A League of Their Own (1992)

Directed by Penny Marshall. With Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Madonna. Two sisters join the first female professional baseball league and struggle to help it succeed amidst their own growing rivalry.

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). Directed by Penny Marshall, the film stars Geena Davis, Tom Hanks, Madonna, Rosie O'Donnell, and Lori Pe

The All-American Girls' Professional Baseball League was founded in 1943, when most of the men of baseball-playing age were far away in Europe and Asia fighting World War II. The league flourished until after World War II, when, with the men's return, the league was consigned to oblivion. Director Penny Marshall and screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel re-create the wartime era when women's baseball looked to stand a good chance of sweeping the country. The story begins as a candy-bar tycoon enlists agents to scour the country to find women who could play ball. In the backwoods of Oregon, two sisters -- Dottie (Geena Davis) and Kit (Lori Petty) -- are discovered. Dottie can hit and catch, while Kit can throw a mean fastball. The girls come to Chicago to try out for the team with other prospects that include their soon-to-be-teammates Mae Mordabito (Madonna), Doris Murphy (Rosie O'Donnell), and Marla Hooch (Megan Cavanagh). The team's owner, Walter Harvey (Gary Marshall) needs someone to coach his team and he picks one-time home-run champion Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks), who is now a broken-down alcoholic. After a few weeks of training, as Dugan sobers up, the team begins to show some promise. By the end of the season, the team has improved to the point where they are competing in the World Series (which is no big deal, since there are only four teams in the league).

Lori Petty, Geena Davis, Tom Hanks, Bill Pullman, Garry Marshall, David Strathairn, Jon Lovitz, Madonna, Penny Marshall, Robert Greenhut, Elliot Abbott, Columbia Pictures: Movies & TV

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Geena Davis, who starred as ball player Dottie Hinson, recalls memories from the film, which celebrates its 25th anniversary with a commemorative Blu-ray release.

Overview of A League of Their Own, 1992, directed by Penny Marshall, with Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Lori Petty, at Turner Classic Movies

The true story behind the A League of Their Own movie based on the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

Until seeing Penny Marshall's "A League of Their Own," I had no idea that an organization named the All-American Girls' Professional Baseball League ever flourished in this country, even though I was 12 when it closed up shop, and therefore of an age to collect Bob Feller and Robin Roberts baseball cards and listen to the Cardinals on the radio. The league was founded in 1943, when it briefly appeared that men's baseball would be a casualty of the war, and once the men came marching home it's a wonder the league survived until 1954. Then it was consigned to oblivion; history is written by the victors.

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