Congressman Issa Honors 13 Gold Star Families Post Failed Afghanistan Pullout & The Sandlot Cast
01:03:13 Share

The 2022 political field was intense, so don't get left behind in 2024. If you're running for political office, the first thing on your to-do list needs to be securing your name on the web with a yourname.votewebdomain from godaddy.com. Get yours now. Welcome to Breaking Battlegrounds. I'm your host, Chuck Horne, with my co-host, Sam Stone. On this segment, we have Congressman Daryl Issa. He represents California's 48th Congressional District and

which encompasses central and eastern parts of San Diego County and a portion of Riverside County. He is also a senior member on the House Judiciary Committee and House Foreign Affairs Committee. And Congressman Issa, thank you for joining us. Well, Chuck, thanks for having me on.

And congratulations on your ever-expanding listeners. Well, thank you. And it's because of folks like you are willing to come on and talk about important issues. And you have one coming up this Monday. You're holding a congressional forum for folks who want to attend it. It's at 10 a.m. Pacific, Escondido City Hall. And tell us what you're going to be doing there during this congressional forum.

well this is chuck this is the kind of official event that these district work periods are made for you know in 2021 with the disastrous withdrawal from afghanistan uh and 13 of our service members uh killed uh we we sort of you know said okay now turn the page with the administration like say the problem is for these

uh... gold star families the spouses parents children of these uh... servicemen and women you can't just turn a page and they've never really been never been heard they uh... when they went to uh... to dover uh... to claim the bodies uh... even that they managed to uh... the administration managed to sort of screw up and make it haphazard and and so on

So one of the things that we wanted to do in addition to we've had some of the Gold Star families in Washington, many of these individuals

they deployed from what's called the 2-1 here at Camp Pendleton. And so we've arranged to bring them back to the district, flown their families in, put them up, and given them an opportunity not just on Monday to tell their stories, but on Tuesday, thanks to the Marine Corps, they will be transported to the top of this mountain where a Marine...

includes their loved ones. They'll be taken up by Humvees, walk that last few feet, and really have an opportunity to bring at least a little closure to it. And, by the way, have thousands of people that support what their loved ones did and how that sacrifice may have been unnecessary,

mistake, but it was still their sacrifice. So they're going to get a thank you from the people of San Diego and the Marines of Camp Pendleton. I imagine, have you met and talked with most of these 13 families?

I have. We hosted nine groups of families in San Diego and Washington, D.C., but I've spoken to at least one member of each family. So in some cases, it's too soon for them to really want to open up to communicate. But there's usually, in this case always, at least one member who was willing to speak on behalf of the family, you know, years ago. And

I'm Terry, the border patrol agent who was killed based on the fast and furious mistake of the Obama administration. We saw one family member who the family felt comfortable saying, let him speak for all of us. And the same often happens here, but many of them will attend events.

and have that quiet remembrance, see their loved ones honored by their fellow Marines at the memorial and at the ceremony on Tuesday. Now, that's a private ceremony because, again,

They're coming on Monday and it will tell their story and people will have an opportunity to meet with them if they want to. Tuesday, though, is really for the families to understand that the Marine Corps is a close-knit family and their loved ones will be remembered for their sacrifice.

Let me ask you this. This may be a bit of a personal question. How has this affected you? I mean, I imagine this is emotionally draining. It probably gets the blood pressure increasing. Talking to each one of these families and knowing that they sort of died a little bit in vain because of poor execution. How has this affected you?

Well, as a Vietnam veteran serving with, you know, my colleagues who served in Vietnam, Afghanistan, you know, all of us who have served, you know, ask, you know, what was it worth it? The ones we lost in training, the ones we lost later in service. And it is tough because you're

You're constantly reminded that our men and women in uniform have won every war we've been sent to only to have the peace somehow screwed up by those who have PhDs and are supposed to know so much. You know, we won the Iraq conflict. We won the Afghanistan effort. No question at all. And by the way, we won it with the NATO, like we never had before.

Just as we fought North Korea and could have done more, there was a ceasefire and no end to it. We won Vietnam and left government with capability and then allowed it to be taken. So that's what I think the reminder is. And I think it's important for your listeners, many of whom are in San Diego,

Look, we need to continue to thank those who serve, who go in harm's way. And then we need to hold those accountable who squander their efforts. You know, in Iraq today, we have an Iran-friendly, chaotic country, not because we didn't drive Saddam out, but because while we held that country, the same in Afghanistan, the experts couldn't figure out

how to help them form a stable government that could go on. And you notice I didn't say a democracy. Not every place in the world is ready for democracy, but every place we go into, we have an obligation, as the late George Herbert Bush once said and was told, look, if you break it, you own it.

And you have to leave it with the pieces back together. We didn't do that in Afghanistan. And we withdrew at a time when we had the ability to keep it stable. We had the ability to give more time to efforts to make that country able to sustain. Instead, we gave it back to the Taliban, who are the only reason we went in there was

was their control of the government. We didn't have to take over Afghanistan to hunt down Osama bin Laden. We made the decision to drive them out, and 20 years later we invited them in. That's not what we're talking about on Monday. On Monday we're talking about the sacrifice of these individuals, who they were, and how much they loved service in the Marines and the Army on

on which person's talking. And that's important. We're not going to be talking about the mistakes that were made, how 160 other people died in that explosion and fire because they were crammed into an area.

We're not going to be talking about how they should have been in Bagram, which would have been safer. Those are for other times. Those are for the times in Washington where we hold the hearings and try to hold those accountable, many of whom are still in power who made these mistakes. Congressman, I think and I would agree with you, it is really critical to hold those people in power accountable for what happened.

in part because the mistakes they made, it wasn't these service members or their mistake. It was the mistake of the Biden administration, the people pulling out. But the repercussions of that as seen in the actions of Russia, as seen in the actions of China, what they did in that period has made the world less safe for everybody.

You're exactly right, Chuck. That is the challenge that we deal with every day, particularly those who are veterans, is

is how do we get, and I serve on foreign affairs on top of it, we've got to get to where famously, you know, our allies count on us and believe in us and our enemies fear us. Neither one is the case right now. I've been in Munich, I was in Kiev, in Ukraine and so on.

These people, many of them, you know, they're being encouraged to hedge their bets. Even some of our former allies in the Middle East are hedging their bets. That's not good. Even Israel, when I talk to the leaders there, they're very concerned that we don't have their bets.

which we've had since the founding of the State of Israel. And I will tell you, when the speaker made the decision to bring the president of Israel to speak before Congress, he did so as part of what we could do to assure them that we still are strong allies. Because if those allies don't trust us,

and our enemies don't fear us, we will be back in a major conflict, the type that too many men and women have given to not having it. I'm old enough to remember, and you are too, that when Republicans were wholeheartedly against Russian communists,

And I feel there's a segment right now who are opposed to Ukraine because of some affiliation or something to Russia. Is important Ukraine for the United States and for national security and world security?

Chuck, this is one of the things that's frustrating. I call them compromised, and I don't say they're compromised by money. I don't say they're compromised by something that somebody knows about them. And I don't even know if they're compromised by some sort of false information they've been given. But there are a number of people who I respect otherwise, who clearly on the issue of Russia, a few years ago,

a few were on China, but some on China. They somehow hold out this hope that evil isn't what we're looking at, that these, that you can somehow switch it. You can't. And that's what we knew for, by the way, Republicans and Democrats stood united. And,

Kennedy was just as staunchly an anti-communist as Nixon. We need to get back to that resolution that there's good and evil. And once you determine that somebody's evil, don't be debating whether the other side's good enough. Deal with evil. Ukraine isn't perfect, but it's not Russia and it's not the aggressor. Yeah, nobody in the world is perfect, but there are absolutes in the real world. It is absolutely a fact that Russia and China are

Great power opposites to us. They are our competitors on the world stage. And if they take over, that leads to a much more dangerous world and a much, much less stable world for everybody. And I think there are far too many members who continue to discount that.

That fact, Chuck, that that we just have to start looking once again at the moment we are in a great power conflict and there is good and evil. Congressman, Sam and I have told other guests we've had, you can say Ukraine has corruption problems, but also we can't allow Russia just go take a country. They're not mutually exclusive.

Oh, you're absolutely right. And I would tell everyone Taiwan had corruption problems, South Korea had corruption problems, but

But we worked them through that, and today they are sustainable democracies. So the transition can take a long time, but if Russia invades and takes them over, just like the 60 years before, there won't be a transition to an effective democracy. With Congressman Darrell Issa, he'll be right back with us for our next break. This is Breaking Battlegrounds with Chuck Warren and Sam Stone. We'll be right back.

At Overstock, we know home is a pretty important place, and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms, Overstock has everyday free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful, high-quality furniture and decor you need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock, making dream homes come true.

Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds. I'm your host, Chuck Warren, and Sam Stone. Today we have with us Daryl Issa. But folks, Sam's going to make a little point here for you. Look, folks, you've been hearing us talk about YRefi for a while now. This is a fantastic opportunity. If you haven't gone on their website, you need to. Go check them out. InvestYRefi.com. There just aren't many places out there where you can earn up to a 10.25% fixed rate of return. 10.25% fixed.

rate of return. The stock market goes up, the stock market goes down. Your returns stay steady. You keep making money. Check them out at investyrefine.com. That's invest, the letter Y, then refy.com. Or give them a ring at 888-Y-REFINE24 and tell them Chuck and Sam sent you.

Congressman, so the Supreme Court did the United States a really huge civics lesson favor in that they rejected Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness program for one simple reason. That is something Congress has to vote on.

What do you see needs to happen to Congress start taking their appropriate role again on budgeting, on foreign policy, on things of this nature? It seems like we truly are, to use the catchphrase, swamp running D.C. It's just a bunch of bureaucrats. You guys pass a bill. They put the details in. They run it. They rule on it. What can we do to get that power back to Congress as it was intended to?

Well, that's a great question, and it's one that the speaker began when he literally clawed back $29 billion of funds that were already spent that were basically being used as walking around money for the administration. And he used the debt ceiling as a basis for it. But that's just a very small down payment. You know,

Living in Washington, I've been having the honor of being able to lead people up to the top of the dome of the Capitol. When you look out from the dome, what you see is you're from the Capitol. You see six buildings total that belong to the House of Representatives and Senate for their offices, and there were two more annexes. That's all the buildings of our entire branch.

What you don't see is you don't see another building for miles as in part of the executive branch, cabinet position after cabinet position. And, of course, you know, what you see at the EPA pales in comparison to the field offices or all these other large bureaucracies. Congress has the ability to determine that.

who it hires to do determination of its rights and responsibilities. And the reality is Congress needs to be more responsible, needs to cede less in each law. And many of our laws require reauthorization. One of them actually is called FISA. It's spying on people for

presumably outside the U.S., but as we've found, they used it to spy on President Trump and others. We have the ability to take a lot of that authority. We have the ability to give some of it to courts, but we certainly need to do that. On foreign policy, believe it or not, people have forgotten this. Every trade agreement is the absolute right of the House of Representatives. We pass a law every so many years, you know, that gives a right to

to the administration to negotiate and then come back to us with an up or down. And of course, sometimes like Obama, they negotiate something they know that Congress will never pass. And then they act like they were pro-train and we weren't. That's ridiculous. We can and should, for example, have

Members of the House of Representatives or people that we hire, those trade negotiations want a seat at the table. Constitution says we can do it. If we simply hold the Constitution and return to original principles, including how we allocate money to the executive branch, we can absolutely take it back. But it's going to take every member of Congress understanding that ceding power to the other branch is

is lazy and unfortunately it's led to the kind of control that Democrats seem to like and Republicans to a person go home and tell their constituents is wrong. So that's a long-winded way to say it. The way we take it back is we begin taking it back every day with every bill we've had. Congressman, this is Sam. One of the things, my background was in part working with the city of Phoenix,

And in talking to friends that I have who work in federal bureaucracies, federal agencies, primarily outside of D.C., one of the issues that I think is across the board in government now is they are just massively overstaffed on the bureaucratic side.

20 to 30 percent of the people do 80 to 90 percent of the work. The others are frankly a drag on their morale. But the the overarch, the problem coming out of it is that when you have that many bureaucrats, they can really only justify their jobs by continuing to pass more and more regulation, more and more expand the reach of their departments and their government agencies and

And so much of the problems in this country I think now stems from the fact that our government, we can spend huge amounts of money, $2.2 trillion on infrastructure, and the signature outcome of it is a handful of pedestrian bridges to nowhere, that we're not getting the bang for our buck because of that over-bureaucratization.

Well, you're exactly right. And one of the best examples is, you know, if you try to get a visa or a passport right now, you're going to get a passport renewed. And unless you go to your congressman, you're going to wait months. Now, you sort of look and say, well, why is this? Is it because they can't get enough people or they don't have enough money? Not at all. It's because they got used to, basically, they call it teleworking. I call it networking.

Congress has the ability to hold them accountable, and we need to. Right now, one of the things that Foreign Affairs is looking at is literally privatizing to a

contractor, most of that work with a recognition that we're going to pay X amount. It has to be delivered in a certain amount of time or they don't get anything. You can't do that very effectively with the in-house bureaucracy. You can do it when you force them to have a lesser amount of government worker and a greater amount of people who you can hold accountable. And by the way,

you can fire them if they don't meet the target objective. So a lot of that has to be done that way. The headcount, I'll give you an example. The Pentagon today has more employees for basically one million soldiers, sailors, and Marines

than they had when we had 11 million spread all throughout the world. And remember, back then, we were doing everything by paper with typewriters and carbon copy. The fact is that our overhead has become so bloated that, for example, in the Pentagon, holding someone accountable is almost impossible because there are so many people with so many titles. Needs to change? No.

Again, when Congress authorizes money, we have the ability to authorize how many generals and how many colonels and, by the way, how many DOD civilians. And I've challenged the Armed Services Committee to do just that, to reduce. And Ken Calvert, who's a California congressman, has asked.

has actually begun the process of reducing the total number of DOD civilians and telling them that we know they can live with less and we expect them to do so. Well, please keep pushing that. Congressman, we have about 30 seconds left here with our time with you. We appreciate you coming on today with Congressman Darrell Issa, California 48th District. You're on the Foreign...

The House Foreign Affairs Committee, what is the one or two things that keep you up at night with 30 seconds left on that? What keeps me up at night are three things. The cozy relationship this administration seems to want to have with Iran. The unwillingness to actually call China and Russia for what they are on an everyday basis. President Biden called Xi a dictator and then he backpedaled from it.

He should never have backpedaled from it. Ronald Reagan called Russia a Soviet Union or an evil empire, and it stuck, and it made a difference. We need to get back to those three. Above all other countries, those three countries being called for what they are. Thank you. Congressman Daryl Issa, thank you for joining us. We hope to have you on again soon. Folks, this is Breaking Battlegrounds. We'll be back. Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone.

Well, as baseball geeks, as family movie fanatics, we're really excited for this next interview. Uh,

I remember this film from a long time ago, Chuck, and I really enjoyed it. Rewatched it last night, and I thought it aged better than I could have ever imagined. We are incredibly honored to have the cast of The Sandlot here to celebrate their 30th anniversary today. We have Chauncey Leopardi, Squints, known as Squints, Marty York, who played Alan Yaya McLennan. And guys, thank you so much for joining us today. We really love having you on the program.

You know what I thought about the film last night re-watching it? It was an homage to a lost era in American childhood in many ways. You know, the last free kids in America. Well, you used to go play baseball every day. Yeah, all day, every day. So you both were young child actors. Did you play baseball like this? Did you have a bunch of friends you'd gather with and play baseball every day in the park? No.

I think you guys nailed it with the homage to like a lost childhood. Cause, uh, I definitely feel like today's generation and even, you know, the generation before kind of lost that out all day until the, you know, the streetlights came on type of vibe. But yeah, we, we both were athletic, I would say. And, uh, we didn't play organized sports. We were Sandlot kids ourselves. So, yeah, I mean, we, uh, we learned a lot before we went to the field. So we, uh, we actually became very good at playing, uh,

In Los Angeles before we came to Utah. And our coach, our baseball coach, was actually Squint's grandpa during the Squint scene where he talks about in the treehouse. Police chief, Squigman Paladors. Yes. Yeah, he's the actor in Kappa.

Uh, he's a Giants fan, but we won't hold that against him. But, uh, he actually was our baseball coach. Here in Arizona, we do hold that against him. Also. Yeah. We do too. Silently in Los Angeles. But, you know, he's, he's fond of heart. Do you, do you get tired? I know you're doing a 30th anniversary and, you know, this film has become very special for a lot of people. Um, do you, do you,

Do you look back on it with fond memories or just something like this is just in the past and I'm in new chapters in life now? No, I mean, you see the joy that it brings people and that it's it's continued over, you know, three, four generations now of like, you know, parents passing it down to their children. And you see the moments that they've shared and the the genuine happiness that the film brings and the fact that kids will still watch it to this day, which is, you know,

super odd and doesn't happen very often anymore so we we enjoy it we embrace it and and take on the roles that we've been given and i guess we're here to carry the torch for you know for the sandlot kids everywhere no i mean it's still surprising that i've swung yeah you know we go to these sporting events and these like professional athletes are like we love your movie or you guys are the reason we play baseball or you know it's uh it's still you know

It's like year after year, it just gets bigger and bigger, which is really cool. I asked a bunch of parents if they had shown it to their kids, you know, with young kids right now and universally they had like, well, it's a movie. It's a movie. You can actually watch your kids to generational. So Chauncey and Marty, do you both do you both have kids? Do you have nephews, nieces?

I have a bunch of kids. Marty doesn't have any kids. Not that I know of. So have you made – but so – Marty, we'll leave that for another episode one day. We've got 15 minutes to come up in the second segment here, Chuck. I don't know. Chauncey, have your kids all watched the show?

So, you know, my oldest is 21, so she's seen it previously, but I have a five and a seven year old that I just started showing it to them. And like I caught my son who's five watching it the other day, just like it might be the first like live action movie that he's actually sat through. So it's still holds strong, you know, he's still like they're excited. They're with us. They came here to Utah with us and yeah.

They're going to be at the Sandlot, so they're so excited to be in the Sandlot movie because that's what they think is going on. Oh, that's fantastic. Chauncey, I want to make a correction, though. I split time between Arizona and Utah. When you said a bunch of kids in Utah, we're thinking that's five, six, seven kids. So just realize three kids in Utah is not a lot of kids.

I have four, but yeah, I'm working on it. I'll get there. You get there. You got to get there and be part of it. Are you both baseball fans? It's four of a lot in LA. Are you both? Yeah, we're baseball fans. Are you baseball fans? So were you baseball fans before the movie? Yeah, I mean, I was in a basketball phase when we did Sandlot. It was the Michael Jordan era. So, you know, basketball was king at the moment. But I think over time, the game has grown on us because we've become such a part of it. And, you know, it's a great thing.

Yeah. Oh, and this is Victor DiMatteo, by the way. I played Timmy Timmons. Y'all didn't introduce me, but I'm here. Hi, Victor. How are you? I'm good, man. Good. Hey, Victor, we want to hear you. We're going to take a quick break. This is Breaking Battlegrounds. You know, I'm leaving then. Never mind. We're going to come back with a very bitter Victor. We'll be right back. This is Breaking Battlegrounds. We're with the cast of Sandlots with Marty, Victor, and Chauncey. We'll be right back.

At Overstock, we know home is a pretty important place, and that's why we believe everyone deserves a home that makes them happy. Whether you're furnishing a new house or apartment or simply looking to update and refresh a few rooms, Overstock has everyday free shipping and amazing deals on the beautiful, high-quality furniture and decor you need to transform any home into the home of your dreams. Overstock, making dream homes come true.

Welcome back to Breaking Battlegrounds with your host, Chuck Warren. I'm Sam Stone. Folks, are you looking for an opportunity to earn a tremendous rate of return that's not tied to the stock market? The stock market can go up. The stock market can go down. You can still earn up to a 10.25% fixed rate of return. That's right, 10.25% fixed. Just give our friends at InvestYRefi a call. You can call them at 888-YRefi24 or just go online, investyrefi24.com.

the letter Y, then refy.com and let them know Chuck and Sam sent you. Okay, continuing on with the cast of The Sandlot. We are very excited to have them in studio. I was really stunned, Chuck, re-watching that movie and how well it has held up over all these years. And so the opportunity to talk about it, we have Chauncey Leopardi, Marty York, Victor DiMatteo online with us today.

Guys, I was stunned at how well like even the really kind of goofy effects about the beast kind of held up just because they they sort of still seemed like kids overblown fears and the rest of it looks like it could have been made yesterday.

Yeah, it's really cool. I think it's kind of lost in time because of the way that David shot it. David McEvans is the writer-director, and he had Tony Richman, the DP, he handed him Kodak chromatic film, and he said, I want the film to look like this. And if anybody remembers Kodak chromatic film, it has that...

that weird like pop art type of vibe to it and so it's kind of like this lost summer that's just you know it's like a time capsule and it doesn't really age and it just is you know a piece of Americana it connects it beautifully I think the fact that it's set in the 60s it came out in the 90s but set in the 60s kind of also sets it

Victor, Marty, Chauncey, you all seem like you have a good relationship. I'm sure a lot of movie, a lot of movie casts can't say that. Have you all stayed close over the years?

Yeah, we got a great group chat. It's been cracking lately, actually. I've been putting some really good memes in there. Yeah, it's mostly just Chauncey and Marty making fun of each other, but it's entertaining. Pretty much. Tell our audience, what was it like filming? Okay, so you're young men. How long did it take? How long were you out there? I know filming at times, too, can be quite boring at times because it's a hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait. What was it like being...

young men, boys, teenagers, filming something like this. Victor, we'll start with you. It was a long shoot. I mean, it was like almost three months, which like these days you don't do that anymore, really. Things move a lot faster, but they really took their time. We've had a lot of days since Lake City filming this movie.

Yeah. One of the things I mean, in watching it, it looked like you guys were having a ton of fun throughout it. I mean, it's hard, I think, for kids sometimes that to hide their their personal experience on film other than the pool scene, which I guess apparently was was freezing cold that day. But you guys looked like you were having a ton of fun throughout that movie.

It was a blast. I mean, we got to play ball all day. You know, you got nine kids running around, you know, with their set parents or, you know, we had our parents come to set. It was a really cool experience. And it was a laugh.

It felt like the last of a real film production where all those sets were really built. They were all hard sets. You had real props. Nothing was CGI. Everything was really done. So you really had that awe of this is a cool period sports movie with kids and a dog. And it was a lot going on. It was a really good time. We all did our own stuff too, which was really cool. We all did it.

Big stunt. This is Marty. I'm actually going over the fence in the harness. I actually really did that. Did you really? Yeah, I was about 25, 30 feet in the air and just literally held on by a fiberglass harness. And the crew was pulling me with these like metal wires. So it was I mean, it was dangerous. It was definitely an OSHA violation. How long did it take to film that scene? How long were you in that harness?

I think we did two hours, three hours of filming.

Marty had to perfect his... Right? Yeah. That was all improvised, too. We improvised a lot of the stuff on set, too. Also, if you watch it, when we pull him up, Marty pushes off of the railing of the treehouse because he would have cracked his head open. So you definitely can't do that kind of stuff anymore with child labor. No, you cannot at all. I have a question I want to ask all three of you individually, and I'll start with Victor, then Marty, then Chauncey.

How did you get the role?

Did you have to go through a bunch of auditions? Victor, I want to start with you, then we'll go to Marty and Chauncey. How did you get the role? It was a really long casting process. I had done a bunch of stuff before Sandlot, and it was like, you go out and maybe have a callback or two, but this was like, they kept bringing us back over and over, and then they would pair us up with different kids and kind of see how we interacted together. They brought us out onto a field and had us play baseball and stuff, so it was like

Definitely a much longer process than other stuff that I had done. I have to ask, because I had totally forgotten when I got to the end of the movie last night that James Earl Jones was in it. Did you all get that? I mean, because obviously that's post-Star Wars, post-Darth Vader. Were you guys A, Star Wars fans, and B, what was that like? Did you get to interact with him, and what was he like?

Yeah, this is Marty. Actually, I did get a chance to interact with him. My mom said, I'm actually going to take you to meet Darth Vader. She took me to his trailer and she said, she said, yeah, that's he was like eating breakfast or something. And she's like, that's Darth Vader. And I asked him that. And he goes, I said, are you Darth Vader? And he goes, I am your father. And the James Earl Jones, you know, Darth Vader voice. And it was amazing. I want to go back to these auditions. Chauncey, how did you get your role?

Um, originally I was reading for another part, actually. I think I was reading for Yeah Yeah when I went in. And like Vic said, it was a pretty rigorous. I think I went back on like four or five callbacks. And then we did like a lot of like, I guess it's kind of like screen testing. But we went to this place in LA called the Sportsman's Lodge. It's where a lot of the kids from out of town were staying. And we would like run lines on film or tape.

Like for two, three hours in the morning as they pulled in kids and mixed and matched and did their thing. And then we would go play baseball in the afternoon with our baseball coach and see if the kids could actually look like they could play. So yeah,

It was probably the most strenuous casting process I had ever done. I mean, sometimes you go in, you don't hear anything, and then you book a job. Or sometimes you read a couple times and maybe screen test. But this was like a month and a half long process probably of like, you know, continuous, you know, rigorous auditioning and baseball training. You know, and I think...

Obviously, they did what they had to do and the film held up. So I guess it was a good process for them. The baseball training worked. It looked good. Yeah, it looked legitimate because they obviously can play. So how many of the kids that you saw during... Some of these guys were rough. Yeah, well, that's my question. During auditions, what percentage of people during auditions really cannot play baseball at all?

Like 90% of them probably. Really? The theater kid crowd does not cross over entirely with the baseball kid crowd. The thing is, actors, they tell you, you had a list of experiences when you would go to a casting call, and of course your mom or whatever would be like, yeah, you can do all of it. Just if they ask, just tell them you can do that too. Ride a horse? Sure, we'll figure it out later.

I think that's what all parents' advice is when you have a job opportunity. Just say you can do everything. We'll figure it out later, right? Exactly. Hope is not a battle plan, but sometimes it is in the world. When you got done with the film, were you just of the mindset like, all right, I'm ready for the next job? Or did you realize what a wonderful experience this was and...

I mean, how—and we'll start with you, Chauncey, then Marty, then Victor. How did—when it got done, what were your feelings with it? Just, it's done, I'm worn out, it was three months in Salt Lake, I'm ready to get back to other things in life, try new things. I mean, what went through your mind? I was late to start junior high. Ah. I went right back into school. Did everybody know you were an actor in junior high? I mean, I was starting a new school because I was just going into sixth grade, so—

I think it was a little funny. I met one of my best friends. We're still friends to this day because we were the only two kids in the back of gym class with no gym clothes on. And we were just sitting there next to each other because we were both... He was moving from somewhere else, from San Diego up to L.A., and I just had come back from doing this film. So we were both late to school and had no gym clothes, and that kind of set the tone for...

our friendship kind of, you know, which is pretty cool. Yeah, it was cool. And when the film came out, it's interesting. It was a different time. So, you know, nowadays I think that like, there's a lot more social media presence, especially for young actor kids and they have, you know, a more demanding promotional schedule. We did go on a promo tour, but outside of that, you kind of lived a normal life, even if you were, you know,

a quote-unquote celebrity at the time. I mean, they had like teeny bopper magazines, but there wasn't nobody chasing you around or paparazzi or that type of deal. So, you know, you came in and you did movies and you went home and you had a normal, you know, teenage life. Marty, how about you? Yeah, I mean, it was, you know, after the movie, I...

Yes, auditioning for stuff. I think that's what I did. Boy Meets World. And it was, you know, going to my school experience was like very strange because I was like the only actor there. And and the the jocks didn't like that for some reason. So it was an interesting experience for me. But I mean, I kept acting and doing stuff. And yeah.

And Victor, how about you? Yeah. I mean, you know, like Chauncey was saying, you know, right after that, I went back to school and it was a little bit late getting back in there. But I went to school in the San Fernando Valley in California. So like there was other kids in my class that were actors and,

I think all of them were trying to be actors and going out on auditions and stuff. So, I mean, it wasn't really all that, all that weird, but we, we stayed in touch, you know, after the movie and we went and hung out, we actually, I remember Brandon who played to Nunez was in the mighty ducks that had filmed just before the Sandlot. So right after the movie wrapped ducks came out shortly after that. And I remember,

So a few of us that lived in L.A. all went to the theater to go watch that together and go see Brandon and Mighty Ducks. So that was pretty cool. That's awesome. Is there is there one scene that you guys had the most fun filming that that was like just a blast that day?

I really liked playing the baseball against the other team was fun. We played a lot that day. It was pretty cool. I thought you were the bullseye. I mean, not that everybody, I mean, I guess not everybody had the same experience. I think for us as a group, like, I liked the stuff when we were actually getting to play ball. I know that as we were shooting the film, we were shooting a movie, but we were always trying to just like hit dingers and like hang out together and have that kind of thing, you know, so.

Yeah. What I loved about that scene, it's sort of as a baseball fan, it portended in many ways the future of baseball where it moved from the sandlots of the country to the organized teams. And personally, Chuck, I don't think that's helped the game. No, I think they built stronger players when it's that opening of it, when they talk about they just never stop playing.

No, no. Well, we see the kids in DR with the, with the, the milk, the milk box gloves just coming in and crushing the league. So I guess you're right, right? Yeah. Yeah. Guys, we're going to go, we're ending this segment. One of you can stay with us just for 10 minutes more to go into our podcast portion, which talk a little bit more with you. If,

Can you all three do that? Do you have time for 10 more minutes? Yeah, we're good. Okay, good. Yeah, we're in a green room here. By the way, I saw that you're there at the hockey stadium. Marty, I understand you were born in Auburn. I graduated high school in Auburn in 83, and you were born in 80. Oh, get out of here. Auburn, California. Yeah, Placer High School. Go Mighty Hillman. Oh, awesome, man. Yeah, I haven't been down there since I was like 10. It's changed. I heard Grass Valley has grown. Grass Valley is actually, that's where I lived. Ah.

Born in Auburn, but live in Grass Valley. Fantastic. This is Breaking Battlegrounds with the cast of Sandlot. Please join us for our podcast portion with Marty, Chauncey, and Victor, and we'll talk a little bit more about the 30th anniversary and how this film's influenced baseball and kids and families. This is Breaking Battlegrounds. You can find us at BreakingBattlegrounds.vote or wherever you find your podcasts. This is Chuck and Sam. We'll be right back.

The 2022 political field was intense, so don't get left behind in 2024. If you're running for political office, the first thing on your to-do list needs to be securing your name on the web. With a yourname.votewebdomain from godaddy.com. Get yours now.

Welcome back to the podcast-only portion of Breaking Battlegrounds with your hosts Chuck Warren and Sam Stone. Continuing on the line with us, and thank you guys so much for doing so, we have key members from the cast of The Sandlot. Chauncey Leopardi, Marty York, Victor DiMatteo, thank you so much for joining us today. We really appreciate having you on the program, kind of reliving a little slice of my childhood, if you will. Yeah.

And, guys, I just got to thank you re-watching that. I really enjoyed it again last night. That's a blast. It's such a fun film, Chuck. It really is. So what do you plan? Tell us a little bit what's going to go on this weekend for the 30th anniversary. So tonight we're going to be at the Salt Lake Bees game, hanging out there with the fans and the team. And then tomorrow, on the lot, we're going to be playing

I think we'll be doing a VIP session early and then we're going to do a public signing for all the ticket holders. And then they're going to show the film after we do a big Q&A for everybody. And yeah, that's kind of the gist of things, you know, out on the lot, celebrating 30 years.

And the bees are a ton of fun. Will the bees be there? Oh, the bees. Yeah, the bees are great. Yeah, that's a good time. We haven't been back for about five years. Yeah, we were there for the 20th anniversary, the 25th, and now the 30th. Yeah, they always take good care of us there. That's fantastic. So being child actors, which I think would be very difficult, is it something you would recommend for kids to pursue if they really want to pursue it?

Now that you have 30 years to reflect on these things? If they really want to pursue it, yes. It's not something that I would necessarily...

throw my kids into unwillingly but uh it's kind of a different ball game now as far as like social media and everything and like youtube and yeah the way that auditions are done nowadays is they're like self-tapes whereas like when we were kids our parents would take us to auditions and you know they'd be shuttling us around all over los angeles and nowadays it's like a bunch of thumbnails on a computer screen and you know these casting directors have to choose like that

So, I mean, I definitely think nowadays it might be like, you know, real tougher, but it's easier on the parents nowadays than it was back in our day. I feel like it can be a lot of pressure. Yeah. I have kids, so I feel like I would say that, you know, there was times that I wanted to be a kid and I had a job. You know, it's hard to tell a 10-year-old that wants to go hang out with his friends that,

He's got to go hold down the family. So, you know, I feel like if it's something, you know, but I don't want my kids necessarily and force them into that life either.

I guess to each their own. Yeah, the social media element has to be really, really tough because it's tough enough to be a kid in a social media world, much less a famous kid in a social media world. As parents, that's got to be tricky. Yeah, a lot of it is like that's kind of the focal point of this field now too. I mean the whole business is kind of ran off of social. So if you don't have a social presence, especially for younger people, then –

they don't really have a place you know what i mean so it's more driven around that do you have a following not like are you in a theater or like can you handle the social game and can you go viral on tick tock and and can we see you more or less you know yeah right right so let me ask you each this question we'll start with you chauncey who played squits on sandlot who has been your favorite athlete you've met my favorite athlete we've met yeah you've actually met

Wade Boggs? Yeah, Wade Boggs. Yeah, man. I've met a lot of athletes, and they're all great. But Wade is a... He's special. We played a softball game with him at the Field of Dreams. Oh, wow. And Wade took us out drinking afterwards and did karaoke with us. Me and Wade did a duet. And at the end, he grabbed me and he whispered in my ear. He sang back up for me. We were singing Leonard Skinner. And at the end of the song,

He whispered in my ear and he said, that was fucking beautiful, brother. And you can quote that on podcasts. That's amazing. And see, Chauncey, that should be on social media right there. Okay. As a Boston kid born and raised, now I'm super jealous. I'm super jealous. Marty, how about you? Yeah, no, he's...

Go ahead. I'm going to have to go with Wade, too. Wade's just – I think we'd all probably go with Wade. Wade's made an impression on us. He's the funniest guy to be around. It's funny because we just saw him at the Baseball Hall of Fame. And the moment we walked in, he goes, the Little Leaguers. He goes, the Little Leaguers are here. He calls us the Little Leaguers, not the Sandlot. As you're all mending your 40s now, that's fantastic. Man, I'm sad I missed that. You guys have seen him? He had his cooler of beer right there, too. He always has his cooler of beer.

Oh, that's amazing. Yeah, we saw him in Cooperstown two weeks ago, and then I saw him again last weekend in Chicago. And as soon as he saw me, he goes, how did I get so lucky? I got two weeks in a row seeing you guys. And Wade's a kisser. He's a kisser. Is he? Yeah. Well, I guess when you're affectionate with his loved one. Yes, when you're carrying around a cooler of beer, you're going to be affectionate all the time. Is there some homage or recognition of Sandlot at the Hall of Fame?

There is. So they have I think they have the original screenplay signed by everybody. And there's a couple of big posters. And then I think the Babe Ruth ball is there as well. Yeah, they got a few things in there. Yeah. So it's there. It's in the baseball section. So that was really cool to see that as well. How was it playing at Field of Dreams?

How was that? That was incredible, bro. A really great experience. We've got two minutes left, guys. We've got to go on air. No worries. The Field of Dreams was incredible. It was an experience that I hope that we get to have again. We played softball with Reggie Jackson and Ricky Henderson and Ozzie Smith and Wade Boggs, and we came out of the cornfield. And, you know, it definitely brings a tear to your eye because the field is still the same and

It's pretty awe-inspiring if you're into baseball and films. As someone who's deeply into baseball and films, we're going to let that be the final word. Thank you so much to the cast and crew from The Sandlot. Guys, that's an amazing experience. I think every baseball fan, every fan of the movie would love to have been able to see and participate in that like you did. Unbelievable. Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

Thanks, guys. Have a good weekend. Take care. Thanks, guys. Well, Sam, that was fantastic. That was brilliant. That was brilliant. And I'm glad I'm glad the Hall of Fame has that recognition in there for them. You know, I do like that. It's interesting. I think baseball generates better movies than any other sport. Yes. I mean, it just for some reason it lends itself to the movie making business. Right. Right. The pacing of it may be. I don't know exactly what it is, but it does.

And yeah, the hall, I was probably there before that display went up. But, you know, I remember the one from A League of Their Own, which had just gone in there when I went. Yeah.

We definitely need to go scalp some tickets and go hit the Field of Dreams game Major League Baseball does during the summer next summer. So, yeah, absolutely. I mean, look, the the the field at Cooperstown is one of the most beautiful little stadium fields you've ever seen in your life. They do just a brilliant job. Folks, if you haven't been to Cooperstown, if you're if you're baseball fans, if you got a kid who's a baseball player,

take the time to go to Cooperstown. That is it. It's so different than the basketball or football Hall of Fame. It's really a living experience when you're in that town. Well, we've had a great show this week with the cast of Sandlot, and we appreciate them coming on. And Congressman Issa from California introducing us. He's our first guest for the San Diego market. That's very exciting. I want to talk a couple a couple of political issues here to end the show. First of all, Ron DeSantis came up with a great idea this week.

And sadly, Ron DeSantis' campaign won't get this out, but I'm hoping every, frankly, every Republican congressional candidate doesn't add on this. What Ron DeSantis is proposing is that college student loan debt be dischargeable during bankruptcy, because right now you can't declare bankruptcy on student loans. But here's the twist.

He would put the universities on the hook for it. His quote is, I think the universities should be responsible for the student debt. You produce somebody that can be successful, they pay off the loans. Great. If you don't, then you're going to be on the hook, he said, on the campaign trail. I really like this a lot. I love it. And DeSantis is very – I mean, look.

People may not like his personality. The campaign may seem... The campaign has been rough. It's been rough. But he is the smartest policy guy. I think him and Vivek are the guys that really are thinking outside the box and, you know...

We need that. That's how you win. That's how you build your that's how you brought in the tent. I mean, first, I think going forward and I've said this for a couple of years, you should absolutely make these universities guarantee their own loans. And so I love this idea. I mean, at the end of the day.

if a university is having to guarantee their loans, they're not going to allow a student to rack up $200,000 for a career that pays $45,000 a year. Or they may say, if you want to get a degree in modern art, you also have to have a minor in business. Right. You can do this, but you also have to have a skill. Well, return on investment. Yeah, and they need to start looking at more. It's unfair to make somebody who's repairing air conditioning or working at a grocery store or driving a taxi pay

pay because some kid defaulted on it. So make the university responsible so they put a little more time and effort into this as well. And bankruptcy is not a nothing thing. No. It's a major thing. It's on your record for seven years. It can affect a lot of things. So people aren't just going to rush to give themselves a BK to get rid of their

their student loan debt. So it becomes a very thoughtful decision at that point. I love having universities on the line. You're right about DeSantis having real policy chops. He's shown in Florida. Yes, he's he's very much in front of the game when it comes to the policy end of this. For all the criticism, his campaign, I have not been impressed. Apparently, nobody in the country has been particularly impressed.

But his governance has been beyond impressive, and I wish we would be recognizing that more. And stop this idea that a primary fight means we have to tear down—

Right. I mean, stop. I wish all of the Republicans, this includes President Trump, would just focus more on Joe Biden. Joe Biden is corrupt. Yeah. Joe Biden is not honest. Joe Biden is not, I'm not even sure he's there. And that brings a point. You and I, we, because we're on an hour a week plus a podcast, we really try to focus on issues. Right. And sometimes we have like the cast of Sandlot because it's our mic. We're going to have some people and we want to talk to them. And we're going to have some fun from time to time. Yeah. But,

This Hunter Biden thing stinks to high heaven. And watching Democrats change the narrative every time is incredible. For example, the New York Times literally came out the other day and said,

It has been long, it has long been known that the elder Mr. Biden at times interacted with his son's business partners. That is a bald-faced lie put in print by the New York Times because they have denied it. Matter of fact, when Hunter Biden, this is not New York Times, but when Hunter Biden's story came out, the NPR said, they announced they weren't covering the laptop news because, quote, we don't want to waste our time on stories that are not really stories.

Right. But they keep getting these facts, right? So you had Trust Fund Dan, who was a Levi Strauss heir in New York, who seems to be – he decided that AOC was enough to have an idiot on the Democrat side. Levi Strauss and Goldman Sachs. He's going to do it as a white Trust Fund guy, right? Right. And so he's been covering for these folks. But every time the facts come out, it gets more and more and more. Now, again –

Does Joe Biden love his son? 100%. And we all know dads will do certain things for sons. But people aren't being honest about this. Even if Joe Biden took no money, okay? Even if he took no money, we'll give him the benefit of the doubt. I don't want to, but okay. He still went and intervened to play a role to give an illusion so his son could take money from foreign countries. Well, one of the things, forget the illusion, right?

One of the things that is totally damning in this thing to me is the Victor Shokin incident, the Ukrainian prosecutor that Biden bragged on the world stage that he got fired. And what was Shokin doing investigating Burisma? Burisma, which was the company in Ukraine that was paying the Biden family through Hunter. Right.

I don't think, you know, you're already hearing all the left say, well, he didn't do anything. It was the illusion. You hit on it. It's the illusion of access. But before he didn't know. But as of a month ago, he didn't know anything. He had no part in his business deals. He's just a loving father. This is not true. Oh, no. Look, these newspapers, The New York Times and The Washington Post, when it comes to politics, they do some good work outside of those areas. And it's sad. I don't want to tar the entire newsroom with the same brush. But when it comes to politics...

All they're doing is mirroring the Democrat Party line, whatever that happens to be. And COVID taught them a terrible and unfortunate truth is that if they just lie long and strong enough, that more – 51 percent of people will buy it. And the New York Times and the Washington Post will cover for that. And then the New York Times did like they did last year.

with the laptop. They came out later and said, oh yes, we had somebody look at it. This laptop's legit. Like they did with the dossier. And now they're pretending like, well, people have known that he knew the business associates. I mean, it just keeps, it's a staggering thing. One last item before we take off. I came across this this morning on a newsletter I get. And so I Googled it and there's articles on it. And

So California is threatening to sue professors who want to testify as experts in the learning loss case against the state of California. Technically, these professors signed away their right to engage in litigation when they got access to non-public state K-12 data sets for their own research. And now they can't testify to the extent of damage and learning loss suffered by the state's poor students.

The only time rules are enforced in California is when it's very important not to question California's obligation to children in poor families. Yeah. That's, I mean, I am, by the way, I am really excited for the DeSantis-Newsom debate. And I really hope, you know, as...

As Newsom likes to throw the term around, Nazi all the time. I hope this and the myriad of examples that California does all the time that Governor DeSantis just pounds it on him. He absolutely needs to do that. I mean, absolutely needs to run over him with this, because when you look at it, Florida is in a upward trajectory. The state has improved dramatically in in DeSantis's term.

It has – Republican policies are working across the board. Florida has one of the best educational systems in the country now, K-12. They have one of the best college systems in the country. What state doesn't have those things anymore? California. That's right. And California has –

Do they have the worst homeless population in the country? They have the worst homeless problem. They have the worst housing problem. They have the next to Boston now, the worst traffic and transit problems. There is nothing that California is doing well other than generating huge wealth at the very top.

And so one of the things – there was a piece. I think it was the – I forget which paper put it out, the Chronicle or LA Times I think. But saying, oh, California is still doing a wonderful job attracting the ultra-wealthy. OK. Yeah.

So what they're creating is a Latin American country. Absolutely. It's a Latin American country where the top... Well, it's a Russian economy. Yeah. Yeah. That's a perfect example. It's a Russian economy, right? Russian economy. Yeah. All the oligarchs who are Putin's friends. Right. So these are all Newsom's friends. Right. Same concept. And then underneath them are this giant mass of struggling poor people. One other note and we'll leave here. So...

Remember the old days when you had people like Elizabeth Warren claim to be Native Americans or some other ethnic group so they can get into college? Pocahontas? Yes. Well, now New York, the state of New York is having the amount of people who claim a disability apply for college. And it's almost it's almost doubled. Yeah.

I mean, you know, look, whenever there's a loophole, kids are going to find a way to get that loophole, right? Kids and parents. I mean, look, at the end of the day, I remember. So when I go, I have certain.

Right.

And I realized this is what a lot of them are doing, right? Right. They're making their experience easier. It's not just the access to get in, but it's the experience you deal with. They're easier. I didn't want that. I actually, you know, if I had to do it over again, I would take a summer and go do an immersion course and really learn it because I do regret not doing that. Taking that that grant first.

for that right was a mistake well like in new york in 2015-16 you had about 11 000 applications saying they have mental health problems so it's disability right

In 21, it's 15,000, right? Well, okay, but we've seen what's happening to the mental health of young liberals, so that actually sounds maybe legit. It ends unbelievable. They've lost their mind. Well, folks, this is Breaking Battlegrounds. This is Chuck and Sam. Thank you for joining us. And for our new friends in Tulsa and Cincinnati and Nashville and San Diego, thank you for joining us. Please share our show with your friends if they don't have time to listen to it when they're driving or going to kids' games.

You can find us at BreakingBattlegrounds.vote or wherever you download your podcasts. Have a fantastic week.