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Ranking the Sandlot Movies
by Kevin Gardner
Baseball is America's National Pastime. From youth leagues to the majors, the game is played and watched in communities all over the country. Fans celebrate the rivalries and the heroes of the game. Another of America's pastimes is watching movies. Hollywood has put out lots of baseball movies, ranging from silly to inspired to fantastic. Among the films of this genre are the Sandlot movies. Light-hearted and heartfelt, these family-oriented coming-of-age stories take the viewer back to the innocent times of childhood. Full of horseplay and comic delight, they are also capable of inspiring genuine emotion. Here is a ranking, from worst to first, of the three Sandlot movies.
3. The Sandlot 2
In this sequel, set in Los Angeles in 1972, a group of kids play baseball in the titular sandlot and learn how to negotiate that which life throws their way. This logline reads pretty much like the first Sandlot movie, with similar kids enduring similar pitfalls and sharing similar victories, just like its predecessor, which is why it earns the lowest ranking here. That said, it's still a romp and there are lots of laughs. If the idea that something precious (think NASA) ends up on the wrong side of a fence echoes the first movie, it's still fun to see the kids groupthink to try to get it back. There are other connections to the original. Johnny Smalls is Scott's little brother, and Mr. Mertle is still around (still played by the fabulous James Earl Jones). Perhaps more importantly, Mr. Mertle is the owner of "The Great Fear", whose dad (also owned by Mr. Mertle) was known as The Beast. Besides being two of the most impressive nicknames for English Mastiffs ever to hit the screen, like the Beast, "The Great Fear" plays a big role in the story. Besides youth baseball gloves and juvenile tensions, The Sandlot 2 offers a decent second chapter to the franchise.
2. The Sandlot: Heading Home
The third installment of the series begins in 2004, and the story arc has changed considerably. It still centers around kids playing ball in the sandlot, but there is a mystical angle. Arrogant L.A. Dodger Tommy Santorelli transforms back into a teenager and gets a chance to take a second swing at life. He goes back to 1976, to the sandlot. There's another dynamic separating this installment from the previous two, as well: Tommy watches his mom battle cancer. He's gone back to his 13-year-old self with all his knowledge of the future intact, and as he tells Ryan it makes him incredibly happy to have his mother in his life again. This theme of loss runs through the movie.
Another theme in all Sandlot movies is friendship, and this one displays it splendidly. Tommy must choose between playing with his friends on the ragtag team or playing with EJ, the town bully who captains the better team. This is a parallel to Tommy's future, in which he plays for a losing Dodger team and wears his discontent on his sleeve. It's another important coming-of-age moment: does he win for its own sake, or choose to play (and greatly benefit) the team that all his friends are on? His decision impacts his happiness quotient and the course of the rest of his life.
1. The Sandlot
The original is still the best. The year is 1962, and the sandlot is where kids become friends and get into mischief. The audience is introduced to Mr. Mertle and to Hercules, otherwise known as The Beast, who shines as the misunderstood antagonist. His backstory, provided by "Squints" Palledorous, is legendary.
The way that the major tension in the movie unfolds is the stuff of growing up. The audience watches as the boys try to solve an age-old question: how to get a precious baseball back when it's beyond the fence and in a strange backyard in the possession of a man-eating dog. Silly as it sounds, it's where the heart of the movie (franchise) is. When something befalls one in the group, it befalls them all. They are in it together, as it should be.
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