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THE IMPORTANCE OF FRIENDSHIP IN THE SANDLOT 1
The Importance of Friendship in The Sandlot
Patrick Corpora
Penn State University
THE IMPORTANCE OF FRIENDSHIP IN THE SANDLOT 2
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
THE IMPORTANCE OF FRIENDSHIP IN THE SANDLOT 3
“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
THE IMPORTANCE OF FRIENDSHIP IN THE SANDLOT 4
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
THE IMPORTANCE OF FRIENDSHIP IN THE SANDLOT 5
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
THE IMPORTANCE OF FRIENDSHIP IN THE SANDLOT 6
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
THE IMPORTANCE OF FRIENDSHIP IN THE SANDLOT 7
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 IMPORTANCE OF FRIENDSHIP IN THE SANDLOT 8
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
THE IMPORTANCE OF FRIENDSHIP IN THE SANDLOT 9
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
THE IMPORTANCE OF FRIENDSHIP IN THE SANDLOT 10
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 IMPORTANCE OF FRIENDSHIP IN THE SANDLOT 11
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.”
THE IMPORTANCE OF FRIENDSHIP IN THE SANDLOT 12
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),
941-947. Retrieved February 20, 2012, from
http://psycnet.apa.org.ezaccess.libraries.psu.edu/journals/dev/28/5/941.pdf
Eder, D., & Hallinan, M. T. (1978). Sex Differences in Children's Friendships. American
Sociological Review, 43(2), 237-250. Retrieved February 10, 2012, from
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Kheterpal, A. (2008, June 22). Definition of Friendship - A Few Facts. Ezine Articles. Retrieved
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(pp 309-360). New York, NY: Psychology Press.
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THE IMPORTANCE OF FRIENDSHIP IN THE SANDLOT 13
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Retrieved April 28, 2012 from
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Across Friendship Levels. Communication Research Reports, 13(2), 191-197.