The Sports Brewery Podcast

349: TSB Goes To The Movies - The Sandlot

Braga, King, and Ski talk about The Sandlot. It has the best 4th of July scene ever, perfect child actor casting, and a few of the most quotable lines ever. It also conveniently ignores some of the bad parts of the 60s. It's a classic, but does it hold up? Listen!

Duration:: 36m
Broadcast on:: 07 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

I want to leave far But it's not even cold and I know I can't stay far far And you know you get out of this car But you set a text and I know where that made you feel I know I felt this far Like a little fist dust and the way don't stop me like it But at least by this far But the flag flips from my room won't be this dark I know I felt this far I want to leave far But it's not even cold and I know I can't stay far far But you set a text and I know where that made you feel Welcome to TSB Ghosts of the Movies, I am Alex at TSB Pod He is ski at TSB Ski, he is king at Jiramni Tweet at one of us if you want us to watch your movie Also join our discord, sports brewery and discord That is the best place to give us suggestions for movies That's where we got our suggestion this week We did not do the sports podcast this week But usually we do that on Thursdays or Wednesdays or whatever It's on twitch, twitch.tv/abrog87 If you follow it, you'll get a notification when we go live And you can join the chat and MBS with us It's a good time Movie this week is your movie It comes from Duck Duck Chef in the Discord And it is the Sandlot Came out 1993, currently on Disney+ I think it's also on Netflix, I think it's also on Hulu Like the Sandlot is available to you If you'd like to watch it and haven't seen it If you haven't seen the Sandlot Go see the Sandlot I find it hard to believe that someone has Not seen Sandlot again I know, I feel the same way Someone like our age especially I get it like there's some kids out there who probably haven't seen it But I would imagine their parents have shown them this movie at some point That's exactly the point So check out the scores for this movie This has a 65% on Rotten Tomatoes It has a 7.8 on IMDB and a 55 on Metacritic That is surprising I looked up Because I saw that and I looked up How can it be possible that somebody gave this movie like a really bad score And there was a whole It seemed like a whole bunch of critics back when this came out Were super duper overthinking it Which makes sense I guess But this is a cult movie Like it absolutely is It is a movie that people our age grew up in the 90s This is a staple for them, this movie Especially if you're in the sports at all There are so many lines in this movie That are just classic lines that I still say to this day Well the crazy thing for us also is that Not only did this movie come out in '93 But Rookie of the Year came out the same year I think that's The thing I was reading was saying how Rookie of the Year When it came out was perceived as the bigger, better movie Compared to this I can see that It had the star It is definitely a bigger budget would be my guess Everything was bigger about it Exactly It had the big unit Dude that It was a very beauty in it We're having this conversation right now And it is reminding me that that like three or four year span Is when all of the good baseball movies came out Little big league must have been a year or two after Major league came out around then Major league was like 89 I said three or four years This is a 1993 Come on, give me some credit You'll live dreams Three are good, but it came out No, but they all came out in that era It like bolderum was before then That was like early '80s But like still like The golden age of baseball movies And then since then it's like I mean we don't really need to make baseball movies anymore They're perfect We did that What was the last baseball movie? Like not You know like 42 more historical You know non-really historical Baseball movie that came out Moneyball fever pitch I liked fever pitch By the way Do you remember fever pitch? Yes, but that was like what? Oh, that came out a couple years after '04? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah I think something like that, yeah And then what was it? The one with Quaid, the rookie? That one must have been the rookie Maybe 2000s Yeah, but after that it's Was a Keanu Reeves baseball movie? Oh, hard ball? Never, I skipped that one The mighty ducks rip off pretty much Yeah, I missed that one too That one escaped my viewing I can't believe it, I can't believe it I guess that you're right though That might be the last Like actual kind of Kids forward maybe Baseball movie that's come out Everything else is more geared towards adults Really? Yep, yep Alright, so to the cast It's a big cast And I had to There's a bunch of people We don't know other than from this movie But you got to name them Because they are important people in this movie Tom Geary plays smalls Mike Vatar plays Benny the Jet Rodriguez Patrick Renna plays Ham Patrick Renna big on TikTok nowadays I'm told Absolutely Chauncee Le Pardi plays squints Marty of York Yeah, go ahead Is he maybe the biggest Of all the kid cast? Like, no Patrick Renna is my friend Hey, he was Dude, he had his own soccer movie After this He was in a bunch of stuff Squints was in house guests I think he was in First kid as well Back-to-back Sinbad movies He wasn't that up He wasn't that up And then he was just in that Logic music video From like four or five years ago To home with Eminem I think he's big in the Cannabis business now too So I remember correctly Good Business to be in Yes Yeah, okay fair enough Marty York played Yaya Brandon Quinton Adams played Kenny De Nunez Grant Geltz played Bertram Victor D Matteo played Timmy Shane Obadinsky played Tommy Dennis Leary played Bill the stepdad Karen Allen played Mom James Earl Jones played Mr. Myrtle Art La Fleur played the babe And last, but not least Marley Shelton played Wendy Pefricorn This movie was narrated by Written by and directed David Mickey Evans, who Also wrote and directed Radio Flyer and Sandlot II Also directed that Sinbad movie First Kid You mentioned, Ski Also directed Ace Ventura Pet Detective Junior What? Another one I missed I don't know I believe it was in between When they came back with Daniels and Carrie's Second one And in between the one where they had The two other guys Played like the younger version of them I think it was right in between them The dumb and dumber Prequel one, yeah I think it was right between that He also directed Beethoven's Third and Beethoven's Fourth What a resume Who's the lead actor Beethoven like Dave Groban Or something Oh, uh The dad I know what you're talking about You said Groban and Or it's Groban Charles Groban Groban, yeah That guy's great Eternal curmudgeon Perfect Alright, let's see So, by the way, little Trivia on this movie Mike Vatar, who played Benny the Jet Rodriguez, has been A Los Angeles firefighter Since 2002 Interesting note There's a lawsuit from this movie Michael Paula Doris sued The producers of the movie In 20th Century Fox Because he said Squintz was based on him Like he apparently grew up With David Mickey Evans And said it caused him shame And humiliation Oh, he lost He also lost on appeal My question to him How do you feel shame And humiliation Having squintz Based on you 'Cause squintz Is arguably the coolest fucking Character in this movie Arguably Squintz gets with Wendy Pefricorn in the end Squintz Squintz plays shortstop, right? Doesn't he play shortstop? No, Benny plays short No, Benny does not play in the field Benny is hitting In every scene of this movie Or running No, they have the one scene Where they're playing against The other, like, literally team He's playing in the field Is he? I'm pretty sure I see him out there Wow We got a fucking figure this out I feel like in that scene All they do is they show them hitting It's like a circle in the bases Yeah, all they do Is hit and then They throw some tags They throw some tags down Like they're tagging guys out Oh, no, they did have a good slide Montage Some are saying You're playing baseball in jeans, man That's a I wouldn't do it Pia flyers Pia flyers in jeans That intro scene Which, by the way, we can talk about Pickles all day long Pickles were not a thing Other than when this movie came out Pickles have not been a thing Since 1993 Nobody talks about pickles Nobody's getting in a pickle Like, it's not a thing Pickles and baseball are dead But, like, the opening scene Where Benny wins the pickle And they show the close-up on the Black Pia flyers That look is so good I guess Gangster I will say something about those days There was some good aesthetics Coming out of those times Oh, yeah, oh, absolutely Yeah, by the way, like The completely unbuttoned up Dodger's jersey, too While he's playing, that's legit Very legit Whoever, like, cast this movie And got the kids that they got Is, like, deserves the Oscar, right? Like, I think they're adding Casting Oscars now Like, recently or something like that But, man, like, to be able to Find all these kids And have them match the way they Matched is just, like, It's a work of art, man, because Every kid for the part was perfect Like, literally perfect Every single one of them, like I don't know, it was... I think the one unfair thing about the movie Is they gave talking aesthetics They gave everyone a pretty good look Except for him Yeah, him looks like shit Like, he's wearing a nice old Yankees lid But he kind of looks like shit Well, maybe that was the time I mean, if you go back then There wasn't as many overweight people Especially kids, maybe that was kind of the They're sticking true They're sticking true, maybe Real period, yeah, exactly Yeah, large is the biggest they went And large is, like, a small now That's fair enough, that's fair enough No, you're right, though, because they gave That kid way too small of shorts Like, way too small of pants Like, what's going... Like, why are you, like, forcefully Having this kid with a muffin top in this movie You don't have to do that You don't have to You're a movie studio You can get wardrobe on this But, at least they cast him right And he was the catcher, I mean, that By the way, that scene They were playing the other team You know, they had that whole montage Of him, like, talking shit To everybody and, you know, saying Is that your sister out there? Like, think, blah, blah, blah He dropped every single pitch Like, every single one of them Because I'll try to see You could definitely tell some of the kids Yeah, definitely did not like Like, I guess the guy that was suing About squints? Squints is awful, athlete I mean, his swing is terrible I mean, I get it And the same with him, it's like Yeah, you do some movie magic To make them all look Passable, but I got it Well, I will say to the baseball In general, because we talk about that Every time we do a sports movie Like, does the sport look good? And the sport looks good Like, they... I think they did a good job with the Baseball in this movie Like, you said it, though, like, Every single pitch, like, every single scene Where somebody's hitting a ball The ball is, like, up here It's like, it's like above their head And for some reason, they're swinging at it Just extending the zone Yes, dude When they're playing that other literally team One of the twins Has, like, the absolute worst It looks like he's push-bunting up the line No, but he's not, he's just swinging And I'm like, he's not beating That's not happening He's not beating that out That's not surprising You can't fool me That wasn't a real... Not a real baseball play Not a bunch No No The two, you know, Benny looks like an athlete And then, Deneemia's pitching They were like, all right, we need a pitcher They're gonna be showing a lot Who looks the best throwing, like, all right You look really good, so The only time he'd wind up Oh, so clean I feel like the kid The kid in the LA Angels had Who turned into... Who disappeared as a hippie The second he turned a couple I feel like he turned a couple double plays It's a nice little turn there A nice little footwork Yo, I would love to talk to the guy that wrote this And just ask him Why did you come up and how did you come up with Just like, you just write that kid off He just got real into the '60s And disappeared It's kind of fucked up What do you think about it, right? It's hilarious Like we never heard from the movie What happened, what happened? Did he become a cult leader? You know what I'm saying, what? Like, son of Sam or whatever, like What? You could have written anything That's the thing, and it's supposed to be You know, like, oh, the two twins Became, like, big architects and stuff And everyone's doing cool stuff like This guy just fell in the home crowd Did a bunch of drinks Yeah, I almost wonder if that guy was like That kid was like a pain in the ass Or couldn't pay, didn't pay attention Very well, so He was supposed to, like, be a kid Like going to Harvard, and you guys like No, no, screw you No, you're getting lost in the '60s He was the big chief kid That kid's not going to Harvard Oh, speaking of that, though, speaking of the Like, the future thing So Benny the Jet Rodriguez Plays for the Dodgers, like his dream Little racist, but all right They gave him that mustache Yeah, the mustache The mustache Mmm Well, it's a racist, Keith Oh, you just had to play for the Dodgers Yeah, it's a little... The Dodgers? Yeah, they're playing on the... You want to play with the Giants or the Angels? You want to play with the lawyers here? This little mustache Also, future job, Smalls Becomes the play-by-play guy for the Dodgers? I'm sorry Are we just going to sit here and act like Vince Scully wasn't the play-by-play guy For the Dodgers for like 80 years? And his call of Benny the Jet's stealing call wasn't terrible That was brutal That was brutal That... Who was the guy that played the older Smalls there, too? Wasn't he... I don't know if he was part of like Like he was like part of the movie Like something else in it, but yeah Yeah, he's friends with somebody That's how he got that role for sure He's bad He's bad, yeah We've heard a lot of play-by-play With baseball and it's sort of It's sort of the... I would argue baseball Like you have to be The best of the best to be able to do baseball Like you have to have an amazing voice You have to be able to tell stories At the drop of a hat You have to be funny You have to be entertaining Because you're talking for three hours And Vince Gully especially Like he's talking by himself for three hours That's crazy Like you have to be an amazing human Being to be able to do something like that And if you're going to be a major league Play-by-play guy You have to be elite Like you're really, really elite Shout out to Joe Buck Yeah, that's what you really just tried to say That's what I've been driving towards Big ups to Bob Costes How about you? He's been doing it since he retired 40, 50 years now too They did So the whole movie revolves around Babe Ruth as well And so early 90s This is I think we knew about Babe Ruth But this movie Sort of A good movie But this movie was sort of like Hey kids in the 90s Babe Ruth was the best baseball player ever And you're like Oh, alright I mean I kind of like Griffey But you know whatever Sure So we hear this story Like Babe Ruth calling a shot And hitting a monster So I'm around Did you notice the scene in this movie The narrator's talking about The Babe calls his shot It was the shot heard He hit a monstrous 400 foot Home run It's like very quaint 400 feet That's not a home run in a lot of stadiums There's a couple Historical things like that I will say the Babe came out the year before The Sandlot But the other big thing The other huge thing in this movie that they try to You know throw that fastball right by you Also also that story is not real That's been proven Not real, but he didn't call a shot Anyway, the whole You know James Earl Jones Character, right? They're trying to equate it that Babe Ruth Actually played against black players Which he did not That's a really good point That I didn't think of Like I Yeah, because I'm trying to remember Was he wearing like his Yankees gear And that picture of James Earl Jones Because it's a picture They superimpose James Earl That's supposed to be Jimmy Fox They just superimposed him It's a real photograph No photo I guess I didn't pay attention I guess looking back I would have thought I always thought it was like in the minors or something The only thing I think that could have possibly Happened is There could have been like exhibition games against Barnstorming Barnstorming stuff like that But to try to pass it off like Oh I played with the Babe The Babe Ruth played against zero black Yes, no They don't want to open up that I don't want to open up that book for that movie Guys, you want to know what? I don't want to look at this historical or an activist It's like James Earl Jones is so good Let's just rewrite history We have to Also he had the baseball that was signed by all of the 27 Yankees or whatever the 1927 murderers row I Would argue Half the team probably wouldn't sign a black dude's baseball To your point I would argue maybe more than that because The racist Um Yeah, you know what I never put that together until you just mentioned it to me ski that is That is amazing because it's such a big Feel good part of this movie Is that storyline? It's like yeah, I knew I knew George And I was better than him too Oh, you mean George you mean George Yeah, by the way like Smalls explaining to every single kid in 1993 Who George Herman Ruth was Yes, George Herman Ruth, babe Ruth. Oh, thanks. Malls Because I'm fucking 10 and I don't understand that I mean the other thing I I know he's his stepdad. I was first off Maybe the only role where Dennis Larry's not just like a complete dickhead He's actually like a he's like a good dude a good. He's a stepdad coming in, you know Doing all this but if you think about the times two Those group of kids going into a black guy's house and stuff like that if it I mean, it's a kids movie. You're obviously not gonna be up, but yeah They're in suburban, you know, wherever suburban Malay or whatever fucking california they're at, but it's like, uh, you know, I guess They have friends with a black kid and all that so I guess It looks away, but I don't know what uh Smalls of all people with Dennis Larry would have uh Yeah, no, by the way, like Dennis Dennis Larry's character like you're absolutely right finally like the only role He's ever played where he's not an asshole. Um, and he's like a good dude Like how many times in movies do you have a stepdad who's just like a really good stepdad? and like really loves the mom and Really like wants to connect with the kid and like it's just a good dude I don't think you've seen the deleted scenes. Um, before he gives him the ball signed by murderers row Uh, Dennis Larry just it just beats the absolute shit out of smalls for losing his balls. Yeah, I guess they miss that I'm sure. Yeah. That was just that was just hard parenting back then. Yeah, just absolutely toward the kid Like a role, uh, a role of quarters and a sock and just like Oh, yeah Yeah, I'm not even back then, but I think it's open Punch kids and you have to use like phone books and things that wouldn't leave bruises Jesus That's the times man. Yeah, it runs out the the surface area that you're hitting Exactly. Hey, you can't turn a blind eye to our past here. Yeah, okay Okay, yeah, we're asking the tough questions with the saying lot five guests. Yes Racism child abuse. Why were they not addressing that in this movie? Exactly God, man. They I would say also the other you get care now in a movie Maybe a little bit more usage that need a ton more, but maybe just a little more It was fine Yeah I thought I thought any anything more with the parents might have felt like too much Because because they are the the stars in this movie like james real jones Dennis larry karen allen But like the movie is not about them and so I feel like if you added more it would have made it weird I don't know Best best is best 4th of july scene ever in a movie Oh, yeah, it's great. Yes stuff. Yeah. Yeah in any movie. I mean the ray Charles song is perfect Yeah It's it really is like that is one of the more perfect scenes in a movie period Like smalls or not smalls a ham running out of his house To grabbing two hot dogs like them run running down the street I don't know how they did it by the way because there's like hundreds of those the same fireworks going off at the same time I don't know how you do that like you like You can't light all of those at the same time and have them going off I've tried to do like three or four of a minute doesn't work out like but that was incredible They run down and then they're playing in the dark everybody looks up at the the fireworks the clearly the clearly CGI fireworks Or by the yes, but like would you call what would you call it like where would you slot this movie in for? Is this just a summer movie? What is it more? Would you see this a 4th of july like Maybe mid-summer movie. It's kind of Mid-summer classic mid-summer classic. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah feels like a 4th of july movie Yeah It sounds right Be like baseball season is happening The it has the best 4th of july scene Yeah, like you're not watching this movie in the winter time This movie does nothing to you in the winter, but if you're you know, summer's kicking off Like I said school gets out. No throw this movie on I'm baking like a toasted cheeser here, baby. Seriously. I say that I say that nobody knows what the hell i'm talking about But I still say that I didn't forget give the fat kid those lines I did forget how many times they dropped that you're killing me small's line. Yeah It was more of like a three-time thing. I and my head. It was just a one-time icon No, no, it was just kind of a conversation. Yes. Yeah, he kept saying it. Yeah, the first time was the s'mores scene Like the how can I have some more of something if I haven't had anything yet. Yeah, yeah Classic so I like the so as a whole point is small Is he a loser or is he just Is so in the dark Yeah, is he nerd or is he just so gullible or like just hasn't lit like done anything really I think he's dad dying Like him not the loser. It's like well. This is why it's not just that he's the new hidden town is like he's innocent almost Yeah, he's just his life was The axis were tipped at a very early age and this is when it you know realign Yep Because if he had a normal dad and it was just working at you know series Yeah, he'd be a loser, but his dad died. So it makes him a sympathetic character, you know one ripe for personal growth And benny taking sympathy on him for no good reason at all just changed his life, which is why they're best friends. I will say probably my biggest critique of the movie is Small's as an adult wearing that stupid hat and that It that's a little That that well that whole human the box is just actually not good from what we said He bad calling the game The thumbs up is a little overdone and like and a bunch of and a bunch of yankies pictures in the dodgers press box No, well because like yeah The movie does a really good job of being like sentimental and Like a good a good feel good story, but that lasts like three minutes in the box It's just the hits you over the head a little hard Yeah, so that's sort of my point on the adult part Like whenever they brought that adult part into it. It was cheesy and dumb like when it was just the kids it was it was great Have you guys seen I I stumbled on it on youtube a few days ago like oddly enough There's a it was like a breakdown of the five most unrealistic baseball scenes in history and number one was the sandlot uh because Of benny the jet rod rega as one Outrunning a dog which you cannot run a dog dogs dogs are faster than you it doesn't matter Especially a big dog like that uh, but two hitting the ball directly into small's glove three Breaking the the peel off of the baseball or whatever the skin off of the baseball But the but hitting a ball directly into a glove up in the air like that is impossible Definitely definitely not impossible, but the odds of doing it that right then Like you need a fun go. Yes. That's a that's 20 year assisted coach with a fun And he can get it within a hula hoop circle Odds of hitting the glove pretty small, but yeah, it's amazing. I will say He's gonna hit him in the head before he's gonna hit the glove But like I just saw a video it was like you said gotta be some vet Assistant coach that hits fun goes a million a day They're doing like uh instead of having a catcher throw down on like steals the practice You know like digs and stuff this guy is just hitting little you know short hops tool to the guys covering second base It's like all right this guy's putting him on the bag Every time he swings it It's doable. It's definitely doable Not with not I'm saying not with the air that that ball got like you can be You can be precise You can hit like a seed and hit a spot But like with the air and the you know the time that the balls in the air like there's no fucking way There's like That's why he's a jet. That's why he's a lady. Yep. He's in the big man. He picked he pickled the beast I mean, what are we talking about here? And but they they had saying all that is number one most unrealistic things that happen in baseball In a baseball movie. Yeah. Yeah, have uh, I think not seeing major league back to the miners Oh, he's just gonna know whether that movement could familiar with the salt lake city buzz And they they did mention roan gardener with the arm Like they said the velocity of the pitch to be able to throw it on a on a line from the outfield stands It would have had to have been like 178 miles an hour or something like that So Yeah, I love that. I loved it like that. Um, did this movie get you guys into chew? No, no, that was later Too young to do that stuff. Yeah, all right, but but But they glorified out when they busted out that scene I could taste the red man. Oh, yeah, big chief or whatever. They were cheap gag reflex man. I Were you a bit where you beat where you beat that guy then? Oh, yeah, but I still I painted all that variety of chilled that stuff. Longleaf. Longleaf is nasty Longleaf's the best. I mean, it's fun if you're rapid. It like if you do the Rancona. Yeah, you're rapid. It's a gum. Okay, but And I definitely want to say glorified it because it had the opposite effect of it down. Yeah, all puking Yeah, but that scene like I was another one of the scenes in this movie They had where they had like a perfect song match to it like they had tequila playing They had you know, it was just like them going around in circles slowly getting sick then throwing up on everybody was just Everything was right. I didn't even the songs at the pool too. Great. Whoever was the uh, I don't know music consultant or whoever came in to do it all All of it was perfect. Yep. He had kissed a woman. He had kissed her He kissed her hard. He kissed her long. He kissed her good And nine kids. I love that Again, how do you feel shame and humiliation being tied to that character? You cannot For a boo Come on, man So you're killing me smalls forever Um Yeah Some classics. I will say the the part that uh I always overlook it because I don't really care about it as much But it actually takes up a lot is just everything involving trying to retrieve the ball Like everything in the clubhouse or the treehouse It actually goes on a lot longer than I remember because I kind of just I'm there for the baseball and all that and then kind of post that but It kind of drags a little bit. I know it's supposed to be cool fun for kids Like I'll have different ways with the vacuum and the connector sets Yeah, I get it but as more of an adult like ass Annoying to be hell Yeah, no, I I remember the chase scene being Like shorter like where he's running away from the beast that went like much longer than I thought it did But yeah, it was it was fine with me Ran all the way through the valley. Yeah Yeah, like again, you're not out running a dog that big. You're just not you're just not I don't care who you are Kenny loftin is getting caught by that dog. You know Ricky Henderson would probably beat up the dog, but Why didn't you just come up to my door? Ricky would have caught the dog, you know, chase the dog himself. He would turn around and ranch You think you could chase ricky. You can't chase ricky. Ricky. Jason Ricky doesn't chase him I'm the beast I'm ricky Oh, that's great All right, I guess we should uh, I guess we should grade this Another line I say is I blame myself That's I got that from this movie. Yeah, it's a great one. It's a sneaky one. Yeah. Yep. We've been going about this all wrong I blame myself So good. Uh, all right. So this movie comes from duck duck chef In our discord. It is our listener movie who wants to grade it first. What's it out of this week? Let's go five. Fourth of July. Let's go five. That makes sense. I'll give it a fourth of july out of five I like that I'm gonna give this movie a five I watched it and enjoyed it as much as I did when I was a kid I this movie is so good It really is good. Like it's it is it it's a feel good movie And it's it's got good baseball. It's got great kid actors If you get great kid actors in a movie and like an ensemble like this. It's so rare Like if you get that to work Fuck you're you're a great movie and It's a great movie The the fourth of july's scene a hurry up for a ski can go the fourth of july's scene is so like iconic I didn't realize it that my 10-year-old knows that scene and has not seen the movie Really? It's just like a tick-tock youtube staple in short bursts. Yeah, it's more, you know, it's amazing Yeah, um, i'm gonna give it a double fourth of july a 4.4 Topper over here I think I think it would sneak maybe into my top Top five for sure baseball movie ever easy, but I maybe sneaks into top three I think that on the edge of it. Yeah, so yeah, it's great. Yeah, it's a perfect It's like i'm overselling perfect, but it's a pretty perfect movie. Yes, it is