The '90s were a great time for cinema, and one of the best films to come out of the decade was A League of Their Own. The 1992 film had a roster of stars including Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Madonna, Lori Petty, and Rosie O’Donnell. Star of Laverne and Shirley and iconic director Penny Marshal led the film which was a critical and commercial success. It also delivered one of the most iconic film lines, “There’s no crying in baseball!”
A League of Their Own is about a group of girls that try out for a spot on a team in the new All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. The story takes place in 1943 during the height of World War II when most men were overseas. With the movie being such a success it was not a shock that it got a reboot series, showing off the new Rockford Peaches on Prime Video. With so many films and series based on true events, the same question needs to be asked for A League of Their Own: is there any fact in the fiction?
The Real Story of the Rockford Peaches
One of the best women's sports movies (and now series) is based on the real women’s baseball team, the Rockford Peaches. The Rockford Peaches represented Rockford, Illinois, and were a founding team of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL), which existed from 1943 until 1954. The league was founded by P.K. Wrigley (owner of the Chicago Cubs from 1932 until his death in 1977) as a way to maintain interest in baseball as the World War II military draft was depleting the major-league roster.
The Rockford Peaches and the South Bend Blue Sox were the only two teams to last the entire league's tenure. The Peaches were a pretty successful team, winning four championships and becoming local celebrities. The team also had two members (Dorothy “Dottie” Ferguson Key and Dorothy “Kammie” Kamenshek) inducted into the National Women’s Baseball Hall of Fame. Kamenshek was a seven-time All-Star left-handed pitcher and batter, and was who Geena Davis’ character (Dottie Hinson) was loosely based.
How the Series Expanded on Their Reality
The new Prime Video League of Their Own series expands the cast and the reality the women of the AAGPBL faced in 1943. While the film focuses on the game, the show gives audiences a more honest view of what those times were like. The new A League of Their Own heavily focuses on the relationship between the women and how they coped in that world. While the film does not mention anything about some of the women being gay nor how the league discriminated against African American women, the show makes these facts major plot points.
The mid-1900s were a difficult time for many communities, but one that is less talked about is the LGTBQIA+ community. During the '40s, the queer community dealt with heavy discrimination that included job loss, ostracization, and even prosecution. If arrested it was very common that their names would be published in the local papers, outing many members of the community to their friends and family. This forced many members of the community to become transients and do everything possible to hide their true selves.
Speakeasies became a place of refuge for the community and allowed people to be authentically themselves with their partners. These bars were very often raided, making it very dangerous for people to frequent. But regardless these bars were a haven for the community and the show gives audiences an honest look at what they were like. They even nailed the secret phrase, “Are you a friend of Dorothy?” It's a phrase which came from The Wizard of Oz (1939) and was a safe way for someone to ask another if they were gay. Another phrase that came out of that time was, “My best Judy,” which was named after Judy Garland and meant a very close (typically queer) friend.
Who Did League of Their Own Better?
The debate is now on for who did it better, the series or the film? The immediate reaction is to say the film, as even Tom Hanks thinks it’s one of the best movies he’s ever made. But this is a difficult debate. Although they share a lot of similarities (including a name) and are based on the same thing, they have a very different feel to them.
While the film focuses on the accomplishments of the women of the AAGPBL, the series focuses on the women themselves and the hardships a lot of them faced as lesbians and trans individuals. The film also places much more emphasis on the male coach character, played by Hanks, while that character (played by Nick Offerman in the series) is intentionally sidelined in order to emphasize the women themselves. It is also difficult to compare the two due to the fact the film is a finished story, while the series has just begun. It is like trying to compare a finished novel to the first chapter of its sequel. It is almost an unfair conversation.
With a film so beloved it is no surprise that they made a remake. But with so much praise for the movie it could have easily set the series up for disaster. Luckily, writers for A League of Their Own handled it well by exploring the history of the time and not shying away from the ugly truth. It will be exciting to see where the series leads as it has been reported that season two is currently in development. The film is currently streaming on Paramount+ while you can watch the entire first season of A League of Their Own on Prime Video.