History YMMV / TheSandlot

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: Forcibly, nonconsensually kissing a girl is an important, cheeky rite of passage. It's said that they were "banned from the pool forever that day", but this is a sidenote, so the example is still valid. She's even said to have been impressed by it and married him in the epilogue.

* HarsherInHindsight / HilariousInHindsight: Depending on how you look at it, at the end of the film, Bertram is revealed as getting into the 60s and no one saw him again. Bertram's actor, Grant Gelt's final acting credit was for a made-for-tv movie called "The Sixties".
** HilariousInHindsight: Two for this section.
*** Ham is said to have become a professional wrestler as an adult, fast forward 20 years later after the movie came out and his actor Patrick Renna plays a FanBoy in ''Series/GLOW2017''.
*** Wendy ends up marrying the much younger Squints in the future. Later her actress, Marley Shelton makes an appearance on ''Series/MadMen'' and sucks face with a younger man with her friend Joan Holloway Harris.

* SpecialEffectFailure: The cutaway shots of fireworks during the Fourth of July game are stretched horizontally (the fireworks appear oblong), meaning non-anamorphic stock footage was spliced into the film.

** It's hard to imagine Squints getting off with just being banned from the pool for life over his stunt. Sexual harassment and matters of consent have become SeriousBusiness even for ''children''. Today he could likely expect serious ramifications. Since the movie took place in the height of the Series/MadMen era when sexual harassment was as American as apple pie, he probably would've just gotten slapped back then.

* CriticalDissonance: The film has mixed reviews from critics with a 57% on Website/RottenTomatoes, but very positive reviews with audiences with a score of 89%.

* CriticalDissonance: The film has mixed reviews from critics with a 57% on Rotten Tomatoes, but very positive reviews with audiences with a score of 89%.

* CriticalDissonance: The film has mixed reviews from critics with a 57% on Rotton Tomatoes, but very positive reviews with audiences with a score of 89%.

* RuleOfSymbolism: Cracked posited that the entire movie can be read as a metaphor for the desegregation of baseball. The Sandlot boys are all multi-racial and scrappy while the Jerkass rich popular team is all well-off and white. The Beast represents the monster of prejudice, which gets torn down when they topple the fence and find the cache of lost baseballs, allowing them to play forever. Mr. Mertle is even built up as a scary old man who, perhaps not coincidentally, is played by a black actor and revealed to be friendly once the boys get to know him.

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Ham is one of the best-remembered characters in the movie, despite having relatively little screen time. It helps that he says some of the most meme-tastic lines in the film (see MemeticMutation and SignatureScene).
** Squints is very popular amongst the fans, too.
* EverybodyIsJesusInPurgatory: Cracked posited that the entire movie can be read as a metaphor for the desegregation of baseball. The Sandlot boys are all multi-racial and scrappy while the Jerkass rich popular team is all well-off and white. The Beast represents the monster of prejudice, which gets torn down when they topple the fence and find the cache of lost baseballs, allowing them to play forever. Mr. Mertle is even built up as a scary old man who, perhaps not coincidentally, is played by a black actor and revealed to be friendly once the boys get to know him.

* HoYay: Smalls and Benny.

* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Cracked posited that the entire movie can be read as a metaphor for the desegregation of baseball. The Sandlot boys are all multi-racial and scrappy while the Jerkass rich popular team is all well-off and white. The Beast represents the monster of prejudice, which gets torn down when they topple the fence and find the cache of lost baseballs, allowing them to play forever. Mr. Mertle is even built up as a scary old man who, perhaps not coincidentally, is played by a black actor and revealed to be friendly once the boys get to know him.

** "[[PunctuatedForEmphasis FOR-E-VER. FOR--E--VER.]] ''[[PunctuatedForEmphasis FOR---E---VER."]]''

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Ham is one of the best-remembered characters in the movie, despite having relatively little screen time. It helps that some of the most meme-tastic lines in the film (see MemeticMutation and SignatureScene) are said by him.

* CriticalDissonance: The film has mixed reviews from critics with a 57% on Rotton Tomatoes but very positive reviews with audiences with a score of 89%.

* VindicatedByHistory: When the film was originally released, it received mixed reviews and made a modest box office profit. Nowadays, it's considered to be both a classic family film and one of the greatest baseball movies of all-time. 25 years after its release, 20 Major League Baseball teams had a "Sandlot" night where they hosted the cast members and celebrated the film's lasting legacy.

** It's hard to imagine Squints getting off with just being banned from the pool for life over his stunt. Sexual harassment and matters of consent have become SeriousBusiness even for ''children''. Today he could likely expect ''serious'' legal ramifications. Since the movie took place in the height of the Series/MadMen era when sexual harassment was as American as apple pie, he probably would've just gotten slapped back then.

* * PoliticallyCorrectHistory: The movie takes place in 1962 and features Benny, who's Hispanic, and Kenny, who's black, hanging out with white kids all around town with no one batting an eye (their races aren't even commented upon). At the time, institutionalized racial segregation was still in effect in many areas of the country. Even in a more liberal area like Southern California, you'd be hard pressed to find a black kid playing baseball with a bunch of white kids. (It's not impossible, though.)

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: "Green Onions", which plays when the sandlot boys have their confrontation with the Little Leaguers.
* CriticalDissonance: The film has mixed reviews from critics with a 57% on Rotton Tomatoes but overly positive reviews with audiences with a score of 89%.

** The animatronics used in many scenes for The Beast don't hold up particularly well. Though in a bit of FridgeBrilliance that may make them work even work ''better'' considering his mythic status among the kids.

* RecycledScript: The second movie's plot is almost exactly the same as the first, with the exception of a few plot details.

* Sequelitis: The second movie is not really liked due to its RecycledScript. Subverted with the third movie, since it is better received, but not as much as the first one.

** It's hard to imagine Squints getting off with just being banned from the pool for life over his stunt. Sexual harassment and matters of consent have become SeriousBusiness even for ''children''. Today he could likely expect ''serious'' legal ramifications. Since the movie took place in the height of the Mad Men era when sexual harassment was as American as apple pie, he probably would've just gotten slapped back then.

* AwesomeMusic: "Green Onions", which plays when the sandlot boys have their confrontation with the Little Leaguers.

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop/ValuesDissonance: Forcibly, nonconsensually kissing a girl is an important, cheeky rite of passage. It's said that they were "banned from the pool forever that day", but this is a sidenote, so the example is still valid. She's even said to have been impressed by it and married him in the epilogue.

* FamilyUnfriendlyAesop: Forcibly, nonconsensually kissing a girl is an important rite of passage. It's said that they were "banned from the pool forever that day", but this is a sidenote, so the example is still valid. She's even said to have been impressed by it and married him in the epilogue.

** It's hard to imagine Squints getting off with just being banned from the pool for life over his stunt. Sexual harassment and matters of consent have become SeriousBusiness even for ''children''. Today he could likely expect ''serious'' legal ramifications.

* SpecialEffectFailure: The cutaway shots of fireworks during the Fourth of July game are stretched horizontally (the fireworks appear oblong), meaning non-anamorphic stock footage was spliced into the film.