Legends Never Die: What Benny "the Jet" Rodriguez Can Teach Us About Being a Distinguished Male

My kids and I watched The Sandlot on the 4th of July. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen this movie. It never feels old or stale.

The Sandlot is the all-time greatest kid’s summer movie. It’s the Platonic ideal of a kid’s summer movie.

It has it all. Baseball (of course), sleepovers in a treehouse, hijinks at the community pool, neighborhood cookouts and fireworks, and backyard adventures. The Sandlot depicts a childhood many older men remember and boys raised on screens wish they had.

While watching it again, I think I figured out what gives this 30-year-old kid flick its staying power.

First, it perfectly captures the rough-and-tumble joy of male bonding.

In 1969, anthropologist Lionel Tiger published Men In Groups. He highlighted how human males are adept at forming male-only coalitions — gangs — in which they take part in intra- and inter-competitions. They jockey within the group for status, and they bond by working together to take something on — another tribe, a business, or nature itself.

That dynamic is at the heart of The Sandlot.

The Sandlot gang forms a “coalitional group”: bound by ritual (daily baseball), hierarchy (Benny is the undisputed leader, and there is good-natured teasing), and a shared mission (beat the rich-kid team; outsmart the Beast). Their friendship isn’t built on heart-to-heart talks, but on sweat, risk, and play. The Sandlot shows male friendship at its most archetypal.

The other reason I think The Sandlot has stood the test of time is that the film showcases a shining example of positive masculinity in Benny “the Jet” Rodriguez.

Benny is the guy.

No one is as cool as Benny.

He has, as my kids would say, infinite aura.

When I was a kid, I wanted to be like Benny. As a 42-year-old man, I still want to be like Benny.

But what makes Benny so cool?

Well, Benny’s got prestige.

We talked about what prestige is in our article “The Myth of the Alpha Male.” It’s one of the two ways men can gain status in the social world. The other is dominance. Here’s the TLDR:

Dominance is aggressive and coercive. It’s about intimidating others and demanding respect.

Prestige is earned. You gain prestige through competence, generosity, and service to others. People freely confer respect on men of prestige based on their valuable skills, knowledge, and/or moral character.

Dominant men make others feel small. Prestigious men make others feel inspired.

Of the paths to status, prestige is more effective. While dominant men can gain status in the short-term, people come to resent them and try to usurp their power. People are more loyal to prestigious men, who maintain enduring influence.

Benny is the epitome of prestige. That’s why he’s so damn cool.

Here are some lessons men — whether they’re 14 or 44 — can learn from Benny on how to be more prestigious:

Be Competent

Prestige starts with being really good at something.

Benny is really good at baseball. He knocks the guts out of a ball and steals bases with ease. But his competence goes beyond the sandlot. He’s the one with the courage