Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
- Play Forever Project, led by three cast members of 'The Sandlot,' donated $2,500 to support youth baseball in Rose Park.
- The donation aids a working-class community, ensuring baseball's continued presence in Rose Park.
- Rose Park's ballpark was one of many Utah filming locations for the 1993 movie.
SALT LAKE CITY — Rose Park Baseball organizers host an annual backyard screening of "The Sandlot," where parents and young ballplayers alike are elated every time they reach one particular scene in the film.
The lovable misfits travel to another field to face the Tigers, walloping their arch-rivals on the same diamond that the Salt Lake City youth baseball organization plays on today: the ballpark at Rose Park's Riverside Park.
"We all go buck wild when our field appears on the movie screen," said Krista Cook, a board member for the organization that oversees baseball leagues for children 4-15 years old. "You can see some of our sponsors that are still sponsors today — like the signs up on the field. ... That 'Sandlot' excitement is still very much a passion in our kids."
While they're rivals on film, some of the real-life cast are now helping ensure baseball remains a fixture at the park.
The Play Forever Project — a nonprofit led by three of the 1993 movie's cast members — traveled to Utah last week, where they delivered a $2,500 check to the youth organization before a Salt Lake Bees game Friday night.
After treating some of the families to box seats at the game, they also attended the league's opening weekend, returning to one of the many iconic filming locations scattered across the Wasatch Front.
Grant Gelt and Victor Dimattia — or Bertram Grover Weeks and Timmy Timmons in "The Sandlot" — co-founded Play Forever a few years ago as a way to help remove barriers in youth sports, contending that it can help improve physical and mental health, improve social interaction and improve life outcomes. Shane Obedzinski, who plays Tommy 'Repeat' Timmons, agreed to join the board, as well.
The idea originated from the symbiotic relationship to baseball that all three have found through the movie, along with all the "excitement" generated every time they visit the community, Gelt explained to KSL.com.
Thirty-two years after its debut, the movie still resonates heavily in the baseball community, so much so that one of the Bees players was eagerly standing by to greet him as he talked.
Gelt, Dimattia and Obedzinski said baseball elevated them with the game's appreciation of the film, and they wanted to provide the same types of memories depicted in the film for everyone, regardless of income and other challenges.
"We really started thinking about the disparity in sports between the cost of equipment, gender inequity when it comes to scholarships, cost of travel ball, lack of access to safe places to play — there's so many issues that are keeping kids off the field," Gelt said.
All three regularly return to Utah — typically for anniversary events — and have formed a relationship with a former Rose Park Baseball board member, likely through the organization's small tie to the film. Play Forever recently got in touch and said they'd like to donate, too.
Their donation figures to make a big difference, Cook said. She describes Rose Park as a "working class" neighborhood, where money can be tight in some households. It could end up helping the organization cover registration fees for everyone who wants to play or handle all sorts of other rising costs.
Field fees, field maintenance and baseball equipment aren't cheap, and it also costs money to bring in umpires. She said it can help pay for repairs to their snack shack refrigerator, which recently broke down, harming one of their sources of revenue that supports league operations.
"We're completely volunteer-run, so every dollar matters," she told KSL.com. "It's always quite the feat just to have enough money to cover the fees of everything to keep playing, so it was huge. I can't even tell you how over the moon we feel — as a league — that they thought of us."
Many challenges remain. The league, now in its 70th year, has over 150 children enrolled this year, but it has dealt with declining registration numbers, which could also be attributed to other factors like the growth of competitive leagues and interest in other hobbies, on top of cost.
But Rose Park Baseball is thrilled they've found an ally in their former on-screen rivals. It could ensure that baseball is played in the community for-ev-er — and that means a lot to parents like Cook.
"This community really rallies around Rose Park Baseball," she said. "I really think that (youth baseball) is the beating heart of Rose Park."
