Copyright Parade
Key Points Patrick Renna remains instantly recognizable as “Ham” from The Sandlot, attracting public attention. Chauncey Leopardi enjoys less recognition without his signature Squints glasses, likening it to Superman. Cast members stay connected, celebrate fan love, and joke about spinoffs and future podcasts. Even 30 years later, Patrick Renna can’t walk down the street without someone yelling, “Ham!” The actor, who made the quick-witted “Ham” Porter unforgettable in The Sandlot, has become the movie’s most instantly recognizable face. Speaking to People, Chauncey Leopardi, who played Michael “Squints” Palledorous, said, “Pat is so recognizable, people scream at him from cars.” While Leopardi’s character is also well-known, the actor jokes that he can go unnoticed when he’s not wearing his signature glasses. “I can move around pretty easily. For me, it’s like a Superman thing. He takes the glasses off and becomes Superman, I put them on and become Squints,” he quipped. Even today, Leopardi keeps in touch with his other castmates. They once joked about a Sandlot spinoff series, and now, he says a podcast could be next. “We have multiple group chats. They’re funny, they’ll hit you at random times,” Leopardi said. “Also, we’re together a lot — Sandlot is an interesting project because it hits so many things in the culture — we do big national sports signing and we do pop stuff and comic con type things.” Seeing how much fans still love the movie, Leopardi says keeping Squints alive is more fun than a summer of baseball. “At the end of the day, it’s something that has given people genuine joy, so I feel like if that’s my life and that character has to be something I have to keep alive, then that’s a blessing. It makes people happy and offered us all tons of core memories.” Reflecting on the film, he told People, “It’s one summer, set in 1962, that can live forever.” Leopardi’s latest remarks follow his reunion with Renna in a viral TikTok video. In the clip, the two actors lip-sync to a popular sound from dj auxlord, mixing 4 Non Blondes’ 1992 hit “What’s Up” with Nicki Minaj and 2 Chainz’s 2012 track “Beez in the Trap.”
