Patrick Renna and Danielle Fishel Walked Into Comic-Con and Left Us Wanting Every Single Episode of Dugout Dads

By Klep Napier | Wearecritix.com

There are interviews you do at San Diego Comic-Con because you have to cover the room. And then there are interviews that remind you exactly why you started doing this in the first place.

Sitting down with Patrick Renna and Danielle Fishel at the Culture Collective during SDCC 2026 was the second kind. Two people who have been a part of the fabric of pop culture since most of us were kids, showing up with genuine excitement about something they built from scratch, with their own money, on their own terms. No studio. No gatekeepers. Just a great idea and the courage to put it out into the world.

That idea is Dugout Dads and it is coming sooner than you think.

Ham Porter Is Coaching Little League (Sort of) and We Are So Here For It

Here is the short version. Patrick Renna, who you know as Ham Porter from The Sandlot, spent years coaching his son's Little League teams. As his son got older and the coaching got handed off to professionals, Patrick found himself on the sidelines as a parent, taking things maybe a little too seriously, and realizing that the entire dynamic of youth sports parents needed to be a television show.

Then one day he did something with The Sandlot guys and it clicked. Bring them all back. As dads. Coaching their own kids' Little League teams on opposing sides while all of the chaos, competitiveness and love that comes with being a sports parent plays out around them.

Eight of the original Sandlot cast members are back for Dugout Dads. And Danielle Fishel plays Patrick's wife.

Before anyone asks, yes he called her first. He swears it was literally zero other people before her. She believes him. Mostly.

Danielle Did Not Even Ask for a Script

The moment Renna pitched the concept, Fishel said yes. No scripts. No negotiations. Just yes.

"The minute he told me he coached his kids' Little League," she told us, "I went, 'Oh, I already know where this is going.'"

Being a baseball mom herself, she had seen exactly what Patrick was describing. The parents screaming at umpires. The parents screaming at their own kids. The parents taking a recreational youth sport with the intensity of a World Series Game 7. She was in before the sentence was finished.

Patrick's business partner Kyle Howard confirmed that Danielle has genuinely not asked for anything along the way. Danielle's response to that on camera was immediate.

"Do not give me this reputation. Your girl will not work for free."

The room laughed. It was perfect.

Watch the full interview with Patrick Renna and Danielle Fishel from SDCC 2026 right here on the CritiX YouTube channel.

The Moment That Broke Patrick Renna at the Hotel

Before we get into the details of the show itself there is a story Patrick told during our conversation that is going to live in my head for a long time.

They were at the hotel before the convention. A fan spotted Patrick and asked for a photo. As they were getting set up Danielle stepped in to offer to take the picture. The fan turned around, saw who was offering to take the photo and completely lost it.

Screaming. Almost crying. Hugging Danielle like they had known each other their whole lives.

Patrick's take on watching the whole thing unfold?

"It started with me. I was chopped liver by the end of it."

He said it with a smile that told you everything you needed to know about who these two people are and why their fans have stayed with them for thirty years. No ego. No bitterness. Just genuine joy at watching someone they care about receive that kind of love.

That is the energy Dugout Dads is built on and it came through in every single minute of this conversation.

Here Is Everything You Need to Know About the Show

Dugout Dads drops August 26th on Patrick Renna's YouTube channel at @patrickrenna. Two Ns. He wants you to know that.

The first run is being called the preseason. Nine episodes, somewhere between four and six minutes each, released three per week over three weeks. The story starts at draft evaluations, which Patrick described perfectly as "grown men drafting ten year olds," and runs through opening day where something happens that fans are going to love.

There are Sandlot Easter eggs sprinkled throughout but this is not a Sandlot sequel and is not using the IP at all. The legal reality of that situation was addressed directly and honestly in our conversation. The cast is back. The world they created together is not technically the same world. And that is fine because what Renna has built here does not need that crutch.

The vision beyond the preseason is ambitious. Full length episodes for season one. Following the same family for potentially seven or eight seasons. A hundred episodes. Syndication. Patrick was half joking and entirely serious at the same time.

Danielle put it best when she talked about why they chose to do it this way rather than pitching it to a network.

Going through the traditional development process means there is always a chance it never sees the light of day. They had this idea. They put their own money in. They got brands to back it up. And now it exists. Fans get to have it regardless of what any executive in any office thinks about it.

That is what making your thing looks like. And watching two people who have been in this industry long enough to know all the ways it can go wrong choose to do it on their own terms anyway is genuinely inspiring.

Watch the Dugout Dads Official Trailer Right Here The first trailer for Dugout Dads dropped at SDCC 2026 and it is exactly what you hoped it would be. Watch it below and then go subscribe to @patrickrenna on YouTube so you do not miss a single episode when the preseason kicks off August 26th.

Final Thoughts

Patrick Renna and Danielle Fishel walked into SDCC 2026 with something real. Not a studio project. Not a legacy cash grab. A passion project built from lived experience, genuine friendship and thirty years of knowing exactly what their fans mean to them.

Dugout Dads lands August 26th at @patrickrenna on YouTube. Set your reminder.

Subscribe to the channel. And tell a Little League parent you know because they are going to see themselves in every single episode.

This one is special. Trust me.

Where Hollywood Meets Fandom.

Interview conducted by Klep Napier for CritiX Media. MPA-Accredited Entertainment Outlet. wearecritix.com