The original title was not The Sandlot. It was “The Boys of Summer.”

The big oak tree that holds the treehouse in the Timmons’ backyard is real, but the leaves are not. The production designer got it by chance, for free, from a homeowner who was cutting it down because its roots (the tree was over 100 years old) were ruining the foundation of his house. To ensure the leaves remained green during the entire shooting period, the original leaves were stripped and replaced with more than one million wire-and-satin leaves.

It was brutally hot in Salt Lake City, Utah that summer where the film was shot. It reached 112 degrees in the shade some days, except one. The day they shot the pool scene it was about 54 degrees, and the water was cold as well. That’s why if you look closely you can see Squints’ teeth chattering when he’s ogling Wendy the lifeguard.

There were multiple English Mastiffs that played The Beast. The largest one, the one that licks Scotty’s face at the end of the movie, was one of the largest dogs in the world at the time. Over 200 pounds.

There was a subplot in the original script about Benny trying to keep pace with Maury Wills that summer as Wills was attempting to break the MLB stolen bases record – which he eventually did. That’s the main reason the movie is set in 1962 – the year Maury Wills achieved what some thought impossible.

In the last scene at Dodger Stadium, the real-life Maury Wills plays the third base coach for The Dodgers, and the older Benny the Jet was played by Mike Vitar’s real-life older brother Pablo.

"Hurry up batter. It's going to be a short game and I have to get home before lunch." All of the trash-talking dialogue Ham speaks from behind the plate when the boys play the Little Leaguers was improvised on the day they shot the scene.

"I don't believe it! The Jet stole home! The Jet stole home." Most of the Los Angeles Dodgers team in the last scene were played by crew members in the film.