If you have a soft spot for The Sandlot and its actors, this one may err on the sad side of the fence. Tom Guiry, who played the plucky, affable Scott Smalls in the film, seems to have fallen from grace in adulthood. Guiry was arrested on June 2 in South Carolina on multiple charges. Including assault, disorderly conduct, and malicious damage.
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The first salvo was the 35-pound dumbbell Guiry launched at a guy's Jeep, per footage given to TMZ.
In isolation? This clip is kind of hilarious, especially since there's no context for how things escalated to this point. A shirtless Tom Guiry just throws a dumbbell at the Jeep and casually -- but angrily -- walks away. That's it. Did he have an argument with a guy in his neighborhood, leave, and come back with the dumbbell specifically to throw at the Jeep?
You have to assume it's a neighborhood dispute -- unless Guiry is a psycho who never wears shirts in public and inexplicably carries dumbbells in the trunk of his car.
The cops are called shortly after, and they find Guiry in the middle of the street. The situation settles down.
'The Sandlot's Tom Guiry Throws A Dumbbell At A Jeep
Except the situation definitely doesn't settle down. There's a Part Two, you see. Reportedly, the owner of the Jeep then tells the police a plot twist. Guiry approached the guy's door and rang the doorbell... with a knife in his hand. (Which you can see in the link at the beginning of this article.)
So, Guiry is hauled off to jail, and the world of "wholesome actors I remember from my childhood" is further compromised. Lose-lose! Smalls went from empathetic, bright-eyed child to knife-brandishing, dumbbell-throwing menace. This is a "soft" version of the "Never meet your heroes" life lesson.
Anyway, since we're still here: what's your favorite coming-of-age sports movie from your childhood? The Sandlot was up there for me. But my jam was Bad News Bears (the 2005 remake, not the original everyone universally adores). Which doesn't have the greatest critical reception, sure. But it was my champion, darn it!
Also, there was something about coming-of-age baseball movies I always found satisfying to watch back then. Is it just me? Something about other kids (at the time, of course) playing baseball made Child Me so happy. Thanks, Guiry. That's one more slight way my inner child perishes!
