Mike Vitar

Michael Anthony "Mike" Vitar (born December 21, 1978), is an American actor who appeared as Benjamin Franklin "Benny the Jet" Rodriguez in The Sandlot and as Luis Mendoza in D2: The Mighty Ducks and D3: The Mighty Ducks. He started acting at the age of 12 when a casting manager spotted him in line for a ride at a school carnival. He retired from acting after 1997.

Contents

• Mike Vitar The Sandlot
• Facts
• Family Details
• Pablo Vitar Elizabeth Vitar
• Wife Kym Vitar
• Mike Vitars Children
• Character Roles
• The Sandlot
• D2 The Mighty Ducks
• D3 The Mighty Ducks
• Career as a firefighter
• Scandals Controversies
• Star Mike Vitar Takes Plea Deal To Avoid Prison
• Mike Vitar
• Net Worth
• Where is Mike Vitar Now
• Filmography
• References

He is of Latin descent. He has two older siblings. His older brother, Pablo, played the older version of his character, Benny, in The Sandlot, after which he joined the Los Angeles Police Department in 1996. Pablo succumbed to colon cancer on January 29, 2008. He also has an older sister, Elizabeth.

He attended St. Francis High School in La Cañada, California, from which he graduated in 1997. In 1996, he worked for Gerber Ambulance in Torrance as a stepping stone into the EMS field to move into his current career as a firefighter. Since 2002 he has been a firefighter for the Los Angeles Fire Department. He currently resides in Los Angeles with his wife Kym, whom he married in 2006, along with their two sons and daughter.

Facts

Mike Vitar is of Latin descent.

He and older brother Pablo P. Vitar played the same character (at different ages) in The Sandlot Kids (1993).

Vitar underwent reconstructive knee surgery on one of his knees due to extreme exercise and jogging.

Worked for Gerber Ambulance in Torrance in 1996 as a stepping stool in the EMS to move on in his career as a firefighter.

Family Details

Pablo Vitar & Elizabeth Vitar 

Mike Vitar is of Latin descent, but whereabouts of his parents remain unknown. He is the youngest of three children. He had an elder brother named Pablo Vitar and an elder sister named Elizabeth Vitar. Pablo Vitar played the older version of the character “Benny the Jet” in the film “The Sandlot”. Later in 1966, Pablo joined the Los Angeles Police Department. Pablo was a person who passionately embraced life as a member of the community and as a baseball coach. He was also a dedicated friend to many. Unfortunately, he got colon cancer and after a brave two-and-a-half-year battle with the disease, died on January 29,2008.

Wife Kym Vitar

Mike has been married to Kym since 2006, and the couple has three children. She is a professional photographer and a homemaker. She has shared many photos of their family on social media. 

Mike Vitar’s Children

Mike and Kym Vitar together have two sons and a daughter. The eldest son was named Eli and was born on 12 March 2007. The second son named Wesley was born on 30 April 2009, and their daughter Norah Paige was born on 31 January 2013.

Character & Roles

The Sandlot 

Sandlot is a film directed by David Mickey Evans released in 1993, which tells the story of a group of young baseball players during the summer of 1962. The story revolves around a boy named Scotty Smalls, who is a reserved fifth grader. The film begins with Scotty and his parents moving to the San Fernando Valley. Scotty has difficulty making friends in the new town. He struggles to be a part of a group of boys who play baseball in a local sandlot. However, as he is not good at catching and throwing a baseball, he gets embarrassed at his first attempt. Nevertheless, Scotty is invited to join the baseball team by their best player and leader, Benny Rodriguez (Mike Vitar), who decides to mentor him. 

The team plays a night game on the fourth of July. Scotty observes that even though baseball is just a game to the rest, it is Benny's real passion. One day, while they were playing baseball, Benny hits the ball so hard that he blows its cover off. It was the team's only ball. To continue the game, Scotty borrows a baseball from the trophy room, which was autographed by legendary baseball player Babe Ruth. Scotty was not aware of baseball history, and so he didn't know the ball's value. Scotty while batting sends the ball to the backyard, which the other boys called Beast's yard in his first home run itself. The yard was home to a huge junkyard dog who was called Beast by the boys, and it claims all the balls hit into the yard. Beast was chained up in the yard by its owner. When the other boys heard about the autograph on the ball, they told Scotty it's a precious ball. The boys used many makeshift retrieval devices to take the ball out of the yard without any success. That night, Benny has a dream in which the spirit of baseball legend Babe Ruth directs him to retrieve the ball himself, and tells him he will become a baseball legend if he does that.

Benny decides to get the baseball back at any cost. He went over the yard fence and gives a pinch and a tickle to the Beast and tries to retrieve the ball. However, the huge English Mastiff breaks its leash and jumps over the fence in pursuit of Benny. This chase results in several comedic situations and eventually ends up in the sandlot. Benny jumped back into Mr. Mertle's yard, but the Beast followed him there and crashed through the fence and gets trapped under it. Feeling sorry for the dog, Benny and Scotty lift the fence and free it. The dog shows its gratitude by leading them to its pile of baseballs. The boys meet Mr. Mertle, who was a former baseball player himself who played with Babe Ruth.  Mr.Mertle trades them their chewed-up ball for another baseball, which was autographed by all of the 1927 New York Yankees.The boys now play baseball on the sandlot, with the Beast as their mascot. Beast’s real name was Hercules. Benny's adventure with the Beast earned him the nickname "Benny the Jet," and he becomes a star player of Los Angeles Dodgers later. 

D2: The Mighty Ducks

The original ‘Mighty Duck’ film was released in 1992, and Mike Vitar has no role in it. However, his acting in the film 'The Sandlot, ' which was released in 1993, convinced the makers of the first sequel of the original film named ‘D2: The Mighty Ducks’ about his acting abilities and he was cast as Luis Mendoza, jersey #22 in it. Gordon Bombay, who is forced to retire from the minor hockey league due to a knee injury, is given the responsibility to coach the Team USA Hockey for the Junior Goodwill Games in California. Most of the players from the original team are still with them together with some new players, including Luis Mendoza. The film tells us various challenges the team and their coach has to go through when the team is all set to face the favorites to win the title, Iceland.  Finally, the team beats Iceland to become the champions. 

D3: The Mighty Ducks 

Scandals | Controversies

In November 2015, Vitar and some of his fellow firefighters attacked a graduate student who was distributing candies in a gated community. His name was Samuel Chang, and he was distributing tainted candies for unknown reasons, according to the firefighters.  The firefighters also stated that Chang was on PCP at the time. However, no traces of the said drug were found in his system in the medical exam. Interestingly, Chang believed he smelled the alcohol when he was near the firefighters, which may tilt the whole incident. Regardless, the firefighters, including Mike Vitar, went to attack Chang, and they beat him up so severely that Chang has to suffer several serious injuries such as bleeding in his brain and immediate kidney failure as the chokehold suffocated him. Vitar was charged with one count of 'assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury' for this incident. Even though Vitar was facing a possible four-year sentence for his charge, he escaped punishment and was suspended from duty for six months. Also, he had to pay Chang $2000 as compensation. As of 2018, he is still working as a firefighter in Los Angeles.