Over two decades ago, “The Sandlot” hit theaters. Moviegoers were introduced to a scrappy group of kids who spent long summer days on a makeshift baseball field in the early ‘60s. It’s a coming-of-age story about how the new kid in town learned to play ball and, in the process, made lifelong friends.
Since its original release, the film has come to be seen as a sports classic: one that Gen Xers saw as kids and then passed down to their Millennial children. These days, shirts emblazoned with the film’s signature catchphrase, “You’re killing me smalls,” are on sale at your local Target. And if you scroll through basic cable, you’re bound to run across “The Sandlot” for viewing on a Saturday afternoon.
The film has even been a huge inspiration for a number of Major League Baseball players.
A few years back, the film’s director, David Mickey Evans, and stars Chauncey Leopardi and Patrick Renna, watched the Boston Red Sox batting practice and David Ortiz gave them all a big bear hug and said, “You guys are my heroes.”
Yankees recreate scene from the sandlot pic.twitter.com/voqCfI9naP
— Baseball King™ (@BasebaIlKing) December 11, 2017
On June 16, the Los Angeles Dodgers celebrated the film’s 25th anniversary with an appearance by its stars and a screening of the film after a game versus the San Francisco Giants.
Heroes get remembered but legends never die. #TheSandlot25 | #Dodgers pic.twitter.com/UPAnf1SrOO
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 16, 2018
The starting lineup. #TheSandlot25th | #Dodgers pic.twitter.com/OA9xTFvZkQ
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 17, 2018
Saved the best for last. Met my ginger brother @redturn2 ! Good win today! Just saying @dodgers #sandlot25th may be a good luck charm pic.twitter.com/eQOJIJDs4K
— Patrick Renna (@PatrickRenna) June 17, 2018
To commemorate the film’s anniversary, GOOD caught up with Evans to talk about why the film still matters now:
While “The Sandlot” was a hit when it was released in 1993, 25 years later, it seems to have exploded in popularity. How did it happen?
It has absolutely grown in popularity and has been more successful every subsequent year than the year before. It went into the video rental market at the height of the VHS rental days and found a new and larger audience. Then when the DVD revolution hit, the rentals and purchases went off the charts.
Why does the film have such staying power?
The film’s staying power is – to state the obvious — because people love to watch it over and over again. I think, in a very basic way, that’s because no matter who you are, where you were brought up, or what the circumstances of your life have been, everyone either knew one of those characters, was one of those characters, or wanted to be one of those characters.
Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez was a great role model for Latino kids at a time when they weren’t represented much in popular culture. Was it a conscious decision for you to add a Latino role model?
Yes, it was. Where I grew up in the northeastern San Fernando Valley in Southern California in the 1970s, it was a predominantly Latino population. So I drew from those memories.
Have you run into people who were inspired by the Rodriguez character?
Many, many fans have told me how much the Benny character influenced their childhoods, and taught them lessons about friendship and standing up for the little guy.
Do kids today still have that “Sandlot”-style experience of spending long days playing ball with their friends?
Sadly, I don’t think so. When I was a kid, during the summer, we’d leave the house when the sun came up and went home when the sun went down — all without a second of adult supervision. In this day and age, I can’t imagine that happening anymore. I think the closest kids get to that sort of experience these days is with organized sports.
“The Sandlot” is an underdog story about Scotty Smalls, an unathletic kid who aspires to be better. Have “Sandlot” fans been inspired by Smalls?
Not the Smalls character specifically, but I hear from fans all the time who tell me how much the film means to them, and even professional baseball players who say “The Sandlot” is the reason they play baseball. When the New York Yankees and the Milwaukee Brewers reenact scenes from your film, I suppose you have to believe it means something special to them!
Twentieth Century Fox is celebrating the film’s anniversary by bringing it back to theaters on July 22 and 24.
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Young students get on the bus for a field tripCanva
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Why do some folks use social media but don't engage?
Psychologist says people who never comment on social media share these 5 positive traits
For over 20 years, social media has developed into a staple in many people’s day-to-day lives. Whether it’s to keep in communication with friends and family, following the thoughts of celebrities, or watching cat videos while sipping your morning coffee, there seem to be two types of social media users: commenters and lurkers.
The term “lurker” sounds equally mysterious and insidious, with some social media users writing them off as non-participants at best or voyeurs at worst. However, mindfulness expert Lachlan Brown believes these non-commenters have some very psychologically positive and healthy traits. Let’s take a look at how each one of these traits could be beneficial and see how fruitful lurking might be even though it can drive content creators crazy.
1. Cautious about vulnerability
Consciously or not, making a post online or commenting on one puts you and your words out there. It’s a statement that everyone can see, even if it’s as simple as clicking “like.” Doing so opens yourself up to judgment, with all the good, bad, and potential misinterpretation that comes with it. Non-commenters would rather not open themselves up to that.
These silent users are connected to a concept of self-protection by simply not engaging. By just scrolling past posts or just reading/watching them without commentary, they’re preventing themselves from any downsides of sharing an opinion such as rejection, misunderstanding, or embarrassment. They also have more control on how much of themselves they’re willing to reveal to the general public, and tend to be more open face-to-face or during one-on-one/one-on-few private chats or DMs. This can be seen as a healthy boundary and prevents unnecessary exposure.
Considering many comment sections, especially involving political topics, are meant to stir negative emotional responses to increase engagement, being extra mindful about where, when, and what you comment might not be a bad idea. They might not even take the engagement bait at all. Or if they see a friend of theirs post something vulnerable, they feel more motivated to engage with them personally one-on-one rather than use social media to publicly check in on them.
2. Analytical and reflective mindset
How many times have you gone onto Reddit, YouTube, or any other site and just skimmed past comments that are just different versions of “yes, and,” “no, but,” or “yes, but”? Or the ever insightful, formerly popular comment “First!” in a thread? These silent browsers lean against adding to such noise unless they have some valid and thoughtful contribution (if they bother to comment period).
These non-posters are likely wired on reflective thinking rather than their initial intuition. Not to say that all those who comment aren’t thoughtful, but many tend to react quickly and comment based on their initial feelings rather than absorbing the information, thinking it over, researching or testing their belief, and then posting it. For "lurkers," it could by their very nature to just do all of that and not post it at all, or share their thoughts and findings privately with a friend. All in all, it’s a preference of substance over speed.
3. High sense of self-awareness
Carried over from the first two listed traits, these silent social media users incorporate their concern over their vulnerability and their reflective mindset into digital self-awareness. They know what triggers responses out of them and what causes them to engage in impulsive behavior. It could be that they have engaged with a troll in the past and felt foolish. Or that they just felt sad after a post or got into an unnecessary argument that impacted them offline. By knowing themselves and seeing what’s being discussed, they choose to weigh their words carefully or just not participate at all. It’s a form of self-preservation through restraint.
4. Prefer to observe rather than perform
Some folks treat social media as information, entertainment, or a mix of both, and commenting can feel like they’re yelling at the TV, clapping alone in a movie theater when the credits roll, or yelling “That’s not true!” to a news anchor that will never hear them. But contrary to that, social media is a place where those yells, claps, and accusations can be seen and get a response. By its design, social media is considered by experts and the media as performative, regardless of whether it is positive or negative. Taking all of the previously mentioned traits into account, one can see why they would prefer to “observe the play” rather than get up on the stage of Facebook or X.
On top of that, these non-commenters could be using social media differently than those who choose to fully engage with it. Using this type of navigation, there may be nothing for them to comment about. Some commenters are even vying for this for their mental health. There are articles about how to better curate your social media feeds and manipulate algorithms to create a better social media experience to avoid unnecessary conflict or mentally tiring debate.
If you go on a blocking spree on all of your accounts and just follow the posters that boost you, it could turn your social media into a nice part of your routine as you mainly engage with others face-to-face or privately. In terms of commenting, if your curated Instagram is just following cute dogs and all you have to offer for a comment is “cute dog,” you might just enjoy the picture and then move on with your day rather than join in the noise. These non-commenters aren’t in the show and they’re fine with it.
5. Less motivated by social validation
The last trait that Brown showcases is that social media users who browse without posting tend to be independent from external validation, at least online. Social media is built to grow through feedback loops such as awarding likes, shares, and reposts of your content along with notifications letting you know that a new person follows you or wants to connect. This can lead many people to connect their activity on social media with their sense of self worth, especially with adolescents who are still figuring out their place in the world and have still-developing brains.
Engaging in social media via likes, shares, comments, and posts rewards our brains by having them release dopamine, which makes us feel good and can easily become addictive. For whatever reason, non-commenters don’t rely on social media as a means to gauge their social capital or self worth. This doesn’t make them better than those who do. While some non-commenters could have healthier ways to boost their self worth or release dopamine into their systems, many get that validation from equally unhealthy sources offline. That said, many non-commenters’ silence could be a display of independence and self confidence.
Whether you frequently comment online or don’t, it’s good to understand why you do or don’t. Analyzing your habits can help you determine whether your online engagement is healthy, or needs to be tweaked. With that information, you can then create a healthy social media experience that works for you.