Depending on where you live and whether you pay attention to American baseball, you may be aware that the Boston Red Sox will face the Colorado Rockies tonight in game 1 of the World Series. I care because I’m a Red Sox fan (of the intrepid variety — living in New York). But, although I like baseball, I don’t like that’s it’s so exclusively a boy sport.
For the most part, girls are relegated to the separate, but unequal, realm of softball. (Before you yell at me, I’m not denigrating softball or softball players. I’m just saying that no one who isn’t directly connected to the sport pays attention to it.) Of course, there is a history of women playing baseball on a national scale. There were the league-less “bloomer girls” teams in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and the All-American Girls Baseball League in the 1940s and ’50s. Additionally, a handful of women played in the men’s Negro Leagues in the 1950s.
But still, baseball is about the boys, both in real life and in entertainment. Occasionally in sitcoms, you’ll get a fish-out-of-water premise of moms coaching baseball. Remember when Mrs. Brady took over baseball and Mr. Brady had to cook with the girls? (They both learned important lessons that day.) (I have, however, heard that there was a great moment on Buffy when a slayer suddenly got her powers while at bat.)
At the suggestion of a friend, I thought I’d take a brief look at women-in-baseball movies. And my look was brief because there ain’t much to see.
(1992)
This is the mother of all women-in-baseball movies … because it’s the only movie that’s actually about women in baseball. What’s good about this movie is that it features a lot of women playing baseball — with tennis balls to minimize injuries. (I saw a thing about that on TV once.) The actors had to undergo baseball auditions and, except for Geena Davis, they all performed their own stunts. Additionally, all of the injuries they displayed were real. The movie also introduced the world to Megan Cavanaugh, whose character, Marla Hooch, was inexplicably straight. (Megan can now be seen in Exes & Ohs.)
The downside is that not only was Marla Hooch straight, everyone was straight. And so much of the movie was about the redemption of Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks). Whatever.
2. The Bad News Bears (1976)
This was pretty much the perfect ’70s movie. The good guys are about as flawed as they get: The children swear. The coach is an alcoholic, who gives beer to children and it’s kind of OK. The team we’re rooting for loses, but we cheer for them when they throw their second-place trophy at the first-place team to the strains of “Toreador” from Carmen.
And then there’s Tatum O’Neal. She was only 12 or 13 when this was filmed, but she had already won an Oscar for Paper Moon.
The boys balk about playing with a girl, but Tatum’s character Amanda, along with bad boy Kelly Leek — Amanda uses her feminine wiles to lure him onto the team — are the stars.
3. Bull Durham (1988)
Once we get into the realm of Kevin Costner baseball movies, we know things are going downhill. But it’s always pretty easy to watch Susan Sarandon, so it’s still OK. It’s fair to call this a women-in-baseball movie because, although Sarandon’s character is classified as a groupie, she does get down-and-dirty when she teaches Tim Robbins about baseball. (And about life, of course.) And then Kevin Costner teaches her about love.
The other good thing about this movie is that this is where she and Tim Robbins met (I believe). And they’re almost a lesbian couple, really.
4. Fever Pitch (2005)
Calling this a women-in-baseball movie is a huge stretch. Workaholic Drew Barrymore
falls in love with goofy Jimmy Fallon. Puerile physical comedy ensues. (It’s a Farrelly Brothers movie.) All goes well until his rabid Red Sox fandom gets in the way.
I included this because of an observation made by a close friend. What would make this an interesting movie? A character switch. What if Drew were the Red Sox fan insteady of Jimmy? Then it’s not the generic Peter Pan–syndrome movie; it’s a whole new ball game. (I’m sorry. I know that was wrong.)
It’s not an unrealistic scenario. Anyone at all familiar with Red Sox Nation knows that Red Sox fandom is not
exclusively a boy thing. And, as my friend pointed out, her fandom was matrilineal, passed down from her maternal grandmother.
That’s really the best that I can do. I thought about Amy Madigan in Field of Dreams, but I didn’t want to write about another Kevin Costner movie. (Plus I didn’t see it.) And there are some women in The Natural. Maybe.
Are there any great women-in-baseball gems that I’m missing?
