A League of Their Own (film)

A League of Their Own is a 1992 American sports comedy-drama film that tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL).

The film was directed by Penny Marshall. It stars Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna, Rosie O'Donnell, and Lori Petty. The screenplay was written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel.

Synopsis[]

Two sisters join the first female professional baseball league and struggle to help it succeed amid their own growing rivalry.^[1]

Main Cast[]

Tom Hanks as Jimmy Dugan
Geena Davis as Dorothy Hinson (#8, catcher/assistant manager)
Madonna as "All the Way" Mae Mordabito (#5, center field)
Lori Petty as Kit Keller (#23, pitcher)
Rosie O'Donnell as Doris Murphy (#22, third base)
Anne Ramsay as Helen Haley (#15, first base)
Megan Cavanagh as Marla Hooch (#32, second base)
Freddie Simpson as Ellen Sue Gotlander (#1, shortstop/pitcher)
Tracy Reiner as Betty Horn (#7, left field/relief pitcher)
Bitty Schram as Evelyn Gardner (#17, right field)
Renée Coleman Alice Gaspers (#18, left field/center field/catcher)
Ann Cusack as Shirley Baker (#11, left field)

Plot Summary[]

In 1988, Dottie Hinson attends the opening of the new All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) exhibit at the Baseball Hall of Fame. She sees many of her former teammates and friends, prompting a flashback to 1943.

When World War II threatens to shut down Major League Baseball, candy magnate and Cubs owner Walter Harvey persuades his fellow owners to bankroll a women's league. Ira Lowenstein is put in charge, and Ernie Capadino is sent out to recruit players. Capadino attends an industrial-league softball game in rural Oregon and likes what he sees in Dottie, the catcher for a local dairy's team. Dottie turns down Capadino's offer, happy with her simple farm life while waiting for her husband Bob to come back from the war. Her sister and teammate, Kit, however, is desperate to get away and make something of herself. Capadino is not impressed by Kit's hitting performance and refuses to evaluate her pitching, but agrees to take her along if she can change Dottie's mind. Dottie agrees, but only for her sister's sake.

Dottie and Kit head out to Harvey Field in Chicago for the tryout. There they meet a pair of New Yorkers, taxi dancer Mae "All the Way Mae" Mordabito and her best friend, bouncer Doris Murphy; along with soft-spoken right fielder Evelyn Gardner; illiterate, shy left fielder Shirley Baker; pitcher/shortstop and former Miss Georgia beauty queen Ellen Sue Gotlander; gentle left field/relief pitcher Betty "Spaghetti" Horn; homely second baseman Marla Hooch, who was scouted by Ernie, Dottie and Kit in Fort Collins, Colorado; genteel first baseman Helen Haley; and superstitious Saskatchewan native Alice "Skeeter" Gaspers. They and eight others are selected to form the Rockford Peaches, while 48 others are split among the Racine Belles, Kenosha Comets, and South Bend Blue Sox.

The Peaches are managed by former marquee Cubs slugger Jimmy Dugan, a cynical alcoholic who initially treats the whole thing as a joke and is abrasive toward his players. The league attracts little interest at first, and the Peaches must adjust to traveling with Evelyn’s bratty son Stillwell and tightly wound team chaperone Miss Cuthburt. With a Life magazine photographer in the stands, Lowenstein begs the players 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 magazine cover. A publicity campaign draws more people to the ballgames, but the owners remain unconvinced. The Peaches experience success on the field while forming a tight sisterhood off the field; Marla marries a man she meets on a raucous roadhouse outing, Mae teaches Shirley to read, and Evelyn writes a team song. As Dottie becomes one of the league’s brightest stars, Kit becomes resentful and their sibling rivalry intensifies, culminating in Kit’s trade to the Peaches' rival, the Racine Belles.

The Peaches end the season qualifying for the league's World Series. In the locker room, Jimmy gives Betty a telegram that informs her her husband was killed in action in the Pacific Theater. The grief-stricken Betty leaves the team. Later that evening, Dottie receives a surprise when Bob shows up, having been wounded and discharged from the Army. The following morning, Jimmy discovers that Dottie is going home with Bob. Unable to persuade her to at least play in the World Series, he tells her she will regret her decision.

The Peaches and Belles meet in the World Series, which reaches a seventh and deciding game. Dottie, having reconsidered during the drive back to Oregon, is the catcher for the Peaches, while Kit is the starting pitcher for the Belles. With the Belles leading by a run in the top of the ninth, Dottie drives in the go-ahead run. Kit is distraught but gets a second chance when she comes to bat with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Under immense pressure she gets a hit, and ignoring the third base coach's sign to stop, scores the winning run by knocking her sister over at the plate and dislodging the ball from Dottie's hand. The sellout crowd convinces Harvey to give Lowenstein the owners' support. After the game, the sisters reconcile before Dottie leaves with Bob.

Back in the present, Dottie is reunited with several other players, including Kit. The fates of several of the characters are revealed: Jimmy, Bob, and Evelyn have died; Marla has been married to Nelson, a man she met in a bar in an earlier scene, for over 40 years; Mae and Doris are still best friends; and Kit is a mother and grandmother many times over. The original Peaches sing Evelyn’s team song and pose for a group photo.

Reputation[]

In 2012, A League of Their Own was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".