The Red Sox, "Sandlot" edition

Sean Riley, contributing writer

Growing up and to this day one of my favorite sports movies of all time is The Sandlot. It is the 20th anniversary of the great flick and there was a lot of talk today during the Red Sox game about the movie and some of the former actors were at the game. Of course my mind kicked into gear after a while and got me thinking... what current Sox players are comparable to the characters from the Sandlot? The old school squad had a 9 man roster for their Sandlot team, but like any movie there were only a handful of memorable characters that I'll go through now.

The starting catcher for the 1993 Sandlot squad could possibly be my favorite character of the movie, Ham Porter aka the Great Hambino. Hambino was a jovial, fun loving trouble making catcher on the Sandlot who reminds me of David Ortiz. Not only because of his stature, but mainly his character on and off the field. By that comparison you may have realized I am comparing these guys off personality and skills alone not by position because there would be little fun in that. Ortiz and the Ham command respect and attention to all that's around them, plus they're both hilarious.

Next up we'll go to the Sandlot's shortstop position which was held down by Alan McClennan known to most by " yeah yeah". Yeah yeah was a pesky little baller who never stopped hustling and mostly running his mouth. When I think yeah yeah I think Dustin Pedroia. Both of these guys don't have any quit in them and unfortunately for Pedroia their physique is quite similar. On the field, Pedroia and yeah yeah are just a couple of gold glove winning muddy chickens.

Daniel Nava is one of those players in the MLB who just goes out there does his job and you don't hear much else about him. He seems like a quite, shy individual who's out there
hanging with the big dogs. In which case you gotta say he is the Scott Smalls of the Red Sox. Smalls burst onto the scene not knowing anyone and trying to fit in with all the cool kids. However, unlike Nava, Smalls had zero skills on the diamond which is why he ended up becoming a broadcaster later in life.

Michael "Squints" Palladorous. Enough said right there in the name. Squints was a lady killer, shown in the classic pool scene where he pretended to drown to get a wet one from the smoking hot Wendy Peffercorn. For that there will be no comparison to Squints on the Sox unless someone publicly steps up and lays one down on Jenny Dell.

Last but certainly not least, Benny the jet Rodriguez. Benny was by far the most skilled, respected, and feared player of the Sandlot. Thinking of the comparison for the Jet was difficult and honestly couldn't narrow it down to just one player on the Sox. He has the speed of Jacoby Ellsbury, the bat of Mike Napoli, and the heart of Pedroia. That being said you can really only say he's a five tool player with the skill set of the best players of the current Sox club. Anyone thinks they can narrow it down better for me please comment below and let me know, and if you have more comparisons I'd love to hear them.

Comment below or hit me up on twitter to keep this one rolling @PresidenteGuapo