The True Story of the Women’s Baseball League That Inspired ‘A League of Their Own’

In the final scenes of A League of Their Own, Dottie Hinson (portrayed by Lynn Cartwright), now older, visits Cooperstown, New York, to see a Baseball Hall of Fame exhibit dedicated to the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. She reunites with several former teammates on the field, most of whom were played by professional actors.

However, the older version of Alice “Skeeter” Gaspers, the superstitious backup catcher, was played by a real-life Rockford Peach: Shirley “Hustle” Burkovich. “Dottie, your presence here brings good luck,” she remarks.

Burkovich wasn’t the only AAGPBL alumna involved in the 1992 film. Some made brief appearances, while others, like Lavonne “Pepper” Paire Davis, acted as consultants, sharing their experiences with the filmmakers and even coaching Geena Davis and the cast on specific techniques. For instance, Dolores “Pickles” Lee Dries taught Rosie O’Donnell how to skillfully juggle two baseballs at once.

“[Director Penny Marshall] paid close attention to my input,” Paire Davis shared with The Diamond Angle. “They went through my scrapbooks, listened to my anecdotes and songs—and the young actresses truly embodied the spirit of All-Americans.” She believed that A League of Their Own accurately depicted about 70 to 80 percent of the real story.

This year celebrates the 30th anniversary of A League of Their Own's release, coinciding with the launch of an Amazon TV series by co-creators Abbi Jacobson and Will Graham. The series aims to explore the untold 20 percent of the league’s history, offering a fresh perspective on this iconic story.

Rosie the Right Fielder

Following the U.S. entry into World War II in late 1941, the minor league baseball system began to collapse as numerous players either enlisted or were drafted into military service. Concerns grew that the MLB might face a similar fate. Worried about empty stadiums and financial losses, Philip K. Wrigley—leader of his family’s chewing gum business and owner of the Chicago Cubs—tasked a staff member from the general manager’s office with devising strategies to avoid a potential crisis.

The staffer, Ken Sells—who likely served as the inspiration for David Strathairn’s character Ira Lowenstein in A League of Their Own—and his team proposed creating a professional women’s softball league. Wrigley agreed, envisioning the teams as a way to fill scheduling gaps when MLB teams were on the road. If the men’s league were to shut down, the women’s league could sustain interest in the sport.

Although Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, and many other MLB stars departed to serve in the war, the league itself continued without interruption. Wrigley, whose on-screen counterpart is the fictional candy magnate Walter Harvey (Garry Marshall), proceeded with his plan to establish a women’s league. Similar to the film, scouts traveled across the country (and Canada) to recruit talented softball players from amateur leagues, ultimately selecting 280 finalists for tryouts at Wrigley Field in May 1943. 

Other MLB owners rejected Wrigley’s idea of sharing ballparks, so the women’s teams were assigned their own home fields in Midwestern cities near Chicago. The inaugural season featured four teams: the Racine Belles, Kenosha Comets, South Bend Blue Sox, and Rockford Peaches.

The league initially played a hybrid of baseball and softball, combining softball’s 12-inch ball and underhand pitching with baseball elements like base-stealing. Over its 12-year existence, the league shifted closer to traditional baseball: the ball size decreased, baselines and pitching distances increased, and overhand pitching became standard. The league’s name also evolved, but it ultimately became known as the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, or AAGPBL.

Throughout all the intense physical activity, long bus rides, and demanding schedules, the women were always expected to maintain a flawless image of femininity.

No Pants Allowed in Women’s Baseball

In 1943, during spring training, the women spent their days as athletes and their evenings in charm school. Beauty experts from Helena Rubinstein’s salon instructed them on maintaining a polished, ladylike appearance, providing beauty kits stocked with essentials like lipstick and hair remover. By the next year, the Ruth Tiffany Charm School in Chicago had taken over the role of teaching etiquette and poise.

As per the AAGPBL’s official rules of conduct, players were required to wear lipstick at all times, and “boyish bobs” were strictly forbidden. Smoking, drinking, and wearing pants in public were also prohibited. Even in private, alcohol and swearing were off-limits, with each team assigned a chaperone to ensure compliance. Breaking a rule resulted in a $5 fine, which doubled to $10 for a second offense, and a third violation led to suspension.

Although no one resorted to poisoning their chaperone, Grand Rapids Chicks pitcher Jeneane “Lefty” Lesko (neé DesCombes) told ABC News that players often played pranks, such as putting salt in their chaperones’ beds. Paire Davis once admitted to placing a freshly caught fish in the bathtub of team chaperone Dorothy Hunter.

“Suddenly, we heard a scream, and she ran into the hallway soaking wet, without a towel or robe,” Davis, who was fined $25 for the stunt, recalled.

The frilly, belted uniforms depicted in the film closely resembled the actual outfits worn by the players, which were notoriously difficult to play in. “We were a glamour league. Mr. Wrigley wanted us to look like ladies, which we did, and we played ball like men,” former Peoria Redwing Terry Donahue told WBEZ in 2003. “The one-piece skirts, which ended 6 inches above our knees, were terrible for sliding and hard on our knees. But that’s how it was.”

Life in the AAGPBL was far from easy. The players—some as young as teenagers—balanced grueling schedules with the added pressure of societal expectations. However, their salaries provided some relief: Initially, weekly earnings typically ranged from $45 to $85, meaning some players earned more than their parents. 

The league’s popularity didn’t decline immediately after World War II ended. In fact, 1948 marked its peak attendance, with around 910,000 fans supporting 10 teams. At that time, the AAGPBL was still centrally managed by a single organization, ensuring consistent business strategies. However, this structure fell apart in 1950 when teams began operating independently, leading to the league’s decline. The growing popularity of televised MLB games further exacerbated the situation. By 1954, the league had shrunk to just five teams, and the following season was canceled entirely.

From “All the Way” Faye to “All the Way” Mae 

The AAGPBL quickly faded from public memory, with some former players not even mentioning it to their families. Helen Candaele, who spent five seasons in the league during the 1940s, was an exception to this.

In 1987, Helen’s son Kelly and producer Kim Wilson Southerland used her recollections to produce a short documentary about the AAGPBL. Titled A League of Their Own, it caught the attention of director Penny Marshall when she saw it on television.

While Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel wrote the screenplay for Marshall’s fictional film, they built on an idea proposed by the documentary creators. The plot focused on the competitive relationship between two sisters who played in the league, inspired by Helen and her older sister, Margaret. 

This doesn’t mean Dottie (Geena Davis) and her younger sister Kit (Lori Petty) were directly modeled after Helen and Margaret or any specific players. However, many have likened Dottie to Rockford Peach Dorothy “Dottie” Kamenshek, often regarded as one of the greatest players in league history. Paire Davis has also been mentioned as a source of inspiration for Dottie’s character.

Madonna’s character, “All the Way” Mae Mordabito, shares more than just a nickname with “All the Way” Faye Dancer. “I was always having fun, lifting my skirt for the fans, doing splits and handstands when the game got dull,” Dancer revealed in a 1992 interview. She was also known for her creative pranks, such as smearing Limburger cheese on lightbulbs to create a foul smell in her chaperone’s room.

Tom Hanks’s character Jimmy Dugan was loosely inspired by Jimmie Foxx, a 1951 Baseball Hall of Famer who later managed the Fort Wayne Daisies. While Foxx’s career was cut short by alcoholism and injuries, he was nothing like the crude and brash Dugan.

“He turned out to be a wonderful person,” Ganz told Rolling Stone. “The women all had great things to say about him.”

Redefining “All-American Girls”

The original AAGPBL victory song, co-written by Paire Davis and Nalda “Bird” Phillips, was slightly altered for the movie: Irishmen was changed to Irish ones. The line—“We’ve got Canadians, Irish ones, and Swedes”—highlighted the league’s predominantly white makeup during a time when baseball, like much of society, remained segregated. The filmmakers chose not to revise this, only briefly acknowledging Black women in baseball through a scene where a Black woman (played by softball player DeLisa Chinn-Tyler) throws a powerful ball past Dottie to Ellen Sue.

While Black women didn’t have their own baseball league, three women—Toni Stone, Mamie Johnson, and Connie Morgan—played in the men’s Negro Leagues. Their experiences inspired Max, Chanté Adams’s character in the new TV series. The show will also explore the lives of LGBTQIA+ players in the league, many of whom hid this aspect of their identity.

“I’m 95 now, and I’m finally considering coming out,” said AAGPBL veteran Maybelle Blair, who advised on the series, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

The premiere episode of A League of Their Own will be available on Prime Video starting August 12.