sandlot

[ sand-lot ]

noun

1. a vacant lot used by youngsters for games or sports.

adjective

1. Also sand-lot. of, relating to, or played in such a lot:

   sandlot baseball.

sandlot

/ ˈsændˌlɒt /

noun

1. an area of vacant ground used by children for playing baseball and other games
2. modifier denoting a game or sport played on a sandlot

   sandlot baseball

Word History and Origins

Origin of sandlot¹

An Americanism dating back to 1880–85; sand + lot

Example Sentences

He was playing sandlot games with boys four or five years older when he was 10, and at 14 joined his father’s steel mill team as a pitcher.

From Los Angeles Times

“So I started playing polo, but sandlot kind of polo, low level. But I learned. Anyway, I started getting better and better and better,” he said.

From Salon

More than a half-dozen of the boys and girls on Wafula’s sandlot team are orphans, which is why the coach uses baseball as a tool to teach larger lessons.

From Los Angeles Times

Despite his Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis, Herbert never forgot the sandlot tales of his youth at Northwestern.

From Seattle Times

He told the Philadelphia Inquirer that his first paid officiating job was in October 1946, earning $5 for a “sandlot” football game.

From Washington Post