A decade ago, Rob Querry, who was then the head baseball coach at Heritage High School, was trying to provide a motivational tool for his team after they dropped the first two games of their season.
What Querry ultimately came up with was nothing short of one of the most unique ideas you’ll ever hear.
Querry told his Panthers that if the team finished with at least 14 wins, he’d let them name his soon-to-be born child. The team did just that, and as a result, the group had the opportunity to name the child who became Benjamin Smalls Ellis Querry.
“When I met these guys, the year before, my first year, we didn’t have a very good season and I was their fourth coach in four years,” Rob Querry said. “And when we started off the 2016 season, we had high hopes, we had high goals and we started 0-2 and I could see their demeanor and their body language and their confidence just start to deflate, like here we go again.”
Benjamin’s first two names come from characters in the 1993 baseball-themed film “The Sandlot” including Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez and Scotty Smalls.
“I love it. It’s like literally one of the best movies ever,” said Benjamin Querry, younger brother of Brady Querry, regarding The Sandlot.
The idea was pitched to Rob’s wife Julia, after they received the first ultrasound of Benjamin.
“She laughed and thought I was joking,” Querry said. “So, I took that ultrasound to practice that day and said ‘hey guys, I’m pregnant’ and if you win 14 games, you get to name the baby.’”
Julia’s thought process evolved as she absorbed the news.
“When he said no, I really did that, I was mad, I guess at first, not in an angry way but sort of in an annoyed way that he really made that dumb bet,” Julia said. “But then, only a few minutes later I sort of relieved myself by thinking, well, but they also have to win. They hadn’t had a winning season, never had it happened.”
According to MaxPreps, Heritage finished the season 16-9, registering the program’s first-ever winning record.
“How the team came together and how we became a family at that time, words cannot express,” said Yadi Vazquez, who pitched and played catcher and third base.
Max Kraemer, who played center field for the Panthers that year, discussed how the team settled on the name.
“Honestly, it was pretty quick from what I remember,” Kraemer said. “We were all just kind of just huddled around and I think Smalls was probably one of the first names we threw out and it was like I don’t know if that’s going to fly right like Smalls as a first name. So then came, we were thinking about The Sandlot a little bit more and when we were like “Benny the Jet,” so we were like, what about Benjamin Small as his middle name? And they thought it over for a couple weeks and they were like, yeah, we’ll make it work.”
In 2016, news of Rob’s deal became national news, with the story even being featured on NBC’s “Today” Show.
“For me, it was never about going viral or publicity or media attention, it was just me trying to find some way to light a fire to add a little bit of spice to their goals and I just thought it was something that would get their attention,” Rob said. “It’s not easy nowadays to get teenagers’ attention and to motivate teenagers.”
Julia added that the media attention “meant a lot.”
“I did an interview on the radio and I was standing by and listening to the other news that was being said in front of my story because it was a live broadcast and the news ahead of it, it was terrible,” Julia said. “Everything was bad in the world and they said ‘now for a breath of fresh air’ and it was like that a lot with the news outlets. They would say ‘now for a heartwarming story” so I liked it.
The Querry family continues to get attention even in 2026, with David Mickey Evans, director and screenwriter of The Sandlot, sending the family a video on the 10th anniversary.
The movie has also inspired Benjamin in his baseball career, where he pitches and plays catcher this season and where he’s played shortstop in the past.
“If I hadn’t seen that movie, I wouldn’t be playing baseball right now,” Benjamin said.