“As a celebration of the magic of movies involving baseball, at least one scene from a different film will be posted each day for the next nine days…”
—From “Top of the First” March 28th

Being the new kid in town isn’t easy. This is especially true when you are not fluent in the language of the other kids: baseball. In this case, classifying the new kid as mildly conversational was a stretch a mile long. This serves as the opening conundrum for Scotty Smalls, or just “Smalls,” as in the universally known and cherished phrase, “you’re killin’ me Smalls!” After an awesomely cool speech from his Mother, Smalls got out of his honor roll bubbled room and explored his new terrain. Here is that rad speech for Mrs. Smalls (turn the volume up!).

“The Sandlot” is one of the best movies about baseball of all-time. It’s a cultural staple for an entire generation. Serving up not only favorite moments of nostalgia, the 1993 classic also paints the picture of a group of friends that experience summer the way it was intended way back in 1962. They played baseball all day and every day at their very own “sandlot,” they went to the carnival at night with a little too much “help from their friends,” scoped out the girls (Wendy Peffercorn!), caused a ruckus at the community pool, told epic tree house stories, celebrated the 4th of July the right way, got chased by the biggest dog in the world and had unforgettable nicknames. To serve as a refresher course, the names included: Smalls, Squints, Yeah-Yeah, Benny the Jet, Ham, Repeat and, of course, The Beast.

Below is the trailer and two classic scenes. Welcome back to “The Sandlot!”

“This pop isn’t workin’, Benny! I’m bakin’ like a toasted cheese-it! It’s so hot here!”

“You’re killin’ me Smalls!”

One quick recommendation: At least read an introductory book about your new language before venturing outside as to be cognizant of important phrases and figures, such as the most famous person of that culture.