Beloved Baseball Movie Turns 30 This Week

If the lines "You're killing me Smalls" and "You play ball like a girl" mean anything to you then you probably love this movie as much as I do. "The Sandlot" turns 30 this Friday. That and the recent start of the major league baseball season are reasons enough to show some appreciation for this all-time favorite.

If you ever played baseball as a kid, little league or neighborhood pick-up games, then you can surely relate to these youngsters and their adventures that include retrieving a treasured baseball from a neighbor's yard which happens to be guarded by a monster of a dog. It's a fantastic movie and Ranker agrees.

"The Sandlot" is ranked as number one in the Best Sports Movies Ever Made category (ahead of "Rocky" and "Major League"), #1 / Best Sports Movies For Kids, #1 / Best Movies for Summer, #1 All-Time Best Baseball Films (ahead of "A League Of Their Own" and "Field Of Dreams"), and #1 / Fictional Teams You Wish You Played On As A Kid. It even landed in the top 100 of Best Movies of All-Time

Data on this beloved all-American classic, is courtesy of Ranker (30M+ monthly visitors), the leader in fan-powered rankings (over 1.3B votes) on all things entertainment.

It’s no secret that The Sandlot is widely regarded as a cinematic masterpiece, which makes it extra gratifying to see it dominate our favorite Ranker genre polls: 

·Ranked #1

·Ranked #1

·Ranked #1 

Even when the film doesn’t nab a top spot, Ranker’s fans still make sure to deem it “essential viewing” above tons of other all-time classics in the canon: 

·Ranked #10, ahead of Dazed and Confused (#11), Fast Times at Ridgemont High (#14) and Back to the Future (#20)

Best Comedy-Drama Movies (13.8K votes) 

·Ranked #2, ahead of The Breakfast Club (#4) and Little Miss Sunshine (#6) 

·Ranked #9, ahead of Walk the Line (#10), Hairspray (#11) and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (#12) 

·Ranked #13, ahead of My Cousin Vinny (#14), Napoleon Dynamite (#18) and The Last Picture Show (#23)

We’ve also seen the hit-film cemented as 90s royalty according to Ranker fans: 

·Ranked #3, ahead of Dumb and Dumber (#5), Billy Madison (#8) and Friday (#9) 

·Ranked #8, ahead of Matilda (#9), Hocus Pocus (#11) and Space Jam (#14)

·Ranked #5, ahead of The Nightmare Before Christmas (#8) and Mrs. Doubtfire (#9) 

·Ranked #2, ahead of Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (#4), Jumanji (#6) and The Santa Clause (#8) 

Which explains why there’s been such an outpouring of loving nostalgia for it: 

·Ranked #8 - The Entire Team In 'The Sandlot'

·Ranked #5 - In ‘The Sandlot,’ The Kids Band Together To Save The Beast - And The Humbled Dog Thanks Them

·Ranked #29 - ‘You Play Ball Like a Girl’ - The Sandlot

·Ranked #3 - Smalls And Rodriguez's Friendship Is The Real Story In 'The Sandlot'

And while some here at Ranker hope to see The Sandlot evolve in a reboot world…

·Ranked #8 - 'The Sandlot' Espouses Misogyny

·Ranked #17 - The Sandlot

…most would agree that a classic is a classic for a reason–as evidenced by The Sandlot’s enduring likability factor across all age groups: 

  •  The Sandlot Kids Appeal

·Very Best Children's Movies (78.5K votes) 

·Ranked #30, ahead of Peter Pan (#31) and The Wizard of Oz (#34) 

·Best Movies For Tweens (112.2K votes) 

·Ranked #34, ahead of E.T. (#36) and The Goonies (#37)

·Best Movies for 10-Year-Old Kids (125.3K votes) 

·Ranked #47, ahead of Freaky Friday (#50) and Hercules (#63) 

·Best Movies For Boys To Watch (11.6K votes) 

·Ranked #7, ahead of Toy Story franchise (#8), The Incredibles (#11) and Home Alone franchise (#13) 

  • The Sandlot Adult Appeal 

·Kids’ Movies That Parents Can Actually Watch Over And Over Without Losing Their Minds (1.1K votes) 

·Ranked #4, ahead of The Karate Kid (#10) and Frozen (#12) 

·Greatest Guilty Pleasure Family Movies (13.2K votes) 

· Ranked #3, ahead of Hocus Pocus (#4), The Goonies (#5) and The Parent Trap (#6) 

I'll bet a majority of you have a DVD of "The Sandlot" somewhere in your house. Maybe even a VHS tape. Thirty years since its debut is a great occasion to re-watch it and maybe introduce your kids and grandkids to this film. The MPAA rated The Sandlot PG for some language and kids chewing tobacco. Here are some pics from the movie.

  • 1 of 8

    'Ham' points to where he's going to hit the ball.

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    The Sandlot crew

  • 3 of 8

    'Smalls'

  • 4 of 8

    Smalls caught it!

  • 5 of 8

    'Squints' is ready to send one deep.

  • 6 of 8

    City pool lifeguard Wendy Peffercorn, the object of 'Squint's' crush.

  • 7 of 8

    alternate movie poster

  • 8 of 8

    alternate movie poster

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