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SALT LAKE CITY — Almost immediately after stepping back onto the titular sandlot filming location, "The Sandlot" cast members Grant Gelt, Shane Obedzinski and Victor DiMattia wandered to the back in search of a tree long since removed.
They called over to Marshall Moore, vice president of marketing and operations for Utah Film Studios and former director of the Utah Film Commission, to ask about what happened to all the various film spots that existed 26 years ago when they filmed the movie.
"It's like we never left," Gelt, who played Bertram Grover Weeks, said.
However, the field is completely different than what they remember.
"Everything felt so much bigger," he later added. "I remember running out there and thinking it was the biggest field I had ever seen."
The cast met with the next group of young sandlot players at the actual sandlot Saturday before an event to celebrate the film’s 25-year anniversary. The cast took photos with young ball players and signed autographs.
The cast also took photos with each other. It has been 25 years since the movie was released and they're now in the 30s and 40s. They have their own families.
Returning to the sandlot is akin to a high school reunion.
If there were any indication what the movie meant for Utahns, it was the long line outside Smith’s Ballpark Friday night as people attempted to claim one of 2,000 Ham bobbleheads.
And those bobbleheads went fast. In fact, when they first announced the promotion, an initial 1,000 bobbleheads were made to be shipped out to fans. Kraig Williams, Salt Lake Bees communication manager, said about half of those were sent across the U.S. to people who just wanted the bobblehead, and who asked the team to donate their ticket.
The Bees recorded 14,149 fans at the ballpark Friday, just shy of a sell-out crowd. The team typically averages 8,000 to 10,000 on a Friday night.
The lines for autographs from the cast members lasted throughout the game and eventually had to be cut off in the late innings.
“It’s incredible," Williams said of the turnout. “It shows how connected the movie is with the state it was filmed in.”
