George Washington Eaton III

Sandlot Football George Washington Eaton III

The Sandlot Football story begins in 1948, and is based on the author's teenage experiences in his West Philadelphia neighborhood. A key to the story is Geordie Eaton's decision to join a tough Irish-Catholics' team in violent sandlot football games with other neighborhood teams. The earlier sandlot games were marked by players with little protective gear, poor playing fields, fights, "ringers", and the absence of real referees. Geordie's Jewish mother opposed him playing football with "those ruffians," but despite his son's mounting injuries Geordie's father manages to fend off his wife's objections. Geordie's wounds, unique neighborhood events, and education of the five Eaton children are topics of lively family dinners. and no dinner is complete without the mother's use of pertinent and clever Yiddish expressions to cajole, coach, and criticize. The story follows Geordie's coming of age experiences in a rooftop leap, a corner lot's bomb, the Neighborhood's Nazi battle with Mad Man Mountain, the Red Belly initiation, his progression from sandlot football to Penn's freshman football team, infatuation with an Italian girlfriend, a disastrous NROTC cruise to Bermuda, and a defining game versus a semi-pro football team.