A League of Their Own Turns 20
An even dozen
People tend to assume that, once the male big-leaguers returned from the war, the AAGBL shriveled up and died. It did, in a way, but not until the early '50s, and the culprit wasn't men's baseball but league decentralization - and TV, which cut into women's- and minor-league attendance as more and more people watched MLB games in their living rooms.
Here, the Kenosha Comets play the Muskegie Lassies, April 1948.
There's no crying in baseball!
It's the most often quoted line in the movie, voted 54th on the American Film Institute's list of 100 greatest movie quotes (four slots behind another line uttered by Tom Hanks in "Apollo 13," "Houston, we have a problem"). For my money, Dugan's "the hard is what makes it great" line is better…but this one is still really good.
Jimmy Dugan
Dugan's hard-drinking and irascible manager is loosely based on Jimmie "Double X" Foxx and Hack Wilson, both of whom are said to have taken years off their major-league careers thanks to drinking. Only one of them managed an AAGPBL team, though - Foxx ran the Fort Wayne Daisies for a single season.
The splits
Geena Davis could do the splits, but not slide into them as Dottie does in that famous promo shot; her stunt double had to do it for her. None of the other "players" had stunt doubles.
"double yuk"
According to a letter she wrote to her friend Steven Meisel, who photographed her for her notorious "Sex" book, Madonna hated life on the set: "I cannot suffer any more than I have in the past month, learning how to play baseball with a bunch of girls (yuk) in Chicago (double yuk). I have a tan, I'm dirty all day, and I hardly ever wear make up. Penny Marshall, Lavern [sic], Geena Davis is a Barbie Doll, and when God decided where the beautiful men were going to live in the world, he did not choose Chicago." Ouch. But notice that she didn't complain about scoring a Golden Globe nom for "This Used To Be My Playground," the hit song she wrote for the soundtrack.
The many faces of Dottie
Others considered for the role included Kelly McGillis, Ally Sheedy, Brooke Shields - and Debra Winger, who was already cast and working out to prepare for the role, only to bow out after Madonna joined the cast. Entertainment Weekly had the dirt on why that diamond wasn't big enough for the two of them: "Expressing her anxiety to Daily Variety's Army Archerd about costar Madonna, Winger said, 'I'm afraid of the press zoo...I don't care for stunt casting.' One Columbia producer suggests that company chairman Frank Price was already worried about the picture's $40 million budget and possible rivalry between Winger and Madonna: 'The Columbia suits said to themselves, "Penny Marshall might survive with one shark in the tank, but two?" They figured they'd tighten Winger's contract so she couldn't pull any power plays on the set.' So when push came to shove, Columbia deemed Winger the most volatile - thus expendable - in the cast mix. By mid-June, Winger, with no one to champion her cause, reluctantly left the project, and another CAA client, hot-as-flapjacks Geena Davis, was in."
The reunion
This photo shows the Racine Belles facing off against the South Bend Blue Sox in September 1947 -- and who knows, you might meet these very players this weekend in upstate NY. Among the planned reunion highlights: Appearances by 50 former players, as well as movie cast members Patti Pelton (Marbleann Wilkenson) and Megan Cavanagh (Marla Hooch), plus autograph-signing; the singing of the AAGPBL league song, and the traditional V-for-victory lineup before the game; and Nadia Diaz, who struck out 19 batters for her Syracuse Southside American Little League team in July, throwing out the first pitch. Tim Wiles, director of the Hall of Fame's research library, will handle the announcing duties. If anyone attends the festivities, report back in the comments!
League TV?
Hollywood seems to have gotten therapy for its compulsion to try to make TV shows out of movies, but it didn't seek treatment in time to prevent the sitcom version of "A League of Their Own." Starring Carey "Law & Order" Lowell as Dottie, Christine "Emily Valentine" Elise as Kit, and Sam "The Tracey Ullman Show" McMurray as Dugan, the show only lasted 6 episodes, which according to the IMDb commenters was about 9 too many.
League, The Musical?
The film might not have translated very well to TV, but I'd still give "Rockford Peaches: A New Musical" a chance - and I don't even like musicals, usually. The producers are still working on rewrites and trying to line up investors, but it's a promising idea, and it won't just copy the movie; it's more about the relationship between the team and the town of Rockford. (You can listen to two of the songs on the RP:ANM website.)
It's hard to believe "A League of Their Own" came out 20 whole years ago - probably because it seems like I've watched it at least once a week since then. (I used to own it on VHS. I am old.) The movie's coming out on Blu-Ray to mark the anniversary, and if you live near the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY, why not head over to the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League reunion this weekend. Former players from the AAGPBL will gather and celebrate, as they do every year, and some will even take the field against a local team. Can't make it to upstate New York? Wish the movie a happy birthday with this gallery, and pick up a few trivia tidbits about the film and the league. - Sarah D. Bunting