You're killin' me, Smalls: 'Sandlot baby' turns 1

• Benny Smalls is named after Benny "the Jet" Rodriguez and Scotty Smalls of "The Sandlot"
• Matt Lauer and Carson Daly of NBC's "Today" show said Brady Querry resembled Tom Brady
• David Mickey Evans heard about the "Sandlot" baby, then drove from his Florida home to meet the Querrys

Benny Smalls Querry darted across the living room, hands and legs a blur like his namesake Benny "the Jet" Rodriguez from the classic baseball movie "The Sandlot."

In his first year, Benny Smalls of Palm Bay has mirrored characters portrayed on the screen. Arriving eight weeks before his due date, he was born on July 27, 2016, to Rob and Julia Querry at 3 pounds, 8 ounces.

At about nine months old, Benny caught up to growth charts and retains only the speed. Older brother Brady, now 6, gave him his first post-birth nickname, calling him "Rocket" for a while.

On Thursday, Benjamin Smalls Ellis Querry will reach his first birthday, 16 months after his path to viral celebrity began.

His fame grew out of a motivational challenge to the Heritage High baseball team that carried the family into the kind of spotlight usually reserved for royalty or entertainment celebrity.

Rob Querry, the Panthers baseball coach, had told his 2016 players they would earn a prized right if they won enough games to assure the school's first winning season.

"If we win 14 games, I'll let you name my kid."

After the 2016 story debuted in FLORIDA TODAY, Querry and his team began to see the impact on a bus ride back from a 10-5 win at Space Coast in mid-March.

"People were sending me links to the story from the Indianapolis paper, from Phoenix … from all over," he remembered. "Every time, I would hold my phone up for the guys to see."

It spread from there, leading to an appearance on NBC's "Today" show, NPR and beyond.

Thirty-two weeks into her pregnancy, Julia Querry was sent to the hospital by her doctor due to complications from high blood pressure.

"It's not something I usually have a problem with," she said. "I still hoped I would go home that day."

Within a couple of days, Benny Smalls joined the family. Media updates on the Sandlot Baby resumed.

"Everyone I talked to, I asked if they'd mind sending me a link," Julia said.

The family and Heritage team members collected movie memorabilia given as gifts, by writer, director and narrator of "The Sandlot," David Mickey Evans. Those have included movie posters and some limited edition PF Flyers, similar to shoes portrayed in the movie.

Evans traveled to meet the players, attended Panthers games and golfed in a Panthers fundraising tournament.

Heritage players clinched a winning season and baby-naming-rights on April 5 with a win over Harmony. They finished 16-9. Somewhere along the way, Julia Querry agreed to the name Benny Smalls, which the players had chosen even before the gender reveal.

Rob had hinted to his wife he might make that kind of challenge after his team, in which he saw potential, suffered some early losses.

"I told her I had to do something to get them fired up," he said last week. "The air was sucked out of them with those losses, even though they were close against some really good teams."

Since the birth, the six seniors from the 2016 team visited the Querry family and met Benny during his first Thanksgiving, and there are plans for another reunion before the approaching school year.

Benny's own fame remains. Julia, who stayed with her newest son for three months before returning to work, recalled dropping him off at daycare for the first time and seeing a teacher do a double-take: "She asked, 'Is this the Sandlot baby?' "

Yes, that's Benny Smalls.

McCallum is FLORIDA TODAY's preps writer.

Contact McCallum at 321-242-3698

or bmccallum@floridatoday.com.

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