Part of Weekend Classics: Batter Up!
Tom Hanks, Geena Davis and Madonna star in this major-league comedy from director Penny Marshall. Hanks stars as Jimmy Dugan, a washed-up ballplayer whose big league days are over. Hired to coach in the All-American Girls Baseball League of 1943 while the male pros are at war, Dugan finds himself drawn back into the game by the heart and heroics of his all-girl team. Jon Lovitz adds a scene-stealing cameo as the sarcastic scout who recruits Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis), the baseball dolly with a Babe Ruth swing. Teammates Madonna, Lori Petty and Rosie O’Donnell round out the roster, taking the team to the World Series. Based on the true story of the pioneering women who blazed the trail, on the fields and off, for generations of athletes.
“As exhilarating as a double- header at Chicago's Wrigley Field. It captures all the familiar baseball sensations, with a curve: the hollow crack of the bat connecting with the ball, the electric tension before that crucial ninth-inning pitch, the team's camaraderie as they spit and adjust their skirts.” —Jackie Potts, Miami Herald (Jul 1, 1992) “[Director Penny] Marshall shows her women characters in a tug-of-war between new images and old values, and so her movie is about transition – about how it felt as a woman suddenly to have new roles and freedom…. What's fresh are the personalities of the players, the gradual unfolding of their coach and the way this early chapter of women's liberation fit into the hidebound traditions of professional baseball.” —Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times (Jul 1, 1992)
