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"You're killin' me, Smalls!"

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The Sandlot (1993) is one of those classic era-defining coming of age movies, like Stand By Me or The Goonies. While not many of the cast went on to become huge stars, several of them have remained active in film and television, and it's always exciting for nineties kids to spot one of the Sandlot Kids in an episode of X-Files or Boston Legal. Patrick Renna is of course one of the most distinctive. Hamilton "Ham" Porter still has the same curly red hair and distinctive look, making him easy to recognize.

Sandlot And Later Work

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Patrick Renna is reported to have a personal wealth of somewhere in the area of one and a half million dollars. If he's investing in restaurants or car dealerships to earn his money, he's keeping it a secret. It seems that he's earned all of his money through acting. The Sandlot was a solid hit on a relatively modest budget, earning thirty three million on a seven million dollar budget, proving Renna, who stole every scene he was in, a bankable young actor early into his career.

The Sandlot remains the biggest hit of Renna's career, but he's never been hungry for work. After The Sandlot, Renna landed roles in the Pauly Shore movie Son in Law (1993), Beanstalk (1994), The Big Green (1995) and Sometimes They Come Back... Again (1996). He had a memorable role on The X-Files (1998) playing Ronnie Strickland, a young man who thinks he's been turned into a vampire. From there it was on to ER (1999) in the episode "Truth & Consequences" and Judging Amy (2002-03) featuring in two episodes.

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His career didn't slow down into the new century, either. He had three episodes of Boston Legal (2005-07), a part on CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2007) and Bones (2014), and even showed up as a taster on Hell's Kitchen (2017). Proving the lasting appeal of The Sandlot, he even showed up for a reunion game with the original team.

Most recently you probably noticed Patrick Renna on GLOW (2018) playing Cupcake, a super-fan who winds up marrying one of the women wrestlers as part of a wrestling storyline (and to earn her a green card).

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Patrick Renna may have never turned his role in The Sandlot into a career as a bona fide movie star, but he seems to be doing rather well for himself. Some actors might make ten, twenty million dollars for a single movie. Others, like Patrick Renna, simply enjoy the more modest success that comes with staying busy and taking every solid opportunity that comes your way.

Sandlot Reunions And Beyond

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The Sandlot spawned two sequels, The Sandlot 2 (2005) and The Sandlot: Heading Home (2007), both direct-to-video, and neither involving much of the original cast. The Sandlot 2 managed to bring James Earl Jones back to play Mister Mertle and Heading Home saw the return of Chauncey "Squints" Leopardi, but neither had a role for Patrick Renna. At present there is said to be a prequel in development and a possible TV series for streaming service Disney+, but there is no news yet as to whether these projects will reunite the original Sandlot Kids.

It's safe to say that, should they ever decide to get the team back together for a film or a series, fans of the original film will be happy to see Squints, Ham, Smalls and the rest of the gang hitting the lot together one more time. Until then, at least Renna seems to have more than enough work to keep him busy.

"I don’t get as excited to see other actors because it’s what I do, so I’ve seen behind the scenes and I know how it all works. If I met Tom Brady, I mean forget about it. That would be it! Serena Williams would be amazing to meet too. I’m a huge tennis fan."