The Sandlot came out 20 years ago, but the actors who played Squints and Ham in the coming-of-age movie look like they haven’t changed a bit.
Patrick Renna and Chauncey Leopardi, who played the baby-faced Ham and scheming Squints in the 1993 movie about a group of friends, have been making the rounds this summer in celebration of the movie’s anniversary. This week they showed up at a Minnesota Twins game, joining the announcing crew to talk about the movie and its impact.
Renna talked a bit about his favorite lines — including “You’re killing me, smalls” — and Leopardi said his favorite was “L-7 weenie.” For fans of the baseball film, it was a nice reminder of the movie packed with a surprising amount of heart.
Leopardi has not been terribly active in Hollywood in recent years. He was in a number of movies after The Sandlot , including four in 1995 and a stint as the bully Alan White on the coming-of-age television show Freaks and Geeks ., but then moved out of acting.
Patrick Renna has also been largely out of acting since the mid 2000s. He had a busy period in the mid-to-late 1990s, but hasn’t appeared in a movie since 2009. He is set to play himself in the upcoming The Man With The Misshapen Head .
Even if they were to leave acting entirely, Renna and Leopardi would be remembered fondly along with the rest of the cast of The Sandlot . Though moderately popular at the time, the movie grew a strong following in the years since as every generation can connect with at least some part of the story.
David Mickey Evans, the director of the movie and its 2005 sequel, has been traveling around the country as part of The Sandlot reunion. He has held a number of screenings of the movie, including one at Target Field in Minneapolis.
More pictures of The Sandlot reunion between Squints and Ham can be found here .