Returning Home After Coming Of Age

This column initially appeared in the September 2019 edition of Gaston Alive! Magazine.


I was told recently by my sister-in-law that you can’t quote a movie if you haven’t seen it. In that moment, my gut reaction was to respond with, “You’re killing me, Smalls”, but I couldn’t. She was right. I had to watch The Sandlot first.

According to Roger Ebert, The Sandlot is the summertime equivalent of A Christmas Story. Even though it was released in 1993, this coming-of-age baseball film was set 30 years earlier based around a group of teenage boys, their summer vacation, and ultimately, their love of the game.

But after all this time, I had never seen it. To be fair, I was 17 years old when it came out. No slight against the movie, but it just wasn’t something I was seeking out or into at that time. It felt too much like a kiddie flick. Like The Mighty Ducks or Free Willy. So, I never bothered.

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