First Quote Added
April 10, 2026
Latest Quote Added
"[voiceover] Only one kid in history had ever attempted what Benny was about to...and he got eaten. So we were worried, real worried, even when Benny brought out the secret weapon: Shoes guaranteed to make a kid run faster and jump higher—P.F. Flyers."
"[voiceover] If it weren't for Benny, I never would have made a single friend that summer, because all those other guys thought I was a lost cause."
"[voiceover] Benny would've played ball all day, night, rain, shine, tidal wave, whatever. Baseball was the only thing he cared about, but among the other things we did besides baseball, going to the pool is what he tolerated best."
"[voiceover] We all lived in the neighborhood for a couple of more years—mostly through junior high school—and every summer was as great as could be. But none of them ever came close to that first one. When one guy would move away, we never replaced him on the team with anyone else. We just kept the game going like he was still there."
"Let me tell you something about it, kid. Everybody gets one chance to do something great. Most people hardly ever take the chance, either because they're too scared or because they're unable to recognize it when it spits on their shoes. This is your big chance, and you should never let it go by..."
"Remember, kid, there's heroes and there's legends; heroes get remembered, but legends never die. Follow your heart, kid, and you'll never go wrong."
"The adventure of a lifetime, the summer of their dreams...the dog of their nightmares."
"They're more than a team. They're the best buddies in the entire history of the world."
"A piece of paradise a half block wide and a whole summer long."
"You're killing me, Smalls!"
"Tom Guiry - Scotty Smalls"
"David Mickey Evans - Adult Smalls/Narrator"
"Mike Vitar - Benjamin "Benny" Franklin Rodriguez"
"Patrick Renna - Hamilton "Ham" Porter"
"Chauncey Leopardi - Michael "Squints" Palladorous"
"Marty York - Alan "Yeah-Yeah" McClennan"
"Brandon Quintin Adams - Kenny DeNunez"
"Grant Gelt - Bertram Grover Weeks"
"Shane Obedzinski - Tommy 'Repeat' Timmons"
"Victor DiMattia - Timmy Timmons"
"Denis Leary - Bill"
"Karen Allen - Scotty's mother"
"James Earl Jones - Mr. Mertle"
"Marley Shelton - Wendy Peffercorn"
"Wil Horneff - Phillips"
"Pablo P. Vitar - Older Benny"
"Art La Fleur - Babe Ruth"
Young though he was, his radiant energy produced such an impression of absolute reliability that Hedgewar made him the first sarkaryavah, or general secretary, of the RSS.
- Gopal Mukund Huddar
Largely because of the influence of communists in London, Huddar's conversion into an enthusiastic supporter of the fight against fascism was quick and smooth. The ease with which he crossed from one worldview to another betrays the fact that he had not properly understood the world he had grown in.
Huddar would have been 101 now had he been alive. But then centenaries are not celebrated only to register how old so and so would have been and when. They are usually celebrated to explore how much poorer our lives are without them. Maharashtrian public life is poorer without him. It is poorer for not having made the effort to recall an extraordinary life.
I regret I was not there to listen to Balaji Huddar's speech [...] No matter how many times you listen to him, his speeches are so delightful that you feel like listening to them again and again.
By the time he came out of Franco's prison, Huddar had relinquished many of his old ideas. He displayed a worldview completely different from that of the RSS, even though he continued to remain deferential to Hedgewar and maintained a personal relationship with him.