Scotty Smalls is the main protagonist of the 1993 film, The Sandlot and one of the two unseen overarching protagonists of The Sandlot 2 (the other being Benny Rodriguez). He is portrayed by Tom Guiry as a child, and Arliss Howard as an adult.
Tom Guiry as Scotty Smalls
History[]
In 1962, Scotty moved to San Fernando Valley with his mother and stepfather. Due to Scotty being friendless, partly because he was stereotyped as a nerd, he tried to learn how to play baseball so he could play with the other children in the neighborhood, but his father's attempts to teach him were met with failure and it resulted with Smalls getting injured in the eye. Furthermore, Scotty embarrassed himself in front of the boys who played by the sandlot. But the group's leader Benny Rodriguez took notice of him and taught him how to play, leading him to eventually fall in love with him. The pair began a romantic relationship in Scotty’s first year of college and were still together at time of the game shown at the end of the movie.
The Sandlot[]
The other Sandlot boys eventually accepted and befriended Scotty, although they remained put off by his lack of knowledge of the modern world. The foreshadowing of the climax of the Sandlot all began with the sandlot boys telling Scotty about "The Beast", a guard dog who protected Mertle's Acres, which was neighboring the sandlot's treehouse. They claimed that a child and several other thieves have already been massacred by the dog. For this reason they warned Scotty never to hop the fence. Although unwilling to believe at first, Scotty eventually grows frightened after witnessing "The Beast" grabbing a baseball that had been thrown over the fence. Over the summer, they found themselves getting into quite a lot of trouble; they picked a fight with a rivaling baseball team who they later beat at a baseball game, chewed tobacco before riding on a carnival ride and falling ill, and got kicked out of a local swimming pool. The swimming pool incident involved a dirty trick - intentionally jumping in the deep end without knowing how to swim so that the lifeguard would jump in to save him and put her lips on his lips (for air restoration) - that Squints Palledorous played on the lifeguard. Throughout the summer, they continued to play baseball and Scotty continuously became better at baseball.
Struggle for the Ball[]
One day, when Benny accidentally busted their baseball during a game, Scotty decided to get them a new one to play with. So he stole his stepfather's ball while he was away on buisness. Despite knowing that the ball was signed by Babe Ruth, Scotty was unaware of who he actually was, and brought it to the sandlot. However, during the game, Scotty accidentally hit it over the fence, and fearing his father's wrath, explained the situation to his friends, who were aware of Babe Ruth's identity. Determined to help Scotty, the group devised several plans to retrieve the baseball, but unfortunately, The Beast thwarted every one of them. Losing hope, Scotty was about to give up, however, Benny hopped to fence, took the ball, and made the Beast chase him all around town. After causing a fence to fall on the guard dog, Scotty realized that the stories about the Beast were mere rumors, and he and Benny lifted the fence off him. And Smalls is rewarded with face kisses. The dog then leads the boys to the baseballs he had buried over the years.
Talking to Mr. Mertle[]
Scotty and Benny returned the Beast to Mr. Mertle, and there, they discover that he was acquainted with Babe Ruth, as the old man was a former professional baseball player. However, he was blinded after being hit in the head by a baseball during a game. To compensate for the destroyed Babe Ruth-autographed baseball, he offered Scotty a baseball signed by all the New York Yankees. Scotty gave the ball to his stepfather, and while extremely pleased, he was still quite disappointed about Babe Ruth's ball, and sentenced Scotty to a week of grounding. However, the two gradually began to warm up to each other, to Scotty's delight.
Aftermath[]
Scotty explained that after a few more years with the sandlot boys, they eventually started to move away one by one. They eventually got into different careers; however, Scotty remained close to Benny. While he became a sports announcer, Benny gained fame as an MLB player and was known as Benny "The Jet" Rodriguez. Scotty was last seen reporting at one of Benny's games, complimenting his childhood friend on his team's win while looking at an old picture of the two with the Sandlot boys.
Trivia[]
- For the first half of the movie, Scotty is the initial main protagonist, having intended plans for The Sandlot. However, after he joins forces with Benny, they operate equally, until the second half, where Benny steps out on top as the true main protagonist.
- Smalls is similar to 2 of the seven castaways from Gilligan's Island. He is similar to Gilligan because he's kindhearted and loves to have fun he's also skinny like Gilligan. And he is also similar to Roy Hinkley (aka The Professor) because he enjoys science. He is also smart like The Professor.