Although a heartwarming tale of friendship via boys playing baseball, The Sandlot is filled with moments of mischief. One of its most notorious occurs when the kids chew tobacco before boarding a spinning carnival ride, leading them to become violently ill. Although the chewing substance used for the scene was, in fact, not tobacco, it ironically still left some of the young actors feeling sick.
About midway through the film, the Sandlot gang makes their way to a carnival by nightfall when Bertram breaks out the Big Chief chewing tobacco in an attempt to up the ante in their fun. After a brief moment of hesitation, the boys all take part before dipping into the Trabant, a Tilt-A-Whirl ride that spins them until they become sick. The scene is uncomfortably unforgettable. The iconic “Tequila” needle drop crescendos in the background, and the kids vomit onto a woman’s shoes. Over the years, the scene has gained slight criticism in depicting young children consuming tobacco, but the product was actually a mixture of two harmless yet oddly contrasting foods.
To achieve the effect of fake tobacco, the filmmakers designed a concoction of licorice and bacon bits for the young actors to chew on. While the salty-sweet combination could be savory for some, it’s certainly an unlikely pairing of foods. The end result actually left some of the kids feeling genuinely sick while on set, helping the comical moment achieve some realness.
The tobacco wasn’t the only element faked during this scene. When the boys twirl and hurl, their vomit was made up of a mix of liquid foods — such as oatmeal, pea soup and baked beans — as a way to mimic the thick and vile texture of throw up. Despite the scene’s disgusting payoff, it’s one of the most memorable moments of The Sandlot.
Over the years, The Sandlot has certainly earned something of a cult following for ’90s babies. It has a nostalgic way of capturing the glory days of playing baseball in the summertime with local neighborhood kids who eat S’mores and share tall tales regarding a terrifying monster dog. The youthful sports comedy also swings a tremendous amount of heart within the playing field of its rich characters — boys who spend most of the film’s runtime casually falling into (mostly) innocent mischief. Even amidst some of the film’s most tender moments, The Sandlot briefly but inevitably taps into the gross-out humor that appeals to the children of its target audience, leaving an unforgettable and long-lasting impression, if at the expense of licorice and bacon.
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