It's been 25 years since "The Sandlot" first hit theaters in April 1993, and the nostalgia for this lighthearted baseball movie is as strong as ever.

Maybe that's because the movie itself is fueled by nostalgia, flashing back to a simpler, more innocent time when the only things that mattered were baseball, carnivals, and girls. Oh, and avoiding being eaten alive by enormous, baseball-devouring dogs, of course.

To mark this anniversary of one of our favorite staples on cable in the 90s, here are 14 things you might not know about this fan-favorite sports movie.

1. The film was originally supposed to be called "The Boys of Summer." Unfortunately, it turned out there was already another, completely unrelated baseball book by the name.

2.David Mickey Evans wore a great many hats for this film, as he co-wrote the screenplay, directed, and even provided the narration as the adult Scotty Smalls.3. While in some scenes Hercules is played by a real life English Mastiff, others required the use of a puppet so large (above) that it had to be operated by two people.

4. Despite chronicling an entire summer's worth of baseball games and misadventures, "The Sandlot" actually took a mere 42 days to film.

5. Star Tom Guiry was actually a talented Little League player in real life, and he required extensive coaching on how to make himself look like he didn't know how to play.6. Guiry claimed that he meets around four people per day who stop him to recite that iconic line, "You're killing me, Smalls!" Fortunately, he still has a sense of humor about it.

7. Actor Marty York almost wasn't in the movie. He originally tested for the part of Bertram, and he was only cast as Yeah-Yeah after the original actor fell ill as production was about to begin.

8. The infamous vomit scene was more authentic than you might think. The actors were given fake chewing tobacco made from bacon bits and licorice, and by the time filming wrapped on that scene, they truly were ill from consuming so much of the concoction.

9. If the young and old versions of Benny Rodriguez look surprisingly similar, that's because they were played by two brothers. Mike Vitar starred as the young Benny, while his older brother, Pablo, played the character as an adult.10. You might have noticed that Chauncey Leopardi's teeth are chattering in the scene where his character, Squints, is ogling the lifeguard. That's because it was a balmy 56 degrees the day that scene was filmed.

11. Squints was also the source of a contentious lawsuit. Evans was sued by a former classmate who claimed that the Squints character was based on him and caused him emotional damage. The court ultimately ruled that the similarities weren't significant enough, setting a key legal precedent for the movie industry.12. For the scene where Patrick Renna's Ham is trading insults with a rival baseball player, most of those insults weren't actually written in the script. Instead, Evans improvised and fed Renna his lines while filming.

13. Guiry has been trying to track down his character's dorky fishing cap ever since filming wrapped, with no luck. Apparently, it was lost by the studio at some point after being used for the final scene with the adult Benny and Smalls.

14. To date, there have been two direct-to-video sequels: 2005's "The Sandlot 2" and 2007's "The Sandlot: Heading Home." The latter actually dealt with time travel, as Luke Perry's character found himself whisked back to 1976 to relive his childhood. Because reasons.