The Sandlot Cast Reunited for 30th-Anniversary Softball Game
Actors joined the film's director and some former MLB talent to celebrate 30 years of The Sandlot and raise money for charity.
The cast of the '90s classic The Sandlot recently came together for a 30th anniversary softball game. The group, who have remained close and who do more reunions and convention appearances than the average cult movie cast, headed to Edgeater, Florida (home of director David Mickey Evans) to take part in a charity softball game to benefit the Table 2 Committee. The game was part of a two-day fundraising event, which also included meet-and-greets, photos, and other more conventional celebrity encounters.
The Table 2 Committee is a nonprofit that helps support youth sports programs, so the game (and teaming with the cast of The Sandlot) is right on brand for them. Here's how their website describes the weekend:
Southeast Volusia witnessed an extraordinary event that transported fans of the iconic movie, The Sandlot, back to the beloved neighborhood baseball diamond. On December 15th and 16th, 2023, five cast members from the film made their way to New Smyrna Beach, Florida, to celebrate the 30th anniversary of this cinematic treasure with David Mickey Evans, the writer, director and narrator who calls New Smyrna Beach home.
The 5-inning softball game was held at the YMCA in Edgewater and the movie screenings were at the New Smyrna High School auditorium.
Cast members who attended the event included Evans, Shane Obedzinski (Tommy 'Repeat' Timmons), Victor DiMattia (Timmy Timmons), Grant Gelt (Bertram Grover Weeks), Marty York (Alan 'Yeah-Yeah' McClennan), and Tom Guiry (Scotty Smalls). Besides the actors, some familiar faces to Major League Baseball fans turned up as well; the site lists additional talent as John Castino (1979 AL Rookie of the Year with the Minnesota Twins), Jack Billingham (Won 2 World Series championships between 1972 and 1977 with the Cincinnati Reds), and Marty Bystrom (Pitcher who played for the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees in Major League Baseball from 1980 to 1985).
The Table 2 site also has a gallery of photos taken at the event.
The Sandlot has continued to have a lasting impact; it's a regular seller on disc and digital, and spawned two sequels and a prequel. Back in 2019, Disney annoucned that a sequel television series is in the works for Disney+. The series is expected to be set in the 1980s and center around the children of the original film's characters -- the original film was set in 1962, although it's hard to know whether that will still happen given how long it's been since there were updates.