Episode 5—A League of Their Own: Hot Big Sister Energy

May 12

“In sisterhood, you can be competitive while still respecting and admiring each other... We see these women grow and change not only as sisters but also as ballplayers. ”

— Annee

Screen Shot 2021-05-12 at 5.53.25 AM.png — Effortlessly gifted Dottie (Geena Davis) (*left*) and her ambitious but struggling younger sister Kit (Lori Petty) (*right*) are the ultimate teammates and rivals, whose relationship is the heart of Penny Marshall’s 1992 baseball classic, *A League of Their Own* (Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures).

“I think this is the greatest baseball movie ever made.”

— Frankee

The Summer ‘92 movie poster for A League of Their Own (Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures). — The Summer ‘92 movie poster for *A League of Their Own* (Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures).

Annee kicks off our sister-themed series with a family favorite—Penny Marshall’s 1992 baseball classic, A League of Their Own. Inspired by and featuring the real women who played in the All American Girls Professional Baseball League during WWII, the film tells the story of the 1943 season for the Rockford Peaches and a rivalry between two sisters at the heart of it.

As a beloved nostalgia pick, the sisters gush about the movie’s star-studded cast and ponder its significance in Tom Hanks’ filmography, but their discussion also grapples with some of the movie’s glaring problems—notably, the lack of diverse representation of race, sexuality, and class, as well as Dottie’s maddening eleventh hour decision.

Tom Hanks as Jimmy Dugan, manager of the Rockford Peaches, drunkenly and begrudgingly waves his hat to the crowd (Columbia Pictures/Sony Pictures).

“I would argue that this movie is the first time that Tom Hanks became America’s Sweetheart.”

— Jessee

Show Notes

Film Synopsis

Sisters Kit and Dottie try out and join the Rockford Peaches for the first season of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPL) in 1943. All of the ballplayers are portrayed as athletes with rich personal lives rooted in their experiences as women, and the sisters at the heart of the story exemplify sisterly love and rivalry.

Inspired by and featuring some of the real women who played in the AAGPL during WWII, the film opens on an elderly Dottie Hinson attending an AAGPL reunion for the opening of an exhibit at the National Baseball Hall of Fame as she reminisces about the league’s inaugural season in 1943. The two sisters—effortlessly talented Dottie (Geena Davis), who patiently awaits her husband’s return from war, and her scrappy younger sister Kit Keller (Lori Petty), who dreams of escaping their small Oregon town and playing ball—are among the women who make up the Peaches’ first roster. They befriend their teammates, including best friends All the Way Mae (Madonna) and Doris (Rosie O’Donnell), and warm the heart of their washed-up manager, Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks). Kit struggles to grow out of Dottie’s shadow and carve her own place in the league, especially as Dottie’s talents make her a star despite the fact that her priorities aren’t on the baseball diamond. Per the tagline for the film, “the Rockford Peaches prove that a woman’s place is at home…first, second, and third.”

A League of Their Own (1992). Directed by Penny Marshall. Story by Kelly Candaele and Kim Wilson. Screenplay by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel. cinematography by Miroslav Ondricek.

Starring Geena Davis, Lori Petty, Tom Hanks, Madonna, Rosie O’Donnell, Jon Lovitz, David Strathairn, Garry Marshall, Bill Pullman.

References