A League of Their Own commentary, part 3: ‘Go where things happen’

Cut to a moving train departing the station with the old classic “Choo Choo Ch’boogie” playing on the soundtrack. Fun sidebar fact here: I danced to that song in one of my dance classes as a kid. I think it was the one where we each had wooden suitcases as props to stand on with our tap shoes. Picture evidence is somewhere around the house.

But back to the movie.

It’s interesting here to see trains as not only a standard form of transportation but also somewhat luxurious. The passengers could actually sit and enjoy themselves. A much better option than cramming into an airplane like sardines. Although, I’m sure the travel time on the train across the country from Oregon took much longer than a plane ride.

Boogying to catch a train
Capadino is on the train alone, except there’s an over-enthusiastic businessman talking his ear off. Then Capadino has had enough of listening to this guy’s bullshit. “You know, if I had your job? I’d kill myself. Sit here, I’ll see if I can dig up a pistol.”

Conversation over.

Meanwhile, Dottie and Kit come into the frame as they’re sprinting to catch the moving train, giving Capadino a chance to see their running abilities. Hey, it looks like Kit convinced Dottie to give it a shot! Once they jump onto the train, Capadino asks them a very important question: “Did you promise the cows you’d write?” They really max out every bit of comedic value with his character as possible in a relatively short amount of time, and I’m so here for it.

Capadino is smoking a giant cigar on the train again, clearly a trademark for him. Their next stop isn’t Chicago where tryouts are being held, but in Fort Collins, Colo. to look at another player. Quick-cut to a baseball being hit through a window of a building and landing into the pouring rain. I wonder if that was intentional to have this player, Marla Hooch, hit inside because of the rain. Maybe there’s something there with the perspective of how her hits would look. Or maybe it was raining when they wanted to shoot, so they improvised.

Marla’s proud pop stands off to the side and, upon Marla checking her swing at a high pitch, turns to tell Capadino that his daughter has “an eye like (Joe) DiMaggio.” The scout seems unimpressed by the father’s attempts to brag about his daughter, though it’s clear Marla is a talented switch hitter. Never mind the hair in her face, blue slacks, white button-up blouse and red ball cap covering most of her face.

Not pretty?

Capadino is not subtle whatsoever when Marla finally lifts her head, and more importantly her eyes, to make eye contact. Lovitz plays this one perfectly, again, giving a visible reaction that conveys Marla is definitely not the “dolly” type the league is looking for, so he offers a not-promising “we’ll let you know” and turns to walk out.

I love the solidarity that comes up here. It’s a common-sense but also kind of the first “girl power!” type moment of the movie. Kit and Dottie slam their suitcases down and refuse to leave, protesting Capadino’s move to leave Marla behind because she has too much of a resemblance to, in Capadino’s words, General Omar Bradley. No, I didn’t get that particular reference either, and apparently neither did Kit: “You mean you ain’t taking her cuz she ain’t pretty?!”  

“Well, look who just caught up!” Capadino retorts.

Then Marla’s father has a heart-to-heart with the scout, telling him he raised Marla (whose mother is deceased) like a little boy because he “didn’t know any better.” He doesn’t want Marla to be denied this opportunity now because of his job raising his daughter to… not be a Barbie doll, I guess.

Between the sisterly protests and this conversation, Ernie obviously caves and allows Marla to come along for the tryout.

Marla and her pop have a nice father-daughter scene at the train station. The advice Marla’s father gives her, as she’s apprehensive about leaving home where she won’t know anybody, is sweet and can probably be applied to many people at different crossroads in their lives.

“You gotta go where things happen.”

Welcome to Illinois, girls!
Capadino prods Marla to get her butt on the train that’s departing by explaining to her, in his witty way, how this mode of transportation is done. “You see how it works is, the train moves, not the station.” As Marla gets on the train and waves goodbye to her father, the camera shot is very well done here. A waving American flag is seen perfectly in the reflection of the train car as Marla waves.

However long the train trip to Chicago takes, the next thing we know, the group of four is walking out onto a baseball field, known as Harvey Field, which is obviously a shout to the real-life Wrigley Field. For some reason, they enter through an outfield entrance rather than a dugout. That’s probably to showcase the ballpark as seen from their eyes. It’s a movie. Capadino also reminds the sisters to not eat the grass, calling them “cow girls.”

One other thing, too. Capadino is wearing the same suit as when he met Dottie and Kit. How long is a train ride from Oregon to Chicago with a stop in between? Maybe it’s shorter than I think, but wouldn’t he have a change of clothes?

Capadino tells the ladies to hit the field for tryouts, adding that they shouldn’t embarrass him. This is where he makes his exit from the film (his character returns for a moment back in the present at the end of the movie), going home to give his wife a little “pickle tickle” (TMI, pal) before heading out on the road again. He leaves as the girls are still unsure of what to do, so naturally, he tells them it’s tryouts and to “get lost” before adding as he turns to leave, “I hate when they get attached to me like that.”

OK, so I guess I’ll have to stop gushing about Lovitz now. 

A League of Their Own commentary, part 1: 'Mule!' 'Nag!'
A League of Their Own commentary, part 2: 'So we can make a buck...'

A League of Their Own commentary, part 2: ‘So we can make a buck…’

The next scene shows the sisters walking on the dirt road on their farm. The sibling rivalry is really established here. Although it’s not so much a rivalry from Dottie’s standpoint as it is for Kit. As the younger sister, it’s clear she’s been in Dottie’s shadow, and she’s sick of it. I mean, their baseball team just had a walk-off victory, and Kit is pissed about it. Dottie is much more casual, like her hit under pressure was just another day at the office for her.

It’s not all made up in Kit’s head either, because she hears it from other people, like the baseball fan and even their father. Kit does an impression of her father introducing the duo to people, changing the inflection in her voice to disdain when it comes to the Kit introduction. “’This is our other daughter, Dottie’s sister.’ They should’ve just had you and bought a dog.”

Jon Lovitz steals the show in the next scene, again. He enters the barn as Dottie and Kit are milking cows. Capadino asks if that hurts the cows, then says “well, it would bruise the hell out of me.” He brings the plot back to center sharing that he’s a scout helping to start the girls’ baseball league “so we can make a buck while the boys are overseas.”

Scout makes his pitch
I know times were totally different then, but it’s worth noting that it was the “girls” baseball league and not the “women’s” baseball league. Imagine the GNBA or NGHL today. Another sign of the times? The monetary differences. Capadino offered them $75 a week to play compared to the 30 bucks they were making at the dairy.

Then Capadino gets to the heart of the offer, too, as he approaches Dottie: “You’re kind of a dolly. That’s what we’re looking for.” That’s enough for the married Dottie to put the brakes on this discussion, noting that her husband is one of those men fighting overseas.

“Oh relax. I’m talking looky no touchy.”

OK, well as long as we’re clear on that, Capadino. That’s so much better. There are plenty of sexist elements in this movie, but it’s not anything out of left field. I think the main purpose is showing some realism with how men were treated versus women, but there is always creative movie license in films based on reality, too.

Kit makes her case
Kit jumps at the chance for a fresh start playing pro ball, which again shows her passion for the game while Dottie is dismissive of the opportunity. Capadino is blunt about saying he didn’t want Kit because of her failed at-bat. He wants Dottie because she hit the ball. Dottie jumps to her sister’s defense right away, which is nice to see, explaining that Kit is a pitcher.

“She just didn’t pitch today because she pitched the day before.”

“Well thanks for that extra-special glimpse into her life.” There’s Lovitz with the sarcastic delivery again.

Dottie tries, and yeah, kind of fails, to insult Capadino by saying he’s not nice. “Ooo, that one hurt,” Capadino shot back, clearly not stung by the weak comeback.

Kit tries again to convince the scout to give her the chance, wanting to show him some pitches. It is a little odd that he’s out there and didn’t stay for more than one game so he could see her pitch. He could have at least wanted to see her “throw a few.” Just because she was a disaster in one plate appearance doesn’t mean she’s a trash pitcher, too. But hey, it’s a movie (Get used to me saying that.).

In the middle of their conversation, there’s a loud cow “moo!” behind them, to which Capadino turns around and offers a “Will you shut up?” I thought I also read somewhere that this line was ad-libbed by Lovitz. It was a great choice if that was the case. He changes his mind on Kit when he pats her arm and feels how muscular it is, which seems to surprise him. So, he offers to let her come if she brings Dottie along.

For good measure, he tells Kit: “If you stink, it’ll only cost us a train ticket.”

I’m telling you, every line of his is just such a memorable zinger. He ends the scene trying to make he way around a cluster of chickens without stepping on them. “Get these wild animals away from me! Haven’t you ever heard of a leash?”

Sisters are a package deal
Kit makes her desperate pleas with Dottie as they’re later setting the table for dinner. I love how there’s a full loaf of bread that makes an appearance that doesn’t have a large plastic wrapper with a twist tie around it. I’m sure it was homemade bread, too. Their parents are in the other room listening to the radio, because this was before televisions. What a world.

Dottie still has no interest in joining the league, but Kit clearly wants to get out of her hometown because she’s “nothing here.” We all know Dottie’s going to change her mind, because then we wouldn’t have a movie, right?

A League of Their Own commentary, part 1: 'Mule!' 'Nag!'

A League of Their Own commentary, part 1: ‘Mule!’ ‘Nag!’

COVID-19 has changed something for everyone. From my sports/social/writing perspective, I’ve been trying to find creative ways to keep busy and fill my cup. Instead of watching Minnesota Twins baseball in a highly anticipated 2020 season, I’ve watched replays of classic games. One night, I decided to pop in my old DVD of one of my favorite movies, “A League of Their Own.”

My brain turning a bit during my peak night-owl hours, I thought it might be a fun idea to jot down notes throughout the movie and write up a detailed summary and my thoughts on the movie. It’s one I already know so well with a lot of the memorable quotes, but I figured my notes couldn’t hurt to put it all together. I tried to incorporate as much of the movie as possible without getting any more long-winded.

So, I hope you enjoy my 14-part series on the film. I’ll publish a new post each day. Grab some popcorn and read along.

Setting the scene in the present
The movie starts out with who we’ll soon know as “older Dottie” packing a suitcase. A subtle touch is some old photographs on her dresser of her and, we assume, her husband. You can tell right away in the conversation with her daughter that Dottie isn’t really feeling this trip, whatever it is, surrounding baseball. I think I read somewhere that Geena Davis, who plays the younger Dottie in most of the movie, has her voice dubbed for these scenes. It makes sense because the voice is so familiar.

A couple of throwbacks to my childhood here as Dottie and her daughter head out to the car. Dottie calls her older grandson a “wisenheimer” after he makes a crack. That’s definitely a term I heard as a kid. Also, it must be in the parent handbook to say “I don’t want to get any bad reports,” like when Dottie’s daughter tells her sons the neighbor will be watching them while she’s gone.

Before they pull out of the driveway, we get a taste of Dottie’s competitive edge as she gives separate pep talks to her grandsons playing basketball. A simple “kill him” is uttered to the younger boy.

From there, the music comes up on the song “Now and Forever” as more opening credits roll while Dottie makes her journey on a Greyhound, which passes a sign welcoming folks to Cooperstown and eventually pulls up to Doubleday Field. Dottie enters the field to see teams of older women playing baseball and looks around in reflective awe.

Flashback to the 1940s
It’s only about eight minutes into the movie as the film fades from present-day to the black-and-white film and narration clearly taking everyone back to World War II times. We don’t know it yet, but pretty much the entire movie is a flashback as Dottie remembers her one season in the All-American Girls Baseball League. Sometimes flashbacks are cheesy and not well done, but I’ve always thought this was a great way to handle this one. There’s no jumping around, and it makes sense that she’s flooded with all these memories.

Anyway, the black-and-white segment sets the scene for the movie, explaining the need for the baseball league. Instead of shutting down baseball entirely during the war as the men went off to serve, “the candy-bar king” Walter Harvey put his “whiz kid” Ira Lowenstein in charge of figuring out how to keep baseball around.

The first old-time scene opens up with a graphic to establish we’re at a local ballpark in Willamette, Oregon in 1943. Where’s Willamette? I have no idea, but judging by the cornfields beyond the outfield, it’s in farm country.

The first line here belongs to actor Jon Lovitz, playing baseball scout Ernie Capadino. Some fan is standing in his way in the bleachers behind home plate, and Capadino lets him have it: “Hey, fatso, get out of the way! What are you, crazy?” Lovitz has a relatively smaller role and sticks around in just the beginning of the movie, but man, he’s one of the best characters with most of his lines being great one-liners with a bunch of sarcasm and snark attached.

‘No high ones’
Dottie establishes the sister relationship right away with Kit, who’s on deck in the game as they’re both wearing their stylish “Lukish Dairy” baseball uniforms. Dottie is trying to give her some pointers.

“Look, sis, she’s getting everybody out high. Don’t swing at that pitch, ok?”

“I can hit it.”

Kit’s stubbornness is evident from the drop, too. She’s going to prove her older sister wrong. But Dottie presses and tells her “no high ones.” To which Kit responds: “I like the high ones.” This will, of course, come back near the end of the movie as a theme between the sisters. I never really got the whole “Mule!” “Nag!” exchange between them, but it sticks out enough to be important as something between them.

True to Dottie’s warnings, Kit whiffs badly at a pair of pitches head-high. Kit glances at Dottie, who again motions and mouths “too high.” In her head now, Kit is clearly determined to let the next pitch go by, which ends up being right down the middle for strike three. Kit is super pissed and tosses the bat against the chain-link fence as she storms back toward the dugout while a casual Dottie heads to the plate.

Meanwhile, Capadino offers a small chuckle from his seat where he’s taking notes with a big cigar dangling from his lips. As Kit stands to the side, there’s a billboard in the shot behind her that reads “Buy War Bonds,” which is another sign of the times, in case the audience isn’t caught up yet.

For the first, but not the last, time in the movie, Dottie provides the walk-off hit as two runs come in to score. If we’re not sure this is Dottie by now, the fans start up chants of “Dottie! Dottie!” One of the fans throws some salt on Kit’s wounds, telling her it’s a good thing her sister bailed her out.