A League of Their Own

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

It was directed by Penny Marshall and released on July 1, 1992 by Columbia Pictures.

Plot
In 1988, Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis) 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 (Tom Hanks) persuades his fellow owners to bankroll a women's league. Ira Lowenstein (David Strathairn) is put in charge, and Ernie Capadino (Jon Lovitz) is sent to recruit players.

Capadino goes to an industrial-league softball game in rural Oregon and likes what he sees in Dottie, the catcher for a local dairy's team.

Dottie does not take Capadino's offer, preferring to live the simple life she has in Oregon while waiting for her husband Bob (Bill Pullman) to come back from the war. Dottie is convinced, however, by her sister and teammate Kit Keller (Lori Petty), who wants to play.

Dottie and Kit head out to Harvey Field in Chicago for the tryout. There they meet a pair of New Yorkers, taxi dancer "All the Way" Mae Mordabito (Madonna) and her best friend in former bouncer Doris Murphy (Rosie O'Donnell) along with soft-spoken right fielder Evelyn Gardner (Bitty Schram), illiterate and shy left fielder Shirley Baker (Ann Cusack), pitcher and former Miss Georgia Ellen Sue Gotlander (Freddie Simpson), and first baseman Helen Haley (Anne Ramsay), a native of Saskatchewan.

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 Jimmy Dugan, a former marquee Cubs slugger who initially treats the whole thing as a joke.

The league attracts little interest at first. With a Life magazine photographer attending a game, 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.

As the Peaches establish themselves as the class of the league, Dottie and Kit's sibling rivalry intensifies and Kit is traded to the Peaches' rival, the Racine Belles.

The Peaches end the season qualifying for the league's World Series, but just before the end of the season Betty "Spaghetti" Horn, the team's utility player, is informed that her husband George was killed while fighting in the Pacific Theater.

Later that evening, Dottie receives a surprise when Bob, who has been serving in Italy, returns home after being discharged from the Army. The following morning, Jimmy discovers that Dottie is returning to Oregon with Bob as the team is getting set to leave for 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 on the drive back to Oregon, is in uniform for the finale 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 manages to come through, however, and she scores the winning run by knocking her sister over at the plate to give the championship to Racine. The sellout crowd convinces Harvey to give Lowenstein the owners' support.

After the game, the sisters reconcile before Dottie leaves to raise a family.

Back to the present (1988), Dottie is reunited with several other players, including Kit, whom she has not seen in several years.

The fates of several of the characters are revealed: Jimmy, Bob, and Evelyn have died while Marla has been married to Nelson (a man she met in a bar) for over 40 years. The original Peaches sing a team song composed by Evelyn and pose for a group photo.

Reception
The film was #1 by its second weekend (July 10–12) and was a commercial success, making $107 million in the United States (and an additional $25 million worldwide) on a $40 million budget. It was also well received by critics.

In 2012, "A League of Their Own" was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.