While sports fans are usually most passionate about one sport, most sports fans love The Sandlot, a movie based on a group of neighborhood kids connecting through baseball. The Sandlot resonates with them because of sports, the camaraderie of the kids, the nostalgia of the time and the plight of the characters.
What most people in our community don’t know is that Sandlot’s Tommy ‘Repeat’ Timmons graduated from Bloomingdale High School in 2001. Tommy is Bloomingdale’s Shane Obedzinski. He was born and raised in Brandon and owns Times Square Pizza in Bloomingdale Square with Charlie Jonathan.
This year is the 30th anniversary of The Sandlot. The movie premiered in April of 1993. Celebrations are being held all over the country this year, namely in Utah in August, where the movie was filmed. Shane will be there with his Sandlot co-stars.
Obedzinski’s acting career started at the age of 3 in a Kool-Aid commercial. He credits his mom, Peggy Lawson, for recognizing his potential and giving him the leeway to follow his heart. He turned 10 on the set of The Sandlot.
“As I get older, I realize I was a part of something incredibly special,” Obedzinski said.
In The Sandlot, Babe Ruth said, “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.”
Obedzinski puts his heart into all he does and loves living in Brandon. Our community is made up of hardworking people. Shane just happens to be a hardworking Bloomingdale business owner who was in a famous movie. He wouldn’t change anything.
“There’s not a lot of places in the world like Florida. There’s not a lot of places where you grow up and you still like it as much as you did when you were a kid. I’ve been lucky to travel my whole life, and there’s nowhere else I would rather be than this area of Florida,” Obedzinski said.
Obedzinski and Jonathan embody the sense of community portrayed in The Sandlot, as they support all things local. The pizzeria highlights artwork from Burns Middle School and Bloomingdale High School, and they donate pizzas weekly to Brandon Regional Hospital, welcome highlighting local artists and quite simply love connecting with customers on a personal level.
And great news for all Sandlot fans: A Sandlot television series based in the late 80s is set for next year with the movie’s players and their kids.
Times Square Pizza is located in Bloomingdale Square at 927 E. Bloomingdale Ave. in Brandon. For more information, visit https://tspizzaco.com/ or call 813-651-0122.
