ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Summertime is baseball season, and along with the professional players in the organized game, children across American can be found playing a pickup game of the favorite pastime this time of year.
For many, the 1993 classic movie, “The Sandlot,” symbolized young Americans’ passion with the game, and for the third time, a piece of the movie is making its way to Liberal.
Actors Victor DiMattia and Shane Obedzinski, who played brothers Tommy and Timmy Timmons in the film favorite, have been to Southwest Kansas once prior to this year, and “The Sandlot” Director David Mickey Evans, who also played a part in the movie, was in Liberal prior to that.
This Friday, DiMattia and Obedzinski will be back at Liberal’s Light Park for a night full of fun, all leading up to a showing of the movie, and the on screen brothers will be joined by Brandon Quintin Adams, who played Kenny DeNunez, and Grant Gelt, known to fans of the movie as Bertram Grover Weeks.
The group of four actors will make their way to Liberal Thursday night before a visit Friday morning with KSCB Radio personality Joe Denoyer. Before the movie starts around sunset Friday night, “The Sandlot” cast members will have a Q&A session with both Denoyer and the audience at Light Park.
Actors likewise will meet with people and sign autographs and photos, all of which Obedzinski called a good time. Looking back on his first visit to Liberal, the actor who played Tommy “Repeat” Timmons said he did not know what to expect to find in Southwest Kansas, but he was pleasantly surprised about his first visit to the Sunflower State.
“It was awesome,” he said. “It’s a nice town with a lot of history. Joe was nice enough to take us around to all the restaurants – the barbecue shop, the Pancake House, some really cool places. We saw ‘The Wizard of Oz’ stuff.”
Obedzinski said he is happy to be coming back to Liberal for Friday’s event entitled “The Sandlot in Liberal For-e-ver,” and his co-stars will be too.
“I’m looking forward to it, and I get to bring some more friends with me this time,” he said. “I know they’re looking forward to it as well.”
Obedzinski said Adams and Gelt will likely have similar experiences to those he and DiMattia had in their initial visit to Southwest Kansas.
“With their first time seeing it, I think they’ll be pleasantly surprised by how much there is in the town and how nice the people are,” he said. “I did not expect there to be so much in such a little town, and the people there have always been very nice. There’s a lot of cool things to do. I think they’ll be very happy and surprised.”
“Sandlot” actors do similar events in other communities across the country, and Obedzinski said there are many things he enjoys about visiting towns everywhere.
“Every time we do events like this, we always meet fans who have a really big connection with the film, whether or not it’s them sharing it with their children or they have a personal memory of when they were younger and they were watching it,” he said. “For me, I always like to meet those people who have a special bond with the film. We can share that together, and that means a lot to me. I can go all around America and meet people who I share this very unique strong bond with.”
Obedzinski said the rest of the cast coming to Liberal Friday feel the same way.
“They always love even in places like Liberal and Canada and all the weird places, there are people who like this film and have a connection with it,” he said. “We always enjoy that very much.”
The popularity of “The Sandlot” remains high even after more than three decades since its release, and Obedzinski said much of this has to do with the people who watch it.
“The movie is good, and people have a connection with it,” he said. “It reminds people of a better time in their life or a better time for America, or it reminds people of simpler times. A lot of people can connect with that, and a lot of people still want those simpler times. They can connect with this because that’s exactly what it is. It’s just friendship and baseball, and there’s not much more American than that.”
Obedzinski said he, DiMattia, Adams and Gelt are all excited to be coming to Liberal
“When we got invited back and we were able to bring some more guys with it, I was very excited to tell them about Liberal, about Joe and all the nice people we get to see and meet,” he said. “I think they could tell how excited I was. That, in turn, made them excited too. I got to go see the Dorothy’s House exhibit last time. I told them we had to go do that. They’re excited for that. They can definitely tell it’s going to be a good event, and they’re excited.”
“The Sandlot in Liberal For-e-ver” kicks off at 7:30 p.m. Friday night in Light Park. Along with the Q&A, there will also be a look-a-like contest and free hot dogs, popcorn and games for kids, as well as free posters and an autograph session with actors and the Liberal Bee Jays.
Platinum sponsors for the event are Liberal Convention and Tourism, Prairie Vista Eye and Optical, French Construction, Keating Tractor, Electric Motor Service, State Farm Aaron Knudsen, Jones Monument, Hornung Funeral Home, Lewis Chevrolet, Seward County Community College, Ekkel Diesel, Best Western Plus, the Seward County Sheriff’s office, FJ Wrapz and Graphics, BrickHouse BBQ & Brew, Pancake House, Southwest Ranch Embroidery, the Liberal Police Department, the Liberal Recreation Department, KSCB/The Legend and Southgate 6 Theaters.
