A League of Their Own is a 1992 United States comedy-drama film that tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). Directed by Penny Marshall, the film stars Geena Davis, Tom Hanks, Madonna, and Lori Petty. The screenplay was written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel from a story by Wilson and Kelly Candaele.
A television series[2] based on the film aired on CBS in April 1993, with Garry Marshall, Megan Cavanagh, Tracy Reiner, and Jon Lovitz reprising their roles. It was quickly canceled.
Plot
When World War II threatens to shut down Major League Baseball, candy manufacturing magnate Walter Harvey (Garry Marshall) decides to create a women's league to make money. Ira Lowenstein (David Strathairn) is put in charge of public relations and scout Ernie Capadino (Jon Lovitz) is sent out to recruit players.
Capadino likes what he sees in catcher Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis). She's a terrific hitter and, almost as important, "a doll" and likely to attract male fans. He offers her a tryout, but the married woman is content where she is, working in a dairy and on the family farm in Oregon while her husband is away at war. He's less impressed with her younger sister, pitcher Kit Keller (Lori Petty), who loves the game passionately but appears to be less talented. He finally lets her come along when she persuades Dottie to give it a try for her sake. Along the way to the tryouts, he also checks out Marla Hooch (Megan Cavanagh), a great switch-hitting slugger. However, the blunt-speaking scout finds her too homely and rejects her. Dottie and Kit refuse to continue on without her and Ernie reluctantly gives in.
When the trio arrive at the tryouts in Chicago, they meet Doris Murphy (Rosie O'Donnell) and Mae Mordabito (Madonna), two tough-talking Brooklynites. They are assigned with 14 others to form the Rockford Peaches; 48 other prospects are chosen for the Racine Belles, Kenosha Comets, or South Bend Blue Sox. The Peaches are managed by drunkard former baseball great Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks). Jimmy initially treats the whole thing as a joke, leaving the managerial duties to Dottie. However, he takes over when he sees how hard and well his team plays. Meanwhile, the players have to attend mandatory etiquette classes to maintain a "lady-like" image, even though they are also required to wear very short (by 1940s standards) skirts as part of their uniforms.
The league attracts little interest at first. In one memorable scene, Lowenstein tells the Peaches that things aren't going so well and that the owners are having second thoughts about keeping the league going beyond the 1943 season. With a Life magazine photographer in attendance, he asks them to do something spectacular. Dottie obliges when a ball is popped up behind home plate, catching it while doing a split. The resulting photograph makes the cover of the magazine. Jimmy is (predictably) disgusted, while the opposing manager and catcher are stunned. More and more people show up and the league becomes a success.
The sibling rivalry between Dottie and Kit becomes more intense as the season progresses: Kit has a massive inferiority complex because Dottie is a better player, a better hitter, and more beautiful. After Kit gets upset when Dottie has Jimmy pull her for a relief pitcher, Dottie tells Lowenstein she is thinking of quitting. Lowenstein, who had been publicizing the photogenic Dottie as the "Queen of Diamonds", has Kit traded to Racine. An enraged Kit blames her sister for getting her traded.
The two meet again in the championship game of the AAGPBL World Series. In the top of the ninth inning, Kit pitches to Dottie, and Dottie hits a line drive over her head, scoring two runs for Rockford. Kit comes up to bat with her team trailing in the bottom of the inning. Although Dottie gives the pitcher advice on Kit's weakness for chasing high fastballs, Kit hits the ball into the outfield and rounds the bases, ignoring a stop signal from the third base coach. Dottie catches the ball and blocks home plate, but Kit runs into her hard. She drops the ball (it is unclear whether she does so intentionally or not) and Kit scores the winning run. Dottie quits baseball to be with her husband Bob (Bill Pullman), who has returned from the war, but she and Kit reconcile before she leaves.
Many years later, the two sisters, who haven't seen each other in a while, and many of their Peaches teammates are reunited at the opening of a women's section in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Many of the older women shown in the final scenes were actual players of the AAGPBL.
Cast
Rockford Peaches
- Tom Hanks - Jimmy Dugan (manager). A former star slugger whose career was ended early by alcoholism. The character was loosely based on real-life Baseball Hall of Fame player Jimmie Foxx.
- Geena Davis - Dottie Hinson (catcher). A beautiful star player whose husband is fighting in Italy. A great player, Dottie doesn't care very much about the game. Debra Winger was originally set to play the lead, but dropped out after Madonna signed on.[3]
- Lori Petty - Kit Keller (pitcher). Dottie's kid sister, she is constantly envious of her. A very good pitcher, but not a good hitter, as her weakness is high pitches. Moira Kelly was chosen to play the part, but suffered an injury during the filming of The Cutting Edge. Jennifer Jason Leigh was also considered but dropped out to do Single White Female. Daryl Hannah, Meg Ryan, Demi Moore, Isabella Rossellini, Anjelica Huston, Michelle Pfeiffer, Molly Ringwald and Julia Roberts were also considered.
- Anne Ramsay - Helen Haley (first base). AAGPBL TV ad credits her as a member of several championship amateur teams and an "accomplished coffee maker". Her baseball double was NCAA player Julie Croteau.
- Megan Cavanagh - Marla Hooch (second base). A tremendous switch-hitter, but shy and not as pretty as her teammates.
- Rosie O'Donnell - Doris Murphy (third base). A tough-talking, intense player, also a great hitter.
- Freddie Simpson - Ellen Sue Gotlander (shortstop/pitcher). Probably the most beautiful of the team, a former Miss Georgia.
- Tracy Reiner, daughter of director Penny Marshall and stepdaughter of Rob Reiner - Betty "Spaghetti" Horn (left field/relief pitcher). A calm, respected player, Betty's husband dies fighting in the Pacific during the season.
- Madonna - "All the Way" Mae Mordabito (center field). A speedy, athletic player who is also a heavy drinker, smoker, and man-eater. Doris' best friend.
- Bitty Schram - Evelyn Gardner (right field). A nice but meek player, Evelyn is forced by her husband to take their son, Stillwell, with her. She breaks into tears when Jimmy yells at her for messing up a play.
- Renée Coleman - (credited as Renee Coleman) Alice "Skeeter" Gaspers (left field/center field/catcher). A superstitious player who often irritates the coach with her habits to avoid bad luck.
- Ann Cusack - Shirley Baker (left field). A bench player who can not read. Is later tutored by Mae who teaches her how to read with an erotic novel.
- Robin Knight - 'Beans' Babbitt (shortstop)
- Patti Pelton - Marbleann Wilkinson (second base)
- Kelli Simpkins - Beverly Dixon (outfield)
Others
Production
League Stadium, located in Huntingburg, Indiana, served as the homefield for the Rockford Peaches. Many other game scenes were filmed at Bosse Field in Evansville, Indiana.[4] It is the nation's third oldest ball park (and the oldest minor league ball park), and was depicted as the home of the Racine Belles. The scenes that take place in fictional Harvey Field were shot at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois. As with his film counterpart, Chicago Cubs owner P.K. Wrigley was the original sponsor of the league.
The Soaper-Esser house (built 1884-87) in which the women lived is located at 612 North Main Street in Henderson, Kentucky, and is on the historic register. The roadhouse scenes were filmed at the Hornville Tavern (2607 Baseline Rd.) in Evansville, Indiana and Fitzgerald's in Berwyn, IL.
All scenes on the train and at the train stations were filmed at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois. The Nebraska Zephyr, now part of the museum's collection, was prominently featured.
Madonna ("This Used to Be My Playground") and Carole King ("Now and Forever") contributed songs to the soundtrack. The video for Madonna's "This Used to Be My Playground" was featured on the DVD.
Reception
The film was released on July 1, 1992, and was #1 by its second weekend (July 10-12).[5] It was a commercial success, making $107 million in the United States on a $40 million budget (and an additional $25 million worldwide), and was well-received by critics.
The Jimmy Dugan proclamation, "Are you crying? There's no crying! There's no crying in baseball!" was rated 54th on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest film quotes of all time.
References
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