But how close did it come to getting things right? Let’s take a journey back in time when the Greatest Generation was away at war, and women on the home front were donning cleats and catcher’s mitts.
Dottie Hinson is based loosely on the real face of the Rockford Peaches
Geena Davis' character, Dottie Hinson, was inspired by real-life playerDorothy “Kammie” Kamenshek.A left-handed first baseman and outfielder, Kammie was the most feared hitter in the league, and a perennial all-star. Her movie counterpart, Dottie, is a right-handed catcher.
Unlike Hinson, who retires after one season in the film, Kammie played for ten seasons, finishing with an all-time best .292 career batting average, striking out only 81 times. Major League Baseball once called her the “finest fielding first baseman.” And that included the male players.
The Racine Belles won the first championship
In the movie, after being traded from the Peaches to the Belles, Kit(Lori Petty)famously runs over Dottie, knocking the ball from Dottie’s hand to win the first AAGPBL championship. The Belles did win in 1943. But it wasn’t the Peaches they beat.
The Kenosha Comets fell to the Belles that first year. And, sorry movie lovers, the Rockford Peaches finished in dead last. But they didn’t stay in last place. The Peaches were champs in 1945, 1948, 1949, and 1950!
One offensive team name would never fly today
Debate rages these days about team names like the Cleveland Indians or, more ferociously, the Washington Redskins. But there was a AAGPBL team whose “questionable” name no one batted an eye at way back when.
That team? The Milwaukee Chicks! Sure, feminine names were the idea (the Daisies, the Lassies, the Belles), but this one’s a bit too on the nose for modern standards. The Chicks held their own, though, winning three championships in twelve years.
Garry Marshall’s Walter Harvey character is based on Philip K. Wrigley
Suspecting America’s pastime might be athingof the past with the onset of World War II,Philip K. Wrigleystepped up to the plate. A chewing gum tycoon and eventual owner of the Chicago Cubs, Wrigley launched the AAGPBL in 1943.
Early in the movie, we learn that Walter Harvey(Garry Marshall)is a chewing gum magnate who is trying to start a women’s baseball league. Later, the tryout scene is filmed on none other than Wrigley Field in Chicago. It’s a nice little nod to the real AAGPBL founder.
Philip K. Wrigley was selling sex and Americana
1943 was a time of unity, when Americans banded together in support of the European and Pacific theater struggles. Wrigley wanted his AAGPBL players to represent that American spirit. So much so, that they could be fined for unbecoming conduct.
This is certainly the impression one gets while watching the film. We see girls in short skirts hamming it up for the media, adoring male fans, and a league image saluting national pride. Just listen to the song they sing!
The rambunctious brat Stillwell is a constant annoyance for Peaches manager Jimmy Dugan(Tom Hanks)in the film. There may not have been any Stilwells wreaking havoc in real-life, but players becoming pregnant was always a possibility.
Real life player Dottie Collins pitched for the Fort Wayne Daisies, well into her second trimester.
Even more alarmingly, as Jimmy Dugan learns, fears of husbands’ safety while overseas at war were very real. This is captured in the movie’s most gut-wrenching scene, when Jimmy has to inform Betty Spaghetti(Tracy Reiner)that her beau was killed in action.
Some players were even more viciously competitive than Kit
Everyone remembers Kit’s climactic inside-the-park home run, ending with her bowling over Dottie to win the title for the Belles. And this was well within baseball rules up until only a few years ago. But it’s not even close to the lengths the real players went.
One player - Pepper Paire Davis - once punched an umpire in the face, knocking him flat on his back, for calling her out at second! She knew she’d beaten the tag. Of course, she also knew the ump had to eject her.
Whether they like it or not, professional athletes are looked up to as role models. There are some bad seeds in the lot, no doubt, but most male athletes don’t have to prove to children and families that they aren’t prostitutes.
This was the reputation of the women who played softball before the AAGPBL began. Traveling teams were known as “Bloomer Girls.” In fact, one team’s moniker was “Slapsie Maxie’s Curvaceous Cuties.” By 1943, Wrigley and his new league of ballplayers had their work cut out for them.
The real-life Peaches pitched differently
In the film, the players throw overhand, like baseball pitchers. Historically, this took some time. Since most of the women came from softball, the hurlers threw underhanded, but in modified fashion.
This style continued until 1946, the league’s fourth season. That year, a limited side-arm option was adopted, which quickly led to full side-arm throwing. Finally, in 1948, overhand pitching won out, and pitchers threw that way until the league ended in 1954.
Wrigley demanded his girls all have a squeaky clean image
In part to combat the lewd public image of female softball players, and also to market something entirely fresh, league founder Wrigley sought to wipe the slate as clean as he could. And he meant business.
Rules were clear and direct. If a player’s hair was not at shoulder length - or not in bobs - she would be fined. If she wore slacks or shorts out in public, she would be fined. If she smoked, drank, or went without makeup? Yup, she’d be fined.
