The nostalgic coming-of-age baseball movieThe Sandlotfeatures James Earl Jones in a small but crucial role as Mr. Mertle, whose character hints at a dark part of baseball history that the film completely glosses over. Mr. Mertle bonds with Tom Guiry’s Scott Smalls andMike Vitar’s Benny “The Jet” Rodriguezover their shared love of the great American pastime, butthe endlessly quotable movieThe Sandlotdoes not delve into the details of Mr. Mertle’s exact past in the professional world of baseball.
Smalls’ friends live and breathe baseball, and they pass their passion on to Smalls over the course of the summer of 1962, loosely based on the writer/director’s childhood. Mr. Mertle saves Smalls’ skin by giving him a priceless artifact from his days as a professional baseball player himself. In the process, Mr. Mertle shares a heartwarming story about his legendary contemporary, Babe Ruth. However, while this moment is presented as a wistful piece of nostalgia,it also ignores one of the most uncomfortable aspects of baseball’s historywhich the rest ofThe Sandlotdoes not address.
The Sandlot Ignores A Dark Reality About Baseball In The ’60s
Ambiguity Allows Different Interpretations of A Character’s Backstory
The Sandlot, released in 1993, is set in the 1960s to evoke a feeling of nostalgia, harkening back to a time when kids could enjoy unsupervised outdoor time until supper.The spirit of Babe Ruth, portrayed by Art LaFleur,appears in a dream sequence to motivate Benny when all hope seems lost. The Sultan of Swat’s parting words echo to Benny: “There’s heroes, and there’s legends. Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.”
When Mr. Mertle learns that Smalls ruined his stepfather’s autographed ball, he offers Smalls a different ball signed not just by the King of Crash, but by the entire Murderers' Row of 1927. Mr. Mertle reveals that he used to play ball himself.He didn’t just know Babe Ruth, Babe knew him.In James Earl Jones’ dulcet tones, Mr. Mertle starts to explain that he could have broken Babe’s home run record, then trails off. Smalls fills in the blanks that Mr. Mertle went blind, and Mr. Mertle confirms it.
If Mr. Mertle played at the same time as Babe in the 1920s and 30s, he would have played in the Negro Leagues, which were active in the early 20th century, before the sport integrated in 1947. Players of color were relegated to teams with less funding, and their stats were excluded from official records. Mr. Mertle’s talk with the boys is intentionally vague.He doesn’t specify when or for which team he played, or how or when he went blind. Perhaps his sight cut his career short, or perhaps he did break Babe’s record, but in a separate league. Either way, the movie doesn’t address this dark chapter in baseball history.
As of December 2020, Major League Baseball has begun recognizing statistics from the Negro Leagues.
Why The Sandlot Forgoes Historical Accuracy
The Sandlotis both a children’s movie and a lighthearted sports comedy.Keeping Mr. Mertle’s background ambiguous or textually unspecified is the right call.It would feel expositional and clunky to introduce this part of baseball history at this point in the film, which is already in the denouement. The scene with James Earl Jones can be left open to interpretation. A viewer with an eye towards critical analysis can apply historical context without disrupting the narrative, but the conversation can be taken at face value with the scene losing impact.
Is The Sandlot Based On A True Story? The Baseball Movie’s Inspiration Explained
The 1993 film, The Sandlot, written and directed by David Mickey Evans, feels like a true story but is it? Here’s what inspired The Sandlot’s story.
Because the movie is narrated by an adult Smalls,The Sandlotcan be interpreted as being seen through the rose-colored glasses of someone fondly recalling and perhaps exaggerating their childhood. The dog wasn’t just big, it was a Beast. Benny wasn’t just strong, he split a baseball at the seams.Smalls could have missed clues during the conversation with Mr. Mertle, especially as he jumps in when Mr. Mertle trails off. However, given the movie’s childlike tone, unpacking baseball’s traumatic history in the finale would have felt extremely jarring.
The Sandlot
Cast
The Sandlot is a beloved ’90s sports coming-of-age story centering around a group of baseball-loving kids that befriend a new boy that moves to town. The Sandlot takes place in the Summer of 1962 and stars Tom Guiry, Mike Vitar, Patrick Renna, and Art LaFleur as the legendary Babe Ruth.
