Latest news with #ALittleSlugger'sGuidetotheUnwrittenRulesofBaseballandLife
Miami Herald
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Miami Herald
‘The Sandlot' star Patrick Renna welcomes third baby with wife Jasmin
Patrick Renna is in 'awe' after welcoming his third child into the world. The 46-year-old actor, best known for his role as Ham Porter in 'The Sandlot' (1993), welcomed his third child, and first baby girl, with his wife, Jasmin, on July 2. The couple are already parents to two sons — Flynn, born in 2017, and Liam, born in 2020. 'After three, I'm even more in awe of my wife and all moms out there,' Renna wrote in an Instagram caption alongside photos of the newborn girl, who they named Lily June Renna. 'Mom is good. Baby is good. Brothers are good. Dad is… how much time you got?' he joked. Lily, which refers to the lily flower, has been a top 100 girls name in the United States every year since 2002 and most recently ranked 24th in 2024, according to the Social Security Administration (SSA). The name peaked in 2011 when it was the 15th most popular girls name in the U.S., per the SSA. Renna and his wife announced that they were expecting a third child in an exclusive interview with People, published Feb. 18. The couple initially thought they were having a boy when they 'mistakenly' looked at Liam's test results from 2020. It wasn't until their doctor called that they learned they were wrong. 'Finding out we're having a baby girl was the best surprise, and my wife, our two boys, and I couldn't be more excited to meet her,' Renna told People at the time. Some of Renna's former 'The Sandlot' castmates congratulated him on the new baby in the comments. 'Congrats on the baby girl!' Marty York, who played third baseman Alan 'Yeah-Yeah' McClennan in the film. 'Congrats !!!' Chauncey Leopardi, who played centerfielder Michael 'Squints' Palledorous, added. Renna, who was the catcher in the film, was best known for his snarky one-liners, such as 'You're killin' me smalls!' and 'You play ball like a giiirrrrrrrrl!' Renna released his first children's book Renna's third baby comes less than four months after he started a new chapter of his life. The 'GLOW' actor released his debut children's book, 'A Little Slugger's Guide to the Unwritten Rules of Baseball and Life,' on Feb. 25 — one week after revealing his wife's third pregnancy. In an interview with People in January, Renna opened up about the inspiration behind the book. 'First of all, for sure having kids — because reading books and finding the right books and the messages and things like that are really important with younger kids,' he said. Renna further clarified that the topic of the book was inspired by his love for baseball. 'It's amazing how similar it is to life and how, if you have a good head on your shoulders or you have a good outlook on sports, that can transfer over into life,' he explained. Despite being hesitant to write a book, Renna told People he's 'really glad' he did it. As for how he would rate himself as a dad, Renna gave himself a modest grade. 'I call myself like a C-plus, B-minus dad,' Renna said with a laugh, per People. 'I'm not the worst, but I got some learning to do — that's for sure.'
USA Today
25-02-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
'Sandlot' star Patrick Renna on new book, why 'Smalls is still killing Ham' 30 years later
'Sandlot' star Patrick Renna on new book, why 'Smalls is still killing Ham' 30 years later Show Caption Hide Caption Patrick Renna on 'The Sandlot' legacy and his new baseball kids book From "The Sandlot" to storytelling, actor Patrick Renna shares why baseball, friendship and nostalgia inspired his first kid's book. USA TODAY More than three decades after 'The Sandlot' swung for the fences, Scotty Smalls (Tom Guiry) is still striking out with Hamilton 'Ham' Porter (Patrick Renna). The actors, who played one continuous game of baseball under the watchful eye of a Mastiff named The Beast in the 1993 movie, have a group chat, with 'a lot of juice in there,' Renna, 45, says. Guiry is 'a big meme-er and it's really obnoxious,' he jokes. 'He doesn't sleep, and you'll get these crazy memes at 2 a.m. He's literally killing me 30 years later. Smalls is still killing Ham.' Renna, unforgettable as the smack-talking catcher who will diss you for mixing 'your Wheaties with your mama's toe jam,' has written a children's book. 'A Little Slugger's Guide to the Unwritten Rules of Baseball and Life' is available now and gives readers 20 life lessons inspired by America's favorite pastime. 'Life is a game, isn't it?' Renna says. 'But baseball, specifically, is the sport I know so well.' Renna grew up playing Little League in Boston, and then booked 'The Sandlot' after his second audition ever. In his 30s, his softball teammates would quote the film mom and tell him to 'get dirty." Today Renna's two children play ball, and he coaches, "so that was a very easy thing to find the kind of corollaries there and (the book) sort of just flowed.' The book opens with a rule picked up on the Salt Lake City set of 'The Sandlot': 'Always be ready.' Renna remembers a time he had to put that into practice while filming. The scene in which Ham swaps barbs with a rival baseball team was originally written for Benny 'The Jet' Rodriguez (Mike Vitar), Renna says. He remembers about an hour before the scene, director David Mickey Evans 'came in my trailer ... threw the script at me dramatically and said, 'This is yours, kid. Get off book. You've got an hour.'' Enter Ham to save the day and eviscerate the other team with words. Renna's comedic performance is the stuff MVPs are made of, Guiry praises. 'I rewatched the movie not too long ago with my daughter,' says the actor who brought the awkward Smalls to life. 'And it was the first time I actually sat back and (saw) Pat's deliveries on a lot of things are just amazing. 'When I read the script, it wasn't funny,' Guiry adds. 'But his delivery was what was funny, and I thought he was just perfect in the role.' So to be legendary, 'it's up to you to always be ready for what the day might bring,' Renna writes. 'And who knows, it just might change the trajectory of your life.' Renna also advises, 'Practice isn't optional' (Rule No. 3), to 'Keep Swinging' (Rule No. 7) and that 'Failure is part of the game (and it's a part of life)' (Rule No. 12). And he emphasizes the importance of, 'Rule No. 18: Give it your all,' while drawing on some enlightening words from Bryan Cranston. 'He said as an actor, when you go into that audition, you give it your all and you put everything you possibly can into that audition,' Renna says. 'And the second that door closes you leave it all behind. Because it's now out of your hands. And being on the other side, and casting as a producer, casting people I've seen that to be true. It really is out of your hands in those moments. But if you give it your all, that's all that matters.'That kind of knowledge? We'll gladly have s'more of that.
