud?

Nico.

Nico? I like that. It's a good name.

My mom says I'm you in the movie.

You are. You look You look just like me.

Yeah. Oh, he's got the PF Flyers on. I

got mine on, too.

Yeah. PF Flyers are like this, man. When

we were kids, we were very poor.

Poorer than most of the other kids we

knew, and um

in school and all that. I mean, you

know, it might we just we struggled. And

um

we never had really nice uh shoes. I

mean, we had like

there was like a store like White Front,

which is sort of like the Target of its

day, but really down low, down rent,

man, you know.

Uh and we would go if we could afford it

from my own mom could afford it to get

school shoes for the

you know, you'll get a couple piece a

couple shirts, couple of jeans,

whatever. And we always had to get

those, you know, $2.99 cent

plain wrap uh

tennis shoes, you know, which wore out

like a month, but then we'd have to tape

them up and wear them anyway and stuff.

And uh I always remembered hearing and

seeing on TV during cartoons and

whatnot, PF Flyers, you know, shoes

guaranteed to make a kid run faster and

jump higher. And dude, we believed that.

We literally believed that if we ever

got a pair of PF Flyers, we would run

faster than anyone. They they were they

were like magic, like magic shoes. And

uh

I do not believe that we ever actually

got a pair. Might have gotten a pair of

Chuck Taylors, but usually it was just

the cheapest things uh we could find.

So, when it came time for Benny to uh

to jump that fence,

this is the only piece of childhood he's

taking with him, cuz that fence in the

sandlot is a metaphor.

Uh it's the metaphorical dividing line

between childhood and adulthood, right?

So, when he leaves the sandlot and jumps

over that fence, he's he's taking on an

obligation

and responsibility and all that stuff

that comes with having to grow up,

right? But this is

this is the only piece of childhood he

takes with him is are these shoes

guaranteed to make your kid run faster

and jump higher. So, it was a

no-brainer, you know. Cuz Chuck Taylors

were cool back in the day, but they

weren't like these.

These

These were the best ones.

You know them as their characters

and maybe as their actor names, but I'll

introduce them as they come up. First,

let's have Pat Renna. Let's hear it for

Pat Renna. Hamilton Porter, the great

Hambino.

Okay, next in line there.

Grant Gelt.

Bertram.

Bertram Grover Weeks.

Big Chief, the best.

We got him. Next in line, we have

Brandon Adams.

De Nunez.

He can throw the heater.

He still can. He He threw one last night

at the Bees game.

If you guys were there.

All right. And here's the here's the

dark horse and our favorite Sandlot uh

character

uh cast cast character is Marty York.

Yeah, yeah.

Let's hear for Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, he looks pretty crappy.

He looks pretty good, but well, you know

what I'm talking about.

The guy with the glasses is next.

Let's give it up for Chauncey Leopardi.

Squints.

He just came in today.

Glad to have him.

He was here 5 years ago as well.

You guys have to come up together?

They're brothers. You know them as Timmy

and Tommy Timmons. Timmy and Tommy

Repeat Timmons, Victor DiMattia, and

Shane Obzinski. They travel everywhere

together.

And now,

I got to be honest. I'm pretty excited

about this one.

I said I did not want to do this event

unless this guy came.

5 years ago, we wanted him to come. We

didn't work it out, probably our fault,

not his. But, um

he's here with us tonight. He was

probably the most asked about where is

so-and-so when he wasn't here. But, I

said, "Guys, at the top of our list this

year to bring back along with the guys

that came before is Tom Guiry, Smalls."

Some call him the star of the movie.

Let's give it up for Tom Guiry.

Scotty Smalls.

You're killing me, right?

Shane Obzinski, I played Tommy Repeat

Timmons.

So, what do you remember about being

casted for this film?

It was actually kind of a I don't want

to say a nightmare, but I live in

Central Florida, so we

Miami is about a 4-hour drive. We drove

to Miami to audition.

When we got back, this is the day of fax

machines and like, you know, voice

machines.

So, we got back with a fax waiting for

us on the machine that said we got a

callback. So, I don't even think we

unpacked. We just turned around and

drove back to Miami.

Uh I remember I remember 30-second

audition, if not less, so I felt awful.

Uh came back home, heard nothing for 2

weeks.

Uh then I got a phone call that said,

"Your ticket's in the mail. You're going

to California."

And

the rest is history.

Shane

Shane O'Brien Zinski, he was the

smallest, littlest kid in the cast. And

I think he was only 10 or 11. Might have

turned 11 as we were shooting the movie.

So, the other guys were

you know, there's a big difference

between 10 and 11 and 12 and 13, you

know, hormones and all that sort of

thing.

Uh

I really never had to say much to Shane.

It was just like, "Dude, you know,

Tommy's going to say Timmy's going to

say something and you and you repeat

it." And he just had a great sense of of

comic timing. He was a sweet, sweet kid

and he is to this day. He's just

he's sweet as pie and I mean that in a

really, really complimentary way.

In the beginning, we were all trying out

for different roles. They were trying to

figure out who was going to play who and

there was an age difference originally.

They wanted uh

younger kids and they fired all these

young kids.

They got older kids. It was it was

bizarre. Originally, I was reading for

Tommy. I'm sorry. Uh

Uh yeah, small uh smalls. And uh

We tried that for a little bit and it

didn't work and then

Repeat came along and that that's what

they thought I was best for and

honestly, that was the easiest for me

cuz it was easy script.

But uh it was good cuz I was the

youngest, the shortest and

that's the role I needed to fill for to

make the movie. So, it was it was a

pleasure.

What do you remember about stepping on

this field for the first time?

Right back here where you can't Okay,

yeah, you can't see. That was my house.

That was the the Timmons house right

here. And right behind me directly was

where Mr. Myrtle's house was. So, when

we stepped on the field, I believe we

came up from behind the first play home

home base. There was an alley over here.

I know you can't see. I'm pointing, but

and

we walked up and we're like, "Oh, this

is pretty cool." And there's these

houses and they looked real, you know,

we were like, "This is

This is where we're going to spend our

summer. This is pretty cool."

The crazy part is when you come back

here 20 years later and then 25 years

later and see what it's turned into. And

that's when you get the goosebumps and

that's when you Make sure your glasses

are on so no one knows you're tearing

up.

Victor.

Victor.

He's another guy that hasn't changed

much. That kid had the greatest smile

and he was always he just like

I'm sure

he's had a life like the rest of us, but

man, he just seems to coast. You know,

he's just got one of those like

perennially It's like in his genes. He's

always happy and smiling, you know, so

he was always a pleasure to be around.

He is to this day. He's like that.

They interview kids from all over the

country, man. So, I mean, it was it was

intense. We did uh

a round several rounds of callbacks and

stuff and then we they had us out there

playing baseball and everything. It was

it was wild. Just the fact that 25 years

later I mean, it's what you hope for as

an actor, you know, that you do

something that's going to sustain this

long, resonate with people. It's really

amazing. It's you know, it's very

humbling that we get so much love

everywhere we go and you know, fans just

come out and line up and wait hours just

to you know, get an autograph or a

picture. I mean, it's it's unbelievable.

It's everything that you want to do as

an actor. I remember the first time

going in the tree house and that was

really cool and all the old toys from

the period from the '60s and all that

kind of stuff. I mean, that was cool. I

remember that for sure.

The tree is an interesting story because

uh

we had absolutely no idea where the hell

we were going to get a tree. We needed a

really big old oak tree, you know, like

a 100 years old, 200 years old,

something like that. And to buy

something like that was many hundreds of

thousands of dollars because, you know,

cuz it's a 200-year-old specimen tree,

right? We had no no money like that. And

weirdly enough, this is one of these

really amazing,

you know, kismet moments that happened

on that show.

Is uh

Chester was coming to work one day early

in the morning and he's going by a big

a house that was had been built 150 200

years ago or something. This really old

historic home.

Uh by some Mormon pioneers. Okay? In

Salt In Salt Lake. And then there's a

giant oak tree next to it, like really

close to the house, and a man was out

there starting up a chainsaw.

He's going to cut it down, right? This

this historic oak. And so Chester hit

the brakes in the car, runs up and goes,

"Excuse me, excuse me, what are you

doing?"

He goes, "I'm cutting down this tree.

You know, it's been here for, you know,

however many 150 years and it's it's

messing up the foundation of my house."

And Chester goes, "Can I have it?"

He goes, "What, the tree?" And the guy

goes, "Yeah. Just get it out of here."

He goes, "Well, I'll be back, you know,

in a few days." So, we had to go get two

and connect them together, 50-ft flatbed

trailers,

and a big old, you know, truck,

a semi rig,

called the phone company and the power

company and they had to take the phone

and power lines off the streets that we

were going through to get to the Sam lot

with this gigantic crane. So, they did

all that for us and uh

we got a big crane, we dug a gigantic

hole and put something like, oh my god,

it must have been 15 20 cubic yards of

cement in the ground to hold this thing

up. And then they uh

took every leaf off that tree and put on

millions and millions of silk leaves so

that it would stay green for the entire

time that we were shooting the movie.

And then around that they built the

the uh

tree house and stuff.

A lot of stuff like that happened on

that movie, man.

Great vacuum cleaner explosion of 1993.

Uh

I just remember they had like three

different makeup artists putting dirt

and you know, it was it was a powder,

right? Makeup powder, all the different

colors mixed together to look like a

dirt kind of thing. And they were

stuffing it in my pockets and just, you

know, anywhere they could get it so that

every time I took a step, there'd be

that big cloud, you know, coming out and

it worked. It looked It came across It

looked really good, but it was miserable

getting all that stuff clean.

Tommy Gairy.

Tommy Gairy. Look it, first of all, I'm

just going to say this up front. Every

one of these guys is a solid young man.

Well, they They're 30-something now, but

I mean, when we worked together way back

in the day, they were all an absolute

blast to work with. They were

well-behaved when they needed to be

well-behaved, but they were all 12 and

13, so, you know, it was like herding

squirrels, you know, sometimes.

But, Tommy, the thing with Tommy is that

when

he was not the goof or dork that Scotty

Smalls is.

When that kid was like a black belt in

karate in 1992, okay? He was tough as

nails. He was from Jersey, you know, you

wouldn't want to mess with him. But, he

was such a good listener and a good

actor that he he he played a dork really

well.

NO WAY!

WHERE DID YOU GET THAT HAT?

I ACTUALLY FOUND IT IN MY GARDEN THIS

MORNING.

REALLY?

That's the coolest, man. That's an

awesome hat.

Don't be a goofball.

I thought that was a real hat for a sec.

That's insane, dude. Well, now you know

where to get it.

Hey Todd, you try it on.

Can I put it on?

You got it.

Okay, you want this in the trailer?

Oh, no, no, no.

Oh my god. Welcome back.

I'm back, baby.

Trout.

This looks more like a

Yeah, it's a trout.

In uh the early '70s, my little brother

and I I was probably

maybe 10 years old. He was probably

eight, maybe nine and 11, 10 and eight,

right right around in there. So, must

have been about 1972, '73, something

like that.

We lived in the northeastern San

Fernando Valley, but all of our cousins

and aunts and uncles

our paternal grandparents lived back in

Pennsylvania and in New Jersey in Point

Pleasant, which is a

Well, at the time I've never I haven't

been there in many, many, many years,

but it was this really cool right on the

ocean uh

and and they had canals, you know, where

you have houses with a boat dock and

stuff like that, like here in Florida.

And uh when we went there, our

grandfather was pretty old at the time.

He had a little boat, you know, maybe

like a little 20-ft day runner boat.

And we my brother and I were there and

our cousin Evan

and I think his little sister. But

anyway, and my mom uh drove us back

there all the way across country in a

1972 VW bus with a 200-lb St. Bernard,

okay? It was hysterical.

Uh we camped at KOA campgrounds and all

that. It took a long time to get there

cuz you know, those old VWs don't go

very fast. Point of the matter is when

we got there, our grandfather

got us, me and my brother and our

cousin, all these super long billed

fishing caps. And they had these like

little trouts or snappers or whatever

they were on there. And we just thought

we were, you know, freaking Hemingway

man. We were going to go out and catch

marlin and all that kind of crap. And

and we never took these off and we had

them forever. And uh we caught some

fish. We caught a lot of flounder, you

know, just bottom feeders and stuff like

that. Big ones. And uh that was one of

the best memories my brother and I have

of our childhood. And so

it's it's not said in The Sandlot, but

Scotty's supposed to have moved

to the valley

from

you know, either Pennsylvania or New

Jersey, whatever. So, when the time came

to talk about his costuming, uh Grania

Preston, my my uh

costume designer, I told her that story

and I I said, "You got to find me a

long-billed fishing cap and I want you

to put a trout on that thing."

So, that when he goes to the sandlot and

everybody else has got like Boston, KC,

LA, he's got a freaking trout, you know?

And

you know, that became a big deal, man.

A lot of people loved it.

My name is Tommy Guiry. I played Scotty

Smalls in The Sandlot.

I remember it was a long process. I

mean, they were going through a lot of

different people. And

I think I didn't make the first cut on

the screen test, but they brought me

back in. And

then I after my second screen test, I

got the part.

What what do you remember about stepping

foot on on the field for the first time?

I remember thinking it was so big. It

was huge.

And now coming back as as an adult, it

doesn't look as big as it was.

But it brought back a lot of memories,

you know?

And it was kind of surreal coming back

after 25 years.

I don't think we ever thought

that we'd be, you know,

we never thought that this movie was

going to make the kind of impact that it

made. I love the character of Smalls.

You know, I uh he's a lot different than

me.

Um he's a little bit

more timid, a little bit more shy, a

little bit more scared.

Uh always thinking about

He's the kind of person who thinks

before he says things and thinks before

he does things. Where I tend to not do

that sometimes.

Well, I stuck with the acting. I've done

a lot of films. Uh

through from the age 18 to my mid-20s, I

did a lot of films.

Um

but being an actor, there's never any

peace of mind, you know what I mean? You

never know when you're going to get your

next paycheck. So, it's kind of like a

roller coaster. Goes up and then goes

down. Goes up and goes down. So, you

just kind of ride it out and

hopefully get more work.

But uh I love doing it. So, I'm I'm in

for the long haul. I'm in for the ride.

All right. I just like doing

the work.

But, I still have to feed my kids and

pay mortgage payments, so I always find

something to do to feed my kids and

pay the mortgage.

Marty

you know, contrary to what Marty is now

cuz he's a big beast of a guy. He was

this little skinny kid and uh

he had a lot of quirky things like a

funny laugh that he go "Hey hey hey hey

hey." You know? And that wasn't in the

script, but I used everything I could

that that

that came natural for him, you know? And

he he did great and he loved doing his

own stunts. Oh my god.

My name's Marty York. I played

Yeah-Yeah.

I was cast in The Sandlot back in 1992

after I moved here from Sacramento,

California.

And I was originally cast as Bertram, so

I was cast as another character in the

film

who was a tall skinny kid in the movie.

They actually came to me during practice

when we're practicing baseball and they

said, "Hey, you don't really fit the

part of Bertram. We want you to reread

for this other character called

Yeah-Yeah."

So, he was a bigger character in the

film. I read this whole script and I was

like, "All right, yeah."

So, they said, "You need to bring energy

to the table." So, I remember I walked

into the office. The producer, the

director, David Mickey Evans was there.

He said, "They said you got you need to

bring energy to this." So, my mom I

remember my mom gave me a Hershey's bar

before I walked in and said, "Go in

there. Get some energy. Get some sugar

in your system." So, I walked in the

room

and by the time I was done with my

audition, the director actually the

producer everyone stood up, started

clapping and I was like, "I knew I was

Yeah-Yeah at that point."

What I remember about stepping on the

field was

just I mean, when you're a kid

everything's huge. So, like I remember

seeing this field as a huge field. I

think the the coolest thing about

stepping on the field was the treehouse

cuz that was already built. So, that

treehouse that you see in the movie,

it's that that's part of that was a

sound stage when he's telling the story

of the beast, but the actual treehouse

in the movie that you see that explodes,

that was actually filmed right here. And

they built a two-story No, it was

three-story tree house that had poles

you could slide down and so I spent all

my time up there, you know, sliding down

the poles and it had pulleys and it had

all this cool stuff attached to it. So,

that was like one of the funnest parts

of doing that.

When you come back over the fence

after trying to get the ball from the

beast and you drop it, first of all, you

you blew it, man. You had it in your

hand and you dropped it. But anyway,

then you do the the lips thing.

Was that a ad-lib? Yeah.

What was the decision? Was that in the

script or did you just do that?

That wasn't in the script. That actually

I used to watch Bugs Bunny cartoons when

I was a kid. And every time, you know,

Bugs Bunny would run away, he'd go

So, I

I threw that in there and David was

like, "What was that? That's not in the

script." And I said, he said, "But I

like it." And it ended up being in the

movie.

It was hilarious.

Um Bertram, he was gung ho the whole

time. Grant was so good. And he was one

of those kids that

the character didn't have too many

lines, but we just found things for him

to say. Uh uh and I just throw it as the

camera's rolling, throw it at him and he

just he'd feed it back really great.

Great. He was a stand-up guy. They're

all stand-up.

What I really remember was not being

cast in the movie.

I auditioned for the role of Smalls and

then didn't hear anything back for

months and months and months. Then I got

a call to come in and reread for Bertram

and within 3 days I was cast and on a

plane to Salt Lake City. So, I remember

not getting it and then showing up here.

Yeah, and the movie's really special,

man. It's a big part of American pop

culture. Um

what's your relationship with the

character and after 25 years, like what

what's your relationship with Bertram?

You know,

I think my relationship with Bertram is

the fact that without realizing it, I am

Bertram. I think that was part of the

magic of the movie is that we are these

kids and David, the director, had

characters in mind, but he picked the

kids, not the characters, I think. So,

now going back and watching the film as

an adult, I'm seeing a lot of my own

traits in this

re-looking at Bertram. So,

it's pretty interesting to go back and

look at it now.

What was your uh favorite part to shoot

in this movie?

Uh well, the whole thing was incredible.

It was really just like summer camp for

all of us, running around on this field

all summer long playing baseball, giving

each other a hard time. But, I think uh

favorite scene to film

was either the 4th of July sequence,

being out here under the lights, or the

uh carnival sequence, uh celebrating the

win against those uh those terrible

Tigers.

So,

my little brother my little brother,

when he was about four,

uh we watched The Sandlot so much that

we went to church and the primary

teacher in church pulled out a big pack

of chewing gum.

And at 4 years old, he said, "Cha!"

in church. And the guy was like, "What

is going on here?" But, I promised my

daughter.

Yeah, a bad influence. I'm sorry about

that, Adam.

After I After I left acting, I'd always

had a deep love for music, uh but was

never committed enough to be a musician.

So, being on the business side of music,

being able to work with artists,

represent artists, help them deliver

their creative and bring their vision

out into the world has been a really

special thing. And I think uh

growing up on the other side of the

camera has really allowed me to connect

with artists uh in a way that I probably

wouldn't have been able to before.

Brandon Adams, Brandon, you know,

of all the guys

from from how they were in their

personalities when they were kids till

they are now, I think Brandon is the one

who's changed the least. He was super

polite and very cool,

very, you know, easygoing man. And I've

hung around with him in the last few

years on these tours, the dude is still

totally cool and really easygoing, you

know? He's got a great sense of humor.

My name is Brandon Adams, and I played

Kenny DeNunez.

I was one of the last ones cast. Um

I don't think there was too many other

guys up for my part, man. So, I kind of

I kind of had an easy way up in there.

But uh then they took us all and put us

together.

They had different groups of guys just

to see how they meshed together and uh

turned out to be us. I didn't do too

much uh pitching after the film, man,

but it was

it was cool just learning about that

position, you know what I mean, and

training to do that every day, the

regiment that I had to do.

Cuz I was no pitcher, bro, but you know,

they they put me in there. Uh almost

broke a couple cameras, but you know, I

came out

we did a whole baseball training camp.

Then we came up here, man, and we just

took we just took the field. I just took

the mound, man, and it was just all it

was all fun, no work. You know? And I

mean, the Nunez, you know, it's a part

that I played, but I feel like every

part that you do play is a little part

of you, too. And uh that's definitely

something that I'm carrying with me even

25 years later, you know, people love

the movie. I'm glad to see that it's

transcending generations, you know, from

one on down to the next. And uh man, I'm

just I feel blessed to be a part of it,

you know?

This particular uh

shot,

some of this I think is uh

is photo Well, it wasn't Photoshop, they

didn't have that at the time, but uh I'm

compiled, if you will. Uh but it looks

really good. It always did look good.

And uh I mean, I really liked it. I

mean, I the marketing department at Fox

is I work for every studio in Hollywood

and and they really do have

if not the best, one of the best

marketing departments. And they they

mocked this up for me. And I loved it

because, you know, he is the

neighborhood legend, you know, and these

are all his buddies, and they're all

holding him up. And uh

even though he these are the two

heroes or protagonists of the movie, I

mean, this is the guy that becomes the

legend, sort of, you know, like Babe

Ruth was a legend. So, I I like this a

lot. Um

the original theatrical motion picture

in the theaters

uh

poster was different.

It was just a blue background

that said the sandlot had a big baseball

bat

and all the kids hands holding the

baseball bat. Remember doing that when

you were a kid, right? And then the last

hand on the top is the beast paw.

That is to my in my mind one of the best

movie posters in the history of mankind.

But this one really resonates with the

people because that's all the guys that

people love about this film. I mean that

you know,

it was smart, simple, no-brainer, put

them all on the on the thing and they're

all cheering and laughing and you know,

it just tells you

you're going to watch this movie and

you're going to have a good time and

come away feeling good, you know.

It has been great being back here, but I

got to be honest, there's one thing

that's

kind of ruining the moment for me. I

don't know if you guys know, but there's

a certain someone

that was here 25 years ago. He wasn't

invited then and he's not invited now.

He might go by the name

You want to say it?

Oh, no.

He might go by the name of Phillips.

Where are you tough guy?

What are you scared?

Oh, I see how it is. What's going on?

Why don't you come out here?

I haven't seen you in 25 years.

You look good, man.

Thank you. Really, I like

Have you been Have you been working out?

A little bit.

Yeah.

Maybe like three days a week. What about

you?

Yeah, it's so good to Let's hug this

out. I love you.

It's Phillips everybody.

Good to see you guys.

Well, Hornuff is Phillips. Yeah, I

remember well. He

He came in and just killed it, you know.

I didn't have to tell him much of

anything. Well was a sweet kid and he

really got into into that cuss-out.

is Will Hornuff and I played the the

bully, the leader of the the rich team

Phillips in The Sandlot. One of the

films I never actually auditioned for. I

actually got the part in another film

called A Far Off Place that they went

older in the roles. And so kind of like

as a consolation they said, "Hey, you

want to you want to do this film called

The Sandlot?" And I was like, "Sure." I

literally did I know it turned out to be

a classic film.

How long did it take you guys to make

that scene? That one iconic scene that

everyone knows every word to.

About a week. Yeah, it took us a week.

We were cracking each other up.

Now, you know what's funny about that

scene is

originally it was written for Benny.

He was supposed to face off with Will,

with Phillips, but I think because we

had already filmed the movie, we're

already about probably halfway through

or something. Benny sort of became this

legend already and he was like, you

know, the hero. So I don't think the

director wanted the hero to say

butt-sniffer, you know.

So he said, "You know who could say

butt-sniffer? Ham."

You know, at that point in my life I was

a a bit scrawny for my age and small and

short. And I had my share of bullies. So

I just kind of just drew from all the

experiences that I had because and

everybody had that kind of person in

their life and I just kind of said,

"Hey, let me just do my the best job

kind of imitating that." And I just went

out there and just did, you know, I

guess my I kind of drew from all my own

experiences being a short scrawny kid

and having like that bully guy come up

to you and trash talk you and give you

problems. And it was just a blast coming

out there and doing that. I was about 12

years old, I think. And I remember

coming here and seeing this this field

that you just see nothing and you walk

down this this kind of alley and all of

a sudden it opens up into this amazing

sandlot field and seeing all the guys

together joking around and I remember

getting there and you know, shooting had

already been going on for a while and

just them kind of being extremely

friendly to me, welcoming me and uh just

kind of felt like part of the team even

though I was on the other team and uh it

was just so great because at that period

of time it was just a great you know,

community and a great sense of community

on the set and a great part in history,

you know, for all of us and uh it was

just a real blast seeing the kind of

camaraderie everybody we had, you know,

between the guys on the team and and

even us the guys on the other team as

well.

If you could have one prop from the

movie or maybe you guys did take a prop

to keep it but if you could keep one

prop what would it be?

Easy, my KC Monarchs hat.

That was a baller hat, the KC Monarchs

I don't know what happened to that hat.

That's that's vintage, that's like $85

right now.

If you go and buy that thing. I'm not

kidding that.

The the vintage look is back and that

would have made a that would have been

good.

But I wish I could find that one.

The one you actually used, yeah. What

about you?

I actually got to keep my LA hat and

I've got that somewhere but I think if I

could go back I'd have to keep that bag

of Big Chew.

The best cuz it's the best, right?

Patrick?

Uh I'd probably want to find that

s'more, the half eaten s'more and frame

it, get Tom to sign it.

I think I ate it, bro.

You ate the whole thing?

Pretty sure, yeah.

Cuz they're good, aren't they?

Yeah, yeah.

When you finally figured it out they're

really good, I know.

Uh I kept the uh harness that I went

over the the uh the fence with. They

lifted me. I actually have that at my

mom's house. It's a fiberglass harness.

For real? That's terrific.

I have that, yes.

What prop for you, Chauncey?

Uh my glasses. Woah woah woah.

I don't have them and I need to.

I have them.

You have the glasses?

Yeah, I stole them. So I did and I'm not

giving them back.

I'm okay. Class action.

They're not worth $85. They're worth

like $85,000.

I

I meant to you know what I

All right.

Uh Victor would

Oh, I kept uh one of the vacuum cleaners

that that blew up

from the great uh the great vacuum

cleaner explosion in '93. You remember

that?

'93.

Right over here, right?

Nah, I I wish I would have kept my

glove. It was a cool it was like a

vintage, you know, '60s era glove and I

wish I would have kept that.

How about you, Shane?

Uh

I actually I wish I could have kept some

of the clothes, not cuz I could still

wear them, but just everyone asks us

about the clothes the costumes we wore

back then. So, having some of those

would be really cool. I actually do have

some of the leaves from the tree that

the tree house was in. They're in my

kitchen.

So, those are pretty cool.

Tom?

I want my trap cap back.

It's in the Louisville Slugger Museum.

I want it back. I think we're all going

to dress in black and break into the

Louisville Slugger Museum.

Law Four. San Law Four.

to steal back the trap cap. I need it.

Mission impossible.

Will?

I want my bike.

The Schwinn.

I want my bike. It'd be great.

Well, you know, I met someone the other

day that said they own your bike. Like

real Yeah, they actually they bought it

and they have it. What a cool thing to

own. That's awesome. We messed up. We

didn't steal enough stuff from the set.

Pat Rena. Pat was my go-to guy.

Pat um

like I think I said in the interview uh

that that that scene when he's catching

against the Little League players and

he's he's you know, razing them all with

that

stuff from behind the plate. That's all

ad-lib. I would think that up as the

cameras rolling and fired at him and

he'd fire it right back. You know,

anytime I had a

an issue like uh man, I don't know I got

a piece of trouble. I don't know what to

do. I just said get bring me Pat, you

know, and he was my go-to guy.

My name's Patrick Renna and I played

Hamilton Porter in the sandlot.

When I got cast in the movie,

everyone else had actually already been

cast. I was the last one

uh or the second to last, one of the

last, but I uh it was so fast because

they were ready to shoot, so I just had

one audition with the director and then

the next day I got a call saying he

wants me to meet all the other guys, so

uh you know, they kind of said don't

think that you have it cuz you don't

yet, but uh he really, you know, as long

as you get along with all the other

guys, then the job's yours, so I had to,

you know, muscle them into being nice to

me, you know? I guess I feel like

everyone's got a little ham in them,

right? So, uh I think even myself I have

a a little of that ham character in me,

the loudmouth, the you know, showoff or

whatever, you know? The first scene that

we shot was the pickle scene at school.

Uh so, that I remember that scene very

well, but I don't really remember the

first time coming on the sandlot,

probably because we spent

so much time on the sandlot that it's

all a bit of a blur, you know? There's

not like one moment, but I do remember

coming back 25 years later and that's

that's pretty awesome.

Squints,

can I take a picture of you?

Yes, you can, buddy.

Come on up.

All right, we have one super fan here

that has a question. We need Will uh

Curtis Helmick to come up here. I've

told I've been told Curtis is here.

This question is actually for my

girlfriend Leslie.

I love you more than words can say right

now.

Leslie, will you marry me?

This is going to

Will you marry me?

I I think that's a yes.

I probably seen more fan Sandlot fan art

than anybody in the world. And I mean

everything from people getting uh

uh squints when he's grinning tattoos,

you know. Uh another guy had a Bambino

one. Guy just sent me one the other day

on Facebook where he got heroes get

remembered but legends never die on his

on his forearm, you know. It never ends,

man. It's just uh it's a phenomenon.

I could not be more grateful.

Yeah, this one I'm just putting my name

on. I don't want to mess it up, dude.

The Sandlot's been called a lot of

things, and this is not me talking. This

is just, you know, Sports Illustrated,

Bleacher Seats. I mean, you name it. Um

the the late great Roger Ebert, um the

greatest baseball movie they ever made

it's been called it's been called the

the best summer movie of all time. And

another one that I only recently found

out about it was voted, not sure where

this was, but it it was a big deal, the

most American movie ever made. Not the

best movie ever made in America, the

best American movie ever made. Um

just that it reflects to to to have that

somebody say that is kind of astounding,

you know?

Because

you know, America there's there's

there's what America means and then

there's what America means to everybody

and everybody individually. So, what is

that? Opportunity?

Um

you know, the Sandlot's from a simpler

time. There was good and bad, whatnot.

Um

but that it's

Dude. That it That ever got into the

theaters, I couldn't believe it. And

then everything after that was gravy,

you know, and

it it it blew through the VHS days and

then into it just blew up even bigger,

the DVD days. And now on streaming and

all that. And now I get to get to make a

prequel to it.

Uh it takes place in 1950.

It's a

It's certainly its own little franchise,

but there's never any way to know that

when you're doing it. You know, I made

this movie for me.

You know, and it turns out for whatever

reason, and I don't question it. If I

like it, seems like other people

you know, whatever I do, whatever I

write, whatever, if I end up liking it,

it seems like other people end up liking

it. So, I'm blessed that way. Uh but

that it's endured and that it means so

much to so many people, I've been told

thousands and thousands of times.

There's one lady in Arkansas at a AAA

park when during the 20th anniversary.

She had her three boys with her.

They're probably like 12, 9, and 7,

something like that, you know, young

young guys. They all had the baseball

mitts and their baseball mitts and

stuff. And she was almost in tears and

she said, "I've waited a long time to

tell you this." And signed all their

stuff and she says, "It's not just a

movie." And I'm saying, "Okay."

I get a lot of this. "Mr. Evans, you

don't understand."

I was like, "Okay, what don't I

understand?" And

she says, "It's not just a movie. My

kids grew up with them, the characters,

and the characters are like their

brothers that taught them all the good

lessons they needed to know."

I don't know

I don't know what other directors or

writers get, but I can't imagine

anything better than that, you know.

Working with David was fantastic, and he

had a lot on his plate when we're making

this film.

Um I know even personally, I never knew

but his

his newborn was very sick, and he had to

fly back and forth from California to

Utah while we're doing it. And then he's

trying to wrangle nine kids, you know,

nine 11-year-old kids.

Uh

It was just a lot, you know, directing

the film and trying to juggle

everything. And he knocked it out of the

park, man. I mean, he did a great job.

He's a very talented writer, very

patient guy.

Um and he worked so well. I mean, even

as a kid, even being my first movie,

he worked really well. And it's If you

get a director that can work well with

actors, it's it's fantastic.

Um and he

as a

as a child actor, it's you know, it's

hard.

Sometimes it can get hard as a director

to to get what you want out of

the child actor, you know, but he he was

able to do it and he was able to explain

it and talk to you.

I just think he was probably one of the

most talented guys around.

He's a genius and you know, we obviously

the cast has a little bit to do with it

and we did a good job, but he really has

the most He can uh

you know, share in the most accolades

for it because this is his movie and

he's the man and

you know, just even talking to him and

he's a genius and he's brilliant and

he uh he really captured he captured

something special that means a lot to

people, so that's awesome.

When Walt Disney built Disneyland,

everybody in the world wanted to go

there. Okay?

Uh

people think he was born and raised in

Marceline, Missouri, and he wasn't. He

only lived there for a very short time

during his childhood.

And it was

uh

this little

Main Street, you know, town early 1900s,

all that. Lived on a farm and all that

sort of thing. When he built Disneyland,

he built Main Street, USA.

And there's a lot of influences from

that little town's Main Street. And

somebody was walking with him, some big

dignitary from another country. I can't

remember who it was. And he says, "Well,

Mr. Disney," as he's looking, you know,

at the shops and the

you know, the architecture from the

early 1900s. He says, "You You You You

You got it. This is just the way it

was." And And Disney said, "No, it's

not. It's the way it should have been."

And for me, that's the sandlot and it'll

always mean that to me is that's not the

way my childhood was dude. My childhood

was really really bad rough, you know?

But I, you know, look as an artist um I

think you'll agree

we have a time machine. You know,

whether that's a piece of paper and a

pencil or computer or whatever. Um

I can change history and I did. And I

did it for the better. You know, I'm not

saying I don't want to remember my

childhood. I remember every second of

it.

I wish it had been uh different. And I

got the great blessing and the great

opportunity

to go actually remake it.

You know?

So

it'll always mean that to me.

That was absolutely amazing.

There you go, dude.

All truth.