MovieChat Forums > The Sandlot (1993) Discussion > The color barrier wasn't broken until 19...

The color barrier wasn't broken until 1947

posted 9 years ago by Romeycash
9 replies | jump to latest

The movie made it seem like Mr. Mertle was around during the Murderer's Row days, but that was in 1927. Jackie Robinson didn't break the color barrier until 1947. The Murderer's Row lineup was all out of baseball by 1939, so it's no way he was on that team let alone played with Babe Ruth. A kid's movie isn't going to concern itself with racial issues, but that was a flagrant historical inaccuracy. I guess they just really wanted James Earl Jones for the part.

[–] sflowers539 9 years ago

In the early 80's I bet you were the guy in the college science club screaming that Star Wars sucked because there were some scientific inaccuracies........

[–] Romeycash 9 years ago

No, I love Star Wars and I love The Sandlot, and being a kids movie if they want to act like blacks always played in baseball that's fine, but it's just a weird inaccuracy considering a casting change was all that was needed to correct it. I'm just curious what was the motivation behind it. It was obviously done on purpose, so why did they want James Earl Jones in that role so bad?

[–] sflowers539 9 years ago

James Earl Jones is iconic, they probably wanted him in the role and knew that children watching it at the time would not questions it or ever notice the difference unless they grew up to be engaged in baseball enough to learn about that part of the history and pay attention enough to connect all those dots.

[–] modman-2 9 years ago

and were you the kid beating on that kid?
he's just posting something interesting

[–] JohnnyCastle 9 years ago

This movie is about IMAGINATION. It's not about getting all the facts or science right. These posts are unreal.

[–] jeffsodaman 9 years ago

Are you aware that blacks played in the majors before Jackie Robinson? Blacks were allowed to play as far back as the 19th century until a rule was put in place to ban them. Jackie wasn't the first. He was the first to come back, so they call that breaking the color barrier (they don't consider the many before him since there was no barrier until they were banned).

It's been a while since I saw it, so I don't remember the exact line, but did he say he played on the same team or he "knew" those guys? He could have been in any capacity in baseball around that time other than as a player for MLB. There were negro leagues as well. And since his age is never stated, his character could have been old enough to have played in the majors before blacks were banned and might have overlapped with some of the Murderer's Row guys.

Is it a stretch? Sure. However, you should learn the full history of the game before calling this a flagrant inaccuracy.

[–] fairyqueen144 9 years ago

They never said he played in the majors, just that he played baseball with Babe Ruth. I always assumed they played together as teenagers before Ruth went to the majors. Or something like that.

Remember how he never actually finishes his sentence about why he never broke Babe Ruth's record? Scotty interrupts him by saying "but you went blind." It's certainly possible that he meant it was because he couldn't play in the majors and Scotty was just being naive. That was what I always thought and I think my dad said the same thing when he watched it with me.

[–] Dwn123180 9 years ago

The negro leagues played several exhibition games against major league players including all-star games so it's very plausible that Mr. Mertle knew the Babe

[–] ntrivas 8 years ago

You bring up a very good point that even a huge baseball fan like me failed to recognize. I have watched this movie many times and failed to realize the inaccuracy of the color barrier in baseball. I think the movie carries a great message in having an African American child (Denunez) on the sandlot team.
I think the movie is greater than the having James Earl Jones play the part of Mr. Mertle. The fact that once someone steps onto the baseball field color is not seen. The movie makes it evident that people of all backgrounds can play the game of baseball. Black, White, or brown. Nerd or jock, The Sandlot promotes acceptance and diversity.