Hey, everybody, it's Aaron. I wanted to tell you about a live event I'm doing on October 5th at 08:00 p.m. Eastern on Fishbowl. If you don't know what Fishbowl is, it's your go-to app for honest career conversations. And I'll be doing a live Q&A and conversation about how to create podcast magic like we do on this show. I'll have a special guest. And what's great about these is you can listen to them very easily on your phone, and better than that, you can participate.
You can jump on the virtual stage, ask a question, or just say hello. I'd love to hear from you. To RSVP for this, and by the way, it's free. Just download the Fishbowl app. Create a quick profile, go to the top left hand corner of your home screen and it'll say live events. When you click that, you'll see my event on October 5th at 08:00 p.m. called How to Create Podcast Magic, click add to calendar and you're good to go. I'll talk to you then. Here's Cori.
Hey, guys, it's Cori. Today's episode features a seven minute segment from an appearance Aaron made on the Movie Marathoners podcast. Marathoners is a fellow member of the Evergreen Podcast Network, and you can find full episodes of Movie Marathoners on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. We start this episode in the midst of Aaron and Marathoners host Matti reviewing the 90s classic Rookie of the Year, one of Aaron's faves. In fact, Aaron did a seven minute story about the film, episode 71, go listen now if you haven't. Anyways, Matti tells Aaron that movies like Rookie of the Year tend to be comfort films and do very little to make sense of their fairytale plots.
Aaron, of course, takes this a little too seriously and tries to explain the deeper emotional impact of the film. He goes on to talk about Gary Busey, the movie The Sandlot, and Aaron's dream scenario as a professional baseball player. Enjoy.
And I feel like that's a very 90s thing to do. I think nowadays a lot of films kind of bend over backwards to make things at least somewhat make sense. And this film and other films like it sort of just say no, we're just going to do it, and the audience doesn't really have to think about it too much. It's just going to happen. And we're going to stay with these characters, most of which are completely enjoyable and good people and just have fun with the world that we're in.
So I agree that I could imagine that this would be a very nice balm of a film, you know, kind of like a comfort film. Right.
And I'll say one thing and let you go onto the next question. But I hear you it is a wish upon a star kind of deal, however. They're savvy in who they're marketing it to, but what I think they knew and a lot of folks and filmmakers in the 90s knew this, think they knew kids, or at least the mindset of a child that you only need one thing that sort of makes sense to make the world believable. Right. I'm telling stories every week.
So I'm imagining things, even true stories, you're adding an essence to them, right. So there's an element of imagination that you have to have that kids have. And I try to teach my kids you want to keep that into adulthood. So in my mind, dude, like, when that guy fell on his arm, I'm like, you know, tendons could feel weird. I mean, you never know, right?
Sure. Well, yeah.
So the tendons could be so tight. Because they even give the X-ray, they're like, the tendons are so tight that now he's got...
So it was that one little moment fragment in reality. And if you can believe it, if you're watching it. And I'm sure when you're watching it in your 20s, you're like, not a chance. What are you talking about? But when you're eleven, you're like, it could happen. And once you have that belief and possibility, you're in the narrative.
No, I mean, it makes sense. And it's sort of something similar to, like, one of the baseball movies that's sort of my Rookie of the Year, I guess, is The Sandlot. That's one. I think it's, what is it, early 2000s, maybe. Love that film, grew up on it.
90s. 90s.
Oh, it is. Okay.
Yeah.
Okay. And so there's the scene where he's in the outfield for the first time and Benny's just like, all you have to do is stick your arm up and catch the ball. And, like, no way could a kid accurately hit a ball so that it goes straight into the mitt of the kid. But that's one of those things that it makes sense. Yeah. All you have to do is stick it up and the ball will go in it. And it's like, a nice moment. And you're right. A lot of these films have those things where it's like, just enough sense for kids to be like, yeah, that could happen.
It's not likely. But it could. So that's a good point.
Just a quick little Sandlot story for you. The Sandlot was one of my favorite movies, too. And again, it's baseball, it's America. I'm in love with sports movies. But what's interesting about that movie is the guy who played Babe Ruth, who comes to him in the dream, comes to Benny. And he's like, follow your heart, kid. You'll never go wrong. That guy is a guy named Art LaFleur. And Art LaFleur is a famous character actor that you've seen in a lot of movies, including Field of Dreams, another baseball movie.
When I'm in college at University and I joined a film organization, it was like, University film organization. We had a budget to bring in guests, and we ended up inviting and becoming friends with Art LaFleur, Babe Ruth from the freakin' Sandlot. He's the nicest guy in the world. We know him. My friends from University and a lot of my filmmaking friends still know him to this day. And he came to that school. And it was right at that time where he's just a character actor. So if he's walking around Hollywood or wherever, nobody really knows him.
But when he came to that University, he's around kids my age within ten years, your age, mid 20s, mid 30s, that age group all grew up watching him. So I'm walking next to him on the street and he says to me, this was one of the best weekends of my life because for a weekend, I felt like a star and it was the coolest story ever. And I'm going to do a seven minute story about that. So I'll let you know when that comes out. But I'm glad you like The Sandlot.
It's one of the best movies out there.
You know, so you were mentioning that you wanted to play for the Cleveland Indians, right? If this happened to you, do you know what position you would play? Would you want to be pitcher or would there be another position that you somehow got magical powers to excel at? What would it be?
Well, it probably would be center field because I always wanted to be Kenny Lofton. Kenny Lofton was a player for the Cleveland Indians in the 90s, great leadoff hitter in an era where there was a lot of steroids and he seemed like a clean player, never had that sort of body shift you know, from like oh I'm 160 pounds to like now I'm 260 and my head is the size of a boulder. And I don't know for sure. But he played in a tough era where pitchers and a lot of folks were using performance enhancing drugs.
So I admired his work ethic. He was a fantastic base stealer. But he was also a great center fielder. And he and Ken Griffey Jr. were both fantastic center fielders. And so I think I'd want to be a center fielder, jumping, you know stopping the home run from going over the fence. And I think...
Climbing the wall.
Yes. Over the wall.
Yeah, falling over the wall. I think at the end of Rookie of the Year, if I remember this right, it actually ends with this. We're talking spoilers right. So it ends with Henry, I think, running and catching a ball as a cub. But then it flashes forward to him, like saving a home run over the fence. And he's playing with his friends and stuff like that. So I love that idea of jumping around, having agility and stealing home runs for people. So I'd pick centerfielder.
Nice. I'd probably go with third base. That's what I played when I was in Little League when I wasn't playing, you know, outfield, which was sort of just code for, like, put the kids that aren't as good at baseball in the outfield. So when they brought me into the infield. I was like, yes, finally, I feel validated and part of this team, and they put me in third base. And so that was what I would do. I don't know what sort of magical powers would make you good at third base, but that's alright.
Gotta have a strong arm, because when they hit that ball to you, you got to come across your body and make that crazy throw to first base.
Yeah that's true.
That's awesome you played third base. That's a tough spot to play. You must've been pretty good.
Well, no, I was not. But it's fine. I've given up on my goals to be a professional baseball player. I moved on. I'm not salty about it at all.
Clearly, I have not.
7 Minute Stories is created and performed by Aaron Calafato. Audio Production by Ken Wendt. You can connect with Ken or inquire about his audio production services at Media216.com. Original artwork by Pete Whitehead. Find out more about Pete's work at PeteWhitehead.com. Our creative consultant is Anthony Vorndran and Lennon Janovyak is our production assistant. Special thanks to our partners at Evergreen Podcasts and lastly, I'm Cori Birce. Make sure and tune in next week for another story.
