In a visiting locker room before what’s assumed to be a
playoff game against South Bend, the team is getting ready and singing the song
that Evelyn wrote about them. “Batter up! Hear that call! The time has come for
one and all… to play ball.”
Dugan comes in all chipper-like and tells them he gets a
bonus if they make the World Series and then reminds them to use their heads. “That’s
the lump three feet above our ass, right Jimmy?” quips Doris. Laughter and
chatter ensue before being abruptly halted when a guy with a telegram enters
the room. Not really sure how he got down there and then walks right in to a
ladies locker room, but whatever.
Again showing a sign of the times, he’s there with a
telegram from the war department. We know from a comment earlier in the movie
that this means one of the ladies’ husbands was killed in action. Silence. And
I get this was probably also done for the movie for effect, but the guy then
looks over his checklist and mutters to himself about how they should send
someone personally to “tell someone your husband’s dead.” It’s a very tacky
remark when everyone in the room can clearly hear him. It was more for the
benefit of the audience, I guess, to remind them of the significance of the
moment.
For some reason, he can’t find a name on his little list and
is about to leave to get it figured out, leaving the married women in the room
to apparently go play a baseball playoff game wondering if their husband is
dead or alive. Luckily, Dugan steps in as the fierce protector of these women
he respects and cares about. He politely asks for the telegram and then ends up
throwing the dude in between the wall and doorframe, ripping the telegram out
of his hands before tossing him out.
Dugan slowly walks down the line. We know for sure that
Betty and Dottie are both married with husbands at war, and the ladies are
right next to each other. Because nothing awful can happen to the movie’s
leading lady, it’s Betty’s husband, George, who is deceased. In a sad scene,
her teammates and Jimmy comfort her before taking her out of the room.
But, they still have a baseball game to play.
Off to the Series
Later that night, Dottie is sobbing uncontrollably in her room, obviously affected by the earlier scene and knowing it could have been her instead of Betty. So in movie fashion, in walks Dottie’s husband Bob, back from overseas with a foot injury. He’s been discharged. Oh, the reunion!
Later that night, Dottie is sobbing uncontrollably in her room, obviously affected by the earlier scene and knowing it could have been her instead of Betty. So in movie fashion, in walks Dottie’s husband Bob, back from overseas with a foot injury. He’s been discharged. Oh, the reunion!
When it comes to baseball, I guess the playoff format really
didn’t matter for our purposes, because we saw nothing of that earlier game
they played. Apparently, they won and are now going to the World Series. We
only know that because the next morning, Jimmy is waiting for his team to board
the bus and sarcastically yells “Let’s not go to the World Series without Stillwell’s
toys!”
Obviously, the team we’ve followed the entire movie is going
to end up in the championship game, but it’s interesting to me that the Xs and
Os of how they got there didn’t seem important to show. Or maybe that’s just my
quarantine brain really wanting some baseball right now.
As they board the bus, a couple boys walk by and asks for
Jimmy’s autograph. He scribbles it on a baseball and the boy reads it aloud: “’Avoid
the clap, Jimmy Dugan.’ Wow!” Dugan is dead serious when he calls after them: “That’s
good advice!”
Dottie maintains that it’s ‘only a game’
Meanwhile, Dottie is preparing to drive back to Oregon with the hubby. Teammate
Helen, acting pretty casual about it, tells her to write and they’ll miss her. Her
comment tips Jimmy out to the fact that Dottie is leaving. Wait, what? So many
questions. Can she just up and quit like that? And why didn’t she tell Jimmy?
Was she really just going to duck out like that? 
Jimmy goes over to talk to her packing up the car and
mentions her “sneaking out.” That’s definitely what it feels like she’s doing.
But at the same time, we know her attitude toward baseball is pretty casual,
and she wants to seize every moment she can with Bob now that he’s back safe
and sound. From an emotional standpoint it’s easy to see why she wants to get
back to her life with her husband.
Dottie tells Jimmy baseball is “only a game” that she doesn’t
need because she has Bob. Pause a moment for the fact that she thinks she has
to choose. Ah yes, the saga of women choosing between home and work. It’s still
around all these decades later, in some ways. She adds that it got too hard,
though I’m not sure what she means by that. Her fighting with Kit? Being away
from home on the farm? She has no trouble playing the game itself, of course.
Here’s this quotable movie coming through again
In his response, Jimmy has one of his most memorable lines of the movie for me: “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”
In his response, Jimmy has one of his most memorable lines of the movie for me: “It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard is what makes it great.”
I know he’s known for the famous “There’s no crying in
baseball line” earlier, but this one really strikes me, too. It’s just so
profound and can be applied to so many things in life. I like it.
After Jimmy storms off at the end of their conversation, Bob
comes over to Dottie and asks if everything’s OK. Oh, sure, Bob. Everything’s
just peachy. Your wife is the best player in her baseball league and she’s abandoning
her team right before the World Series when they’re already a few players
short. Enjoy that drive home.
Speaking of being short players, let’s do a quick roster
check. By my count, the Peaches are down four players. Three for sure. First,
Marla got married and made it known she wasn’t returning this season. Then Kit
was traded away and we never heard what the Peaches got in return (obviously
the most important part was that Kit was dealt), so I guess we could assume there
was an even exchange. Betty is no doubt at home in mourning and planning a funeral
for George. Now Dottie leaves them high and dry.
Losing Marla, Betty, Kit and Dottie are four big pieces to
this Peaches team we’ve watched throughout the movie. How will the rest of the
squad stack up in the World Series?
A League of Their Own commentary, part 2: 'So we can make a buck...'
A League of Their Own commentary, part 3: 'Go where things happen'
A League of Their Own commentary, part 4: 'OK, some of them are goin' home'
A League of Their Own commentary, part 5: 'Still a fall-down drunk?'
A League of Their Own commentary, part 6: 'What a hitter'
A League of Their Own commentary, part 7: 'It had to be you'
A League of Their Own commentary, part 8: 'There's no crying in baseball!'
A League of Their Own commentary, part 10: 'If you're here, then I'm not here'
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