‘Sandlot’ cast members return to Ogden for charity baseball game, connect with fans
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- Chauncey Leopardi, left, and Marty York speak at the inaugural Brookey Bakes and Barragan Family Inclusion Ballgame at Monroe Park on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023.
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- Marty York, left, and Chauncey Leopardi walk around the Lorin Farr Pool on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023. The pool was one filming location for “The Sandlot.”
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- Marty York, left, and Chauncey Leopardi sign autographs and take photos with fans throughout the morning at Monroe Park on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023.
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- Team Squints, in blue, and Team Yeah Yeah play in the Brookey Bakes and Barragan Family Inclusion Ballgame at Monroe Park on Saturday, Aug. 5, 2023.
Saturday was a memorable day for many in Ogden as baseball fans celebrated the inclusivity of the sport and one of its iconic movies.
This weekend marked the inaugural Brookey Bakes and Barragan Family Inclusion Ballgame at Monroe Park to help benefit the Utah Parent Center. The game also fell as fans and actors celebrates the 30th anniversary of “The Sandlot,” which was filmed in numerous locations across the Wasatch Front.
Chauncey Leopardi, who played Michael “Squints” Palledorous, and Marty York, who played Alan “Yeah-Yeah” McClennan, were on hand for the festivities.
Organizer Brooke Barragan told the Standard-Examiner last week that the game was inspired by the Unified Sports Initiative from Abby Cox, wife of Gov. Spencer Cox. She added that the game would also serve as a way to make money for the Utah Parent Center.
“The idea is to have kids with disabilities on the same team as typical kids or even kids who play comp level sports. Each of the two teams have kids with needs and typical kids,” Barragan said. “We also happen to love baseball, we also happen to love ‘The Sandlot’ and it happens to be the 30th anniversary. Chris (Barragan) has a lot of strong connections throughout the state, we made a few phone calls and we were able to get Squints and Yeah-Yeah up here for the ballgame and lots of great sponsors.”
‘The Sandlot’
Long before Saturday’s fundraiser was conceived, and before the movie that introduced a generation of young Americans to the legend of Babe Ruth could become a modern classic, “The Sandlot” had to be filmed. Set in the San Fernando Valley in 1962, the film was primarily filmed in Salt Lake City in 1992. However, one iconic scene — where Squints feigns drowning to steal a kiss from lifeguard Wendy Peffercorn, whom he marries after the events of the movie — was filmed at Ogden’s own Lorin Farr Community Pool in Lorin Farr Park.
Prior to the game, organizers invited York and Leopardi to wander about the pool for the first time in three decades. Both York and Leopardi took pictures with game organizers and wandered about the grounds.
“It’s been amazing — such a warm welcoming experience,” Leopardi told the Standard-Examiner of the film’s 30th anniversary. “It’s obviously nice to be back in Salt Lake where we shot the film, but it’s been a great. It just seems like the film picks up steam over time and continues to have new fans.”
He said the film has a unique quality that it stands the test of time with older fans and continues to resonate with first-time viewers.
“It’s stuck in time,” he said. “It’s like a little time capsule to this one summer in 1962. It has that Kodak Chromatic look to it the way the director shot it, and it’s timeless because it’s not current — it’s like something of its own that is just standing by itself and it continues being something that kids can pick up and watch and be interested in.”
But in some ways, “The Sandlot” stood among many. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, sports movies, and baseball movie in particular, were mainstays in the theaters — “The Natural,” “Bull Durham,” “Hoosiers,” “Field of Dreams,” “Rudy,” “Jerry Maguire” and “A League of Their Own,” among others, have found a lasting spot in pop culture.
Leopardi said it comes down to how those films were made, especially compared to the blockbusters of today.
“It was the end of an era in filmmaking where they really focused on storytelling and they took the time to really produce films,” he said. “All of the sets on ‘Sandlot’ were built by hand by craftsmen with real props and real period things out of the studio vault. No green screen or CGI stuff. It’s not the same anymore where they’re just looking for bang for buck. They used to make art, and through art, you could tell stories about baseball or anything else. I think we’ve lost that a little bit in filmmaking.”
The Inclusion Ballgame
Following the trip down memory lane, York and Leopardi made their way with the Inclusion Ballgame’s organizers to Monroe Park for the day’s festivities.
Speaking before the game, Leopardi said the movie, at its heart, was about inclusion.
“I think this movie stood the test of time because it stood for the very good values of taking a kid who wasn’t very good at baseball and him being welcomed in by Benny — the guy that is amazing at it — and kind of showing that everybody is welcome and that everybody is part of the game,” he told an audience of more than 200 people. “All of us as Americans could use that right now and everybody needs to be included in everything. Together as a community, we’re stronger together than we are apart.”
Following a ceremonial first pitch thrown out by Sloan Harbath, Team Yeah Yeah and Team Squints — headed up by Leopardi and York respectively — took the field for the game. Meanwhile, attendees could visit several vendors that included food and health resources from around the region. York and Leopardi also signed autographs and posed for pictures with fans throughout the morning.
“We’re glad to be back in Ogden, Utah,” he said. “It’s very cool to see the pool and see where we filmed the Wendy scene. It’s going to be exciting playing some ball with you guys today.”
Chris Barragan — one of the organizers and — told the Standard-Examiner that he was happy to see how many fans turned out Saturday.
“This turnout is amazing,” he said. “It’s more than we could’ve expected, but at the same time too, it just shows how much Ogden unites as a community, and I’m so grateful to just be a small part of it.”
Brooke Barragan said that she’s hopeful to make the Inclusion Ballgame an annual event — and expressed hope to build an all-inclusive, all-accessible baseball diamond at Lorin Farr Park to host it.
“That’s our dream,” she said.