A League of Their Own

Penny Marshall learned about the league from a 1987 television documentary and brought its makers, Kelly Candaele and Kim Wilson, in to work with the screenwriters. The project was developed at 20th Century Fox first; when Fox passed, Columbia took it. Demi Moore was wanted for Dottie but was pregnant. Debra Winger was cast instead and trained for 3 months with the Chicago Cubs, then left 4 weeks before principal photography; she later said the casting of Madonna was her reason. Geena Davis took the part. The cast went through a camp run by USC assistant baseball coach Bill Hughes 3 months before the shoot. Photography began on 10 July 1991. The tryout scene was filmed at Wrigley Field, the Rockford Peaches home games at League Stadium in Huntingburg and the championship game at Bosse Field in Evansville. The final week, in October 1991, moved to Cooperstown, where 65 of the league’s former players appear. Madonna’s “This Used to Be My Playground”, heard over the closing credits, was kept off the soundtrack album for contractual reasons. A good fit if you want the founding of a league, its publicity photograph and the rivalry on the field tracked at once. Not for anyone who will find the feud between the sisters too central; the story keeps returning to it.