the sandlot movie paper

THE IMPORTANCE OF FRIENDSHIP IN THE SANDLOT 1

The Importance of Friendship in The Sandlot

Patrick Corpora

Penn State University


Friendship is a personal relationship shared between two people that focuses on trust,

faith, and a concern for each other’s feelings (Kheterpal, 2008). The Sandlot is a classic sports

film that truly epitomizes the role that friendship plays in a child’s development. The story takes

place in a small suburb outside of Los Angeles in the summer of 1962. The main character is a

boy named Scotty, known to the boys of the sandlot as “Smalls”. Smalls just finished the fifth

grade and is quite timid, but has a knack for science projects; not so much for baseball. Smalls,

his mother, and his uninvolved step-father moved to the neighborhood at the start of the summer.

Because of his shyness, Smalls is apprehensive about meeting new friends and making the most

of his summer in his new neighborhood. His mother continually tries to get him to go outside

and play, as she sees all the other boys that live near him play baseball each and every day.

Fortunately for Smalls and his mother, the leader of the sandlot, Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez,

brings Smalls a baseball glove and invites him to be a part of the gang. The un-athletic Smalls is

made fun of by the other boys of the gang for not being able to play baseball. He was not able to

catch the baseballs that were hit to him, nor was he even able to throw the balls back to the other

boys. For an eleven year old boy, this is humiliating. He was the new kid on the block and was

on the outside looking in. With the help of Benny, an altered wardrobe, and a new baseball cap,

Smalls was able to learn the skills necessary to fit in with the other boys and eventually gain their

approval and create lasting friendships along the way.

The plot of the movie focuses on the boys’ adventurous scheme to retrieve an

autographed Babe Ruth baseball that was hit over the fence of the sandlot ballpark and into the

yard of the Beast, Mr. Mertle’s ferocious watch dog. The signed baseball was taken from

Smalls’ step-father’s trophy room when the boys needed a baseball to play with that afternoon.

The uninformed Smalls took that ball thinking that it was actually signed by a woman named


“Babe Ruth” and not the legendary baseball player. After many failed attempts at trying to get

the ball back, Benny has a vision in sleep of “The Great Bambino” who leaves him with some

wise words of wisdom, “Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.” The next day, Benny

the Jet laced up a new pair of PF Flyers and did the unthinkable. He jumped the large fence into

Mr. Mertle’s yard and made a dash to the signed ball that was completely chewed up and

slobbered on, clearly a devalued piece of memorabilia. Benny grabbed the ball and sprinted out

of the yard and was chased by the Beast throughout the entire neighborhood. The “Great Chase”

came to an end when the gigantic fence that kept the Beast at bay actually collapsed on the poor

dog. Scared out of their minds, Benny and Smalls take the injured dog to the front door of Mr.

Mertle’s house. After telling him what had occurred, Mr. Mertle laughed and asked the two boys

why they did not just come to him in the first place. The movie concluded with Mr. Mertle, who

happened to play professional baseball in his prime, giving Smalls a signed ball of the entire

1927 New York Yankees World Series Champions team, otherwise known as “Murderer’s Row”

in exchange for coming over and talking baseball with him.

Some may argue that The Sandlot is solely a movie about youngsters playing baseball

and doing mischievous deeds that get them in trouble. Although that statement cannot be

debated, the underlying connections between the characters epitomize how important friendship

is to development in children. Each of the boys in the film is between the ages of ten and twelve

and is in the developmental stage of late childhood (Rubin & Coplan, 2011). This stage is

crucial to the social development of the child as it paves their developmental trajectory into

adolescence and later adulthood. Childhood friendships also tend to display the characteristics or

contexts that society has developed. The Sandlot has strong evidence of multiple social contexts

of friendships from gender differences to age-related differences within the types of play that


children engage in. These social contexts are seen throughout the film. The important

psychological benefits that a child gains from friendship are an increased self-esteem (Bishop &

Inderbitzen, 1995), a greater emotional intelligence (Costin & James, 1992), and an enhanced set

of social skills (Eder & Hallinan, 1978).

One of the most profound psychological benefits of having a close friend or several

friendships during childhood is an increased self-esteem. Psychologist Harry Sullivan was one

of the first to theorize that a child who becomes isolated by his peers will experience a negative

self-image or view of themselves. Sullivan’s theory stated that intimate friendships enhance

early adolescent’s self-worth. More positive friendships that involve loyalty, more intimacy,

pro-social behavior, and trust led to higher levels of self-esteem (Bishop & Inderbitzen, 1995).

The friendship between Benny and Smalls is a viable example of this theory. The close bond

that is shared between the two boys keeps Smalls’ self-image intact and it also keeps him from

hiding away in his room all summer long.

It has also been theorized by Psychologist Harry Sullivan that by having a single friend,

this close relationship can actually buffer the child from poor peer acceptance within the rest of

the peer group (Bishop & Inderbitzen, 1995). Again, the friendship between Benny and Smalls

summarizes this theory to perfection. Smalls does not know how to play baseball and his

awkwardness on the sandlot is primed for jokes from the other boys. Smalls is not accepted by

his peer group as a whole, but Benny is the one close friend that he does have and this acts as a

shield to the poor acceptance. This buffering action is the reason why Smalls does not stay

inside of his bedroom and continues to come to the sandlot.

Friendship is just one force acting on the self-esteem of the child. Equally important to

this increase is the idea of peer acceptance. Peer acceptance is simply popularity within a group


of peers; it is being accepted by the members of one’s peer group (Bishop & Inderbitzen, 1995).

Being liked and being popular within one’s peer group does not simply equate to one being

friends with everyone. A friendship is a personal relationship that is shared between two people;

peer acceptance can be a one-way street. There is no reciprocity present when discussing peer

acceptance, whereas that is a key attribute to a friendship.

Within the dimensions of the film, Benny is the best baseball player within the group and

each of the children knows that. At that age, being exceptional at a sport or game is often the

basis for gaining acceptance. This is exactly the case on the sandlot as all of the other boys

idolize Benny and would follow him into battle if it came to that. Smalls, on the other hand, is

new to the neighborhood. When he first arrives in his new neighborhood outside of Los

Angeles, Smalls’ wardrobe is significantly different from the clothes the other boys wear.

Clothing conformity and peer acceptance have been discussed and studied by Betty Smucker and

Anna Creekmore. Their study found that the awareness of and the conformity to wearing similar

clothes as their peers led to higher rates of peer acceptance (Smucker & Creekmore, 1972).

Children, from elementary school through high school, associate themselves with others who

dress similarly to them. This leads to negative peer acceptance rates for those children who dress

differently than the other children. Unfortunately, Smalls’ khaki shorts, short-sleeve button

down shirt, and floppy hat were way outside of the norm for sandlot attire and it took a change in

wardrobe for them to begin to accept him into their group.

More important than the fact that Smalls’ attire made him stood out, his baseball skills

were pitiful. He could not catch a baseball and had an even harder time actually throwing one.

Because of this, the other boys of the sandlot shun Smalls and constantly make fun of him; a

seriously damaging threat to Smalls’ self-esteem. Smalls has no confidence in himself and let’s


this be known as he puts his head down almost in shame after each mistake he makes. Benny

takes the name-calling to heart and calls out the other boys for acting nasty. Benny shows

Smalls the basics of baseball, enough that eventually Smalls makes a masterful catch and gains

the acknowledgement of the gang that he, indeed, is not an “L7-Weeny”. This single event

represents a significant increase in Smalls’ self-esteem.

Another psychological benefit that children receive from being a part of a close

friendship is greater emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence has best been defined by

Salovey and Mayer (1990) as “the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and

emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s own thinking

and actions” (p. 5). Emotional intelligence involves four processes of emotion: perceiving

emotions, using emotions to facilitate thinking, understanding emotions, and regulating one’s

own emotions and the emotions of others. These abilities are vital to the success of a friendship

because emotions can convey information about people’s thoughts and intentions. Emotion

regulation has been crowned the most important of the four in regard to social interactions

because it influences emotional expression and behavior directly (Lopes, 2005). Emotional

regulation can lead to more fulfilling social experiences. For example, a selfish child who

cannot wait his turn would not have fit in well with the boys from The Sandlot. These boys all

value patience and being able to take turns batting and playing different positions in the field.

According to Costin and Jones (1992), having friends increases responses to changes in another

person’s emotional states. One of the key scenes in the film comes when Smalls realizes how

big of a mistake he just made by bringing his step-father’s signed Babe Ruth baseball to the

sandlot to use during the game. Benny the Jet notices the sadness in Smalls’ eyes and is the first

of the boys in the group to offer condolences to Smalls. Benny’s previous friendships with the


other boys of the sandlot have primed him to have an increased ability to recognize changes in

another’s emotional states.

The final psychological effect that friendship during childhood can have on development

is a greater aptitude for social skills. The two previous traits, self-esteem and emotional

intelligence, are vital characteristics to possess throughout development. An enhanced set of

social skills, however, may be the most valued asset to possess once an individual reaches

adulthood. The roots of these enhanced social skills can be traced all the way back to one’s

childhood friendships (Westmyer & Myers, 1996). Communication, cooperation, and problem-

solving strategies are several of the social skills that can be improved upon because of early

childhood friendships.

Communication is one of the most studied facets in relationships, whether it is within a

romantic relationship, familiar relationship, or just within a friendship. It has been noted that

there are eight different communication skills that important within relationships (Westmyer &

Myers, 1996). These eight skills include, “(a) comforting skill (the ability to make the person

feel better when depressed), (b) ego support skill (the ability to help a friend feel good about

her/himself), (c) conflict management skill (the ability to develop mutually satisfying solutions

in conflicts), (d) persuasion skill (the ability to modify another individual's thoughts and

behaviors), (e) referential skill (the ability to convey information clearly), (f) regulative skill (the

ability to help someone who has violated a norm fix the mistake), (g) narrative skill (the ability

to tell stories and jokes), and (h) conversational skill (the ability to initiate, maintain, and

terminate casual conversations)” (Westmyer & Myers, 1996, pg 192). People who described

themselves as “best-friends” with another person valued the affectively-oriented skills more than

the non-affectively oriented ones. The affectively-oriented skills included the comforting skill,


the conflict management skill, the regulative skill, and the ego support skill (Westmyer & Myers,

1996). The friendship between Benny the Jet and Smalls is evidence of the previous theory.

These two would definitely be considered to be a part of a higher order friendship as they are

described as being best friends. Benny possesses all of the affectively-oriented communication

skills and exemplifies them throughout the film when he attempts to cheer Smalls up when he is

sad and when he helps Smalls to become a better baseball player so Smalls’ self-esteem can

grow. The communication skills that develop through childhood friendships is going to be an

important tool to use as the children develop into adolescence and adulthood and begin to look

for success in the careers.

Cooperation is another social skill that becomes enhanced as children grow within their

friendships. The aspect of cooperation is seen throughout the gang’s struggle to retrieve the

Babe Ruth signed baseball primary, in the aerial attack they apply on the Beast. Squints was the

eyes behind the operation; he used binoculars to see through a hole in the fence and spot the

location of the ball and the Beast. “ Ham” Porter was responsible for peddling the bicycle

wheels that sent a tied up “Yeah-Yeah” into the air. Bertram, Nunez, and Benny anchored the

other rope that was tied to “Yeah-Yeah” to balance out the peddling of “Ham”. In the end, the

plan was foiled, but if it were not for all the boys helping out, “Yeah-Yeah” could have easily

been ripped apart by the Beast.

Problem-solving is another crucial social skill that becomes primed during friendships in

childhood. The entire plot revolves around the gang trying to devise a workable plan to rescue

the signed Babe Ruth ball form the Beast’s dog house and mean Mr. Mertle’s backyard. Failed

attempt after failed attempt, the boys go back to the drawing boards to alter their strategy to get

Smalls out of the biggest pickle in his life. This ability to manage and solve problems is vital to


a successful future as an adolescent and adult and its enrichment was made possible through

friendships.

The Sandlot not only depicts the importance of friendship throughout the film, but it also

gives an accurate portrayal of the social contexts of friendship: gender differences and age-

related friendship parameters. There are two gender differences that are present in the film. The

first is what type of activity the friends engage in. It has been noted that boys prefer to engage in

activities with more people involved such as sports or games, whereas girls tend to prefer

activities that involve a more close-knit group of people such as playing house (Eder & Hallinan,

1978). The Sandlot exemplifies this difference as the large group of boys loves to play baseball

and do just about everything together such as going to the local pool. A classic line from the

movie comes from “Ham” Porter when the cross-town rival baseball team shows up at the

sandlot with their fancy uniforms and new bicycles. Porter attacks the leader of the other team,

Phillips, by yelling at him, “You play ball like a girl!” Everyone involved in the argument gets

quiet as that is the worst thing you could tell a boy. This depicts the gender differences between

childhood friendships perfectly.

Another gender difference of childhood friendships is the amount of information that

boys are willing to disclose as compared to girls. Girls are more apt to open up to their friends,

whereas boys tend to let their actions speak more (Eder & Hallinan, 1978). The key scene from

the film that represents this idea occurred after Smalls hit the signed Babe Ruth baseball over the

fence and into the Beast’s territory. Smalls did not grow up idolizing Major League Baseball

players like the other boys of the sandlot did. He was more into model kits and science projects.

This causes him to experience some embarrassment when the other boys begin to question him

as to whom “The Great Bambino” was. To protect his self-image, he tried to act as though he


knew who they were talking about, when in fact, he knew nothing. Smalls did not want to

disclose to the other boys that he did not know who Babe Ruth really was because he feared that

they would make fun of him.

The social context of age-related friendship parameters is accurately portrayed in The

Sandlot. According to Rubin and Coplan (2011), there are three stages of development: early

and middle childhood, late childhood, and early adolescence, which have unique traits about

them within the realm of friendship. Early and middle childhood occurs between the ages of

seven and nine years old. Friends at this stage in development are companions who live nearby.

This is known as the propinquity effect, things that are commonly seen are more pleasurable.

Friends are also characterized as having nice toys and share expectations of play activities. Late

childhood occurs between the ages of ten and eleven years old. Friends at this stage are expected

to stick up for and be loyal to each other. Shared values and rules also become important for

these friendships. Early adolescence begins around age eleven and continues until about thirteen

years of age. Friends who are at this stage in development become friends because they share

similar interests, they make attempts to understand each other, and the children engage in

intimate self-disclosure (p. 316).

The boys in The Sandlot are all between the ages of ten and twelve years old so the

characteristics from late childhood and early adolescence are prevalent in the film. The boys all

share a similar interest, baseball. From sun up to sun down, the boys head to the sandlot to play

baseball with each other. The sandlot is a sanctuary to the children. It is an escape from the real

world where there are no problems, there are no chores. All that is present is strong bonds,

baseball, and the occasional bottle of soda in the scorching summer sun. When the other group of

boys with the nice uniforms and shiny bicycles comes to the sandlot and ruins the tranquility of


the ball field, the gang from the sandlot takes it personally. All of the boys stand up for their

respective group during the name-calling clash as a sign of loyalty to each other. Shared values

and loyalty are the key ingredients to friendships during the late childhood stage of development.

The childhood years are a very important time to develop in many ways especially in

terms of social development. The creation of friendships and the experiences within these peer

groups will set the development trajectory in the right direction for the upcoming years. The

Sandlot epitomizes the importance of friendship during childhood throughout the entire film.

The movie is able to capture several social contexts of friendship and apply them in the plot.

Gender differences are present, as well as several age-related parameters of friendships. The

Sandlot also highlights several significant psychological benefits of having a close friendship

with someone such as an increased self-esteem, greater emotional intelligence, and an improved

set of social skills. And who could forget the wisdom that was passed onto Benny the Jet from

the “Great Bambino” apparition, “Heroes get remembered, but Legends never die.”


References

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Their Relation to Self-Esteem. Journal of Early Adolescence, 15(4), 476-489.

Costin, S. E., & Jones, D. C. (1992). Friendship as a Facilitator of Emotional Responsiveness

and Prosocial Interventions Among Young Children. Developmental Psychology, 28(5),

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Sociological Review, 43(2), 237-250. Retrieved February 10, 2012, from

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