I Rewatched A League Of Their Own (1992, Dir. by Penny Marshall)


Last night, I saw that A League of Their Own was on Netflix. I tried to get my sister to watch it with me, but she just told me that she liked the high ones and called me a nag. (It makes sense if you’ve seen the movie.) So I rewatched it by myself and cried all over again.

In case you’re one of the two people who haven’t heard of this movie, A League of Their Own takes place during World War II. With professional baseball players either enlisting or getting drafted, people worry there might not be another season of baseball until the war ends. Candy-bar manufacturer Walter Harvey (played by director Penny Marshall’s brother, Garry) creates the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, with the requirement that the players not only know how to handle a bat but also look good in the impractical short skirts he expects them to wear while sliding into home. The movie follows the first season of the Rockford Peaches. Geena Davis plays Dottie, the catcher whose husband is serving overseas. Lori Petty plays Kit, the pitcher who struggles to hit high fastballs and who is also Dottie’s sister. Rosie O’Donnell and Madonna play two players from New York. Tom Hanks is Jimmy, the alcoholic former player turned manager who says, “There’s no crying in baseball!”

It may be heresy to admit it, but A League of Their Own is not my favorite baseball movie. (That would be Major League.) Most of the actresses, especially Geena Davis, are convincing as baseball players, and I love that the movie shone a light on the real-life AAGPBL. (Sixty former AAGPBL players appear in the movie.) But as a baseball fan, it’s always bothered me that the movie doesn’t really examine any of their games in depth. We know that Dottie is a good catcher, that Kit is a good pitcher, that Madonna can catch a baseball in her hat, and that Evelyn (Bitty Schram) cries when she gets yelled at, but we don’t learn much about the other players on the team and what they’re good at. The Peaches win games, but I would have liked to see more of how they won.

I still love A League of Their Own, though. The bonding between the players gets to me. They’re all from different parts of the country. Some of them are married and some of them are definitely single. But from the minute they’re selected to play in the AAGPBL, they form a family of their own. When one of them reveals that she’s never learned how to read, the players teach her. When Evelyn needs to bring her bratty problem child on the road, the team looks after him. When Jimmy makes Evelyn cry, the team rallies around Evelyn. Everyone remembers Jimmy saying there’s no crying in baseball, but they forget he got kicked out of the game afterward. (Jimmy eventually becomes a better coach.) When one player gets the telegram that her husband has been killed in the war, everyone cries. In the film’s epilogue, Evelyn’s son says that she was never happier than when she was playing for the Peaches, and I can understand why. The heart of the film is the relationship between Dottie and Kit. Even though you can guess from the start that Kit and Dottie are eventually going to end up on different teams and face each other in the big game, it’s still an emotional moment when they find themselves on opposite sides of the plate.

A League of Their Own is on Netflix, so watch it if you haven’t seen it before. Or, if you’re like me, rewatch it and try not to cry all over again when the former players reunite at the Baseball Hall of Fame. Hurry up, though. It’s leaving on September 30th.

 

 

Celebrate Labor Day With The Pulps!


by William George Fix

Are you still having trouble getting into the proper Labor Day mood?  Don’t worry, the pulps are here to help!

Below are some pulpy covers celebrating the joys of having a job!  If these don’t make you say, “Happy Labor Day!,” I don’t know what will!

by George Rozon

by Harry Schaare

by Ken Barr

by Robert Gibson Jones

by Manuel Ray Isip

by Tom Miller

by Julian Block

by Eric Stanton

Celebrate Labor Day With Baseball!


As of today, my beloved Texas Rangers sit at 71-73. There are only 18 games left in the regular MLB season. Usually, when the season is nearly over and your team is sitting on a losing record, you spend your time hoping that next year will be better. Luckily, the entire AL West has been struggling this season, so even though the Rangers have a losing record, they’re still in second place and only two games behind the Astros.

In other words, we’re still in this!

Baseball is a funny game. One of the things I love about it is that a team can struggle all season and still suddenly hit a burst of good luck at the end. On Saturday night I screamed for joy when the Rangers, after struggling for eight innings, managed to tie the game in the ninth. Then I screamed for a totally different reason when they allowed the Rays to score three runs and win in the tenth. But yesterday I cheered when the Rangers defeated the Rays 8-6.

The Rangers aren’t playing today. They’ve got Labor Day off, and I hope they’re preparing mentally to pull off a miracle over the next 18 games. We’ll be playing the Mariners, Diamondbacks, Red Sox, the hated Blue Jays, the Mets, and the Twins. If we can’t even beat the Mets, I’m going to be very sad.

Of course, the Astros are going to have to do their part and lose their next few games. That’s not too much to ask, is it?

Saint Rita of Cascia is the patron saint of impossible causes. Some people probably think the Rangers are an impossible cause this year. That’s the same thing they said in 2023, when the Rangers proved the doubters, the haters, and the northerners wrong by winning their first World Series. Saint Rita, advocate of the impossible, pray for us.

And go Rangers!

Celebrate Labor Day With These Patriotic Posters!


Are you having trouble getting into the Labor Day mood?  Maybe I can help.

During the Second World War, the entire country went to work for the war effort.  While America’s soldiers and sailors served oversees, those left behind did their part and stepped up to do the job that were left behind.  World War II saw many women entering the work force for the first time.  It was an era when having a job wasn’t just about making money.  It was also about keeping the world free and safe.

In honor of that era and to help us all celebrate Labor Day, here are some patriotic posters that encouraged everyone to do their part.

Happy Labor Day From The Shattered Lens


by Erin Nicole

Happy Labor Day from your friends here at the Shattered Lens!

My favorite movie about having a job is Office Space.  In honor of everyone who is having to work on Labor Day, here’s my favorite scene from that movie.  I think this is one of those things that everyone can relate to.  Every Labor Day, when we’re hanging out with our family and everyone’s watching the college football games, Lisa and I sing along to this scene.

Artwork of the Day: Women’s Barracks (by Barye Phillips)


by Barye Phillips

This book first came out in 1950.  The cover and the book’s plot about five French women living together in London during World War II were so controversial that Canada banned it outright and the U.S. House held hearing on whether or not the book was immoral.  The controversy also made the book a best seller and helped launch the genre of lesbian pulp fiction.