The Sandlot

The Sandlot, directed by David Mickey Evans in 1993 is a classic movie for all ages and has been deemed one of the greatest baseball movies of all time. The movie begins with a young kid who goes by "Smalls." Smalls is a pretty shy, antisocial, and non-athletic kid who struggles to find friends. Smalls moves into a new town with his mother and step-father. His mother encourages him to go out and try to make some friends and just have a fresh start at childhood. One day while riding his bike through town, Smalls runs into a kid named Benny Rodriguez. Benny invites smalls to play baseball with a group of friends who play at a field called "The Sandlot" during the summer. At first, Smalls is terrible at baseball since he has never played before. The other kids give him a bit of a hard time, since they are all fairly good. Smalls has his chance to gain the respect of all the other kids when the catcher of the group, Ham Porter hits the last baseball over the fence and into the yard of a very old man. Smalls is quit to offer to hop the fence and retrieve the ball, but that is when the group of kids warns him of "The Beast", a very large dog that has been rumored to eat animals and even small children. 

Smalls lets the other kids know that his step-dad has a baseball in his bedroom that he would sneakily take in order for them to continue playing. Little to Smalls' knowledge, his step-dad's baseball is signed by one of the greatest baseball players of all time, Babe Ruth. The boys go on to play and Smalls starts to develop some skill and also become good friends with the group of boys. They end playing against other kids in order to determine which team would be able to call The Sandlot their own. During this game, Ham Porter says one of the most memorable lines in American cinematic history. He screams at the captain of the other team, "YOU PLAY BALL LIKE A GIRL!" The film contains scenes of hysterical mischief amongst the group of kids, including the shortstop, Squints faking his own drowning in order to make out with the pool life guard, Wendy Peffercorn. 

All is well with the group of boys until Smalls gets up to bat during a practice and launches the Babe Ruth signed baseball into the backyard of The Beast. Smalls explains that the baseball is crucial to get back, as it was his step-dad's and had a signature on it. When the group of boys asks Smalls who signed the ball, he claims it was by some guy named Ruth. The other boys go ballistic and realize just how valuable the ball really is. They come up with creative and unique ideas to try to get the ball, but they are all foiled by The Beast. Finally, after multiple failed attempts, Benny steps up and says that he feels it is his responsibility to retrieve the baseball. After putting on his brand new pair of Nike's, Benny climbs the fence and stands toe-to-toe with the beast. Benny is able to grab the ball and hop back over the fence. Right when he thinks he is in the clear, The Beast jumps over the fence and immediately starts chasing him. After about a five minute chase, Benny is able to push a large fence onto The Beast. The boys immediately feel bad and realize that this fence could potentially kill The Beast. After using all their might, the boys are able to free up The Beast, who instantly thanks the boys by licking them all over their faces. The Beast's owner comes out and thanks the boys for helping his dog, and they realize that the grumpy old neighbor, and The Beast are actually very lovable.