A LEAGUE TO BEMOAN

A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN (1992)
dir: Penny Marshall

A LEAGUE TO BEMOAN
MAD #317, March 1993
w: Stan Hart
a: Angelo Torres

Starts with an elderly Dottie (Lynn Cartwright) going to the opening of an exhibit at the Baseball Museum in Cooperstown honoring the first women's baseball league, then flashes back to when it all began. Dottie (Geena Davis) and her sister Kit (Lori Petty) are playing in their hometown and when they're working their day jobs at a farm, they're approached by talent scout Ernie Capadino (Jon Lovitz) who offers them the job of professional baseball. With the men all going to war, the owners are starting all-female baseball teams. Kit convinces Dottie and on their way to the field. Ernie recruits another Marla (Megan Cavanagh) along the way, initially turning her down for not being pretty enough, until Dottie and Kit convince him.

”Get to know me!” was was of Jon Lovitz' lesser known Saturday Night Live characters where he'd reveal traits about himself. Carl Denham was the fictional director in the original King Kong, I'm not sure if this is more than a pun on “denim”.

Ernie's work is done and he leaves. All the ball players get acquainted. The other two stars are Doris (Rosie O'Donnell) and Mae (Madonna). Madonna was famous for wearing a bullet bra in her stage act, but didn't as her character in this movie. All the players must go to finishing school and learn etiquette. Jimmy Dougan (Tom Hanks) an ex-baseball player who still has a following, and candy bar mogul/team owner Walter Harley (Garry Marshall), who's starting the team, gives him the job as coach even though he's just a drunk, since initially neither have faith in the team. Evelyn (Bitty Schram) brings her son along to the games and he's a nuisance to everyone.

Sex was the title of a coffee-table book by Madonna in the 90s

Marla gets married. Jimmy makes Evelyn cry leading to the “no crying in baseball” speech. The owner was just using the womens' leagues until the “real” players returned and wants to cancel it, but their manager (David Strathairn) wants to keep it going. Dottie and Kit get into a fight and Kit is traded to another team. Dottie's husband (Bill Pullman) returns from the war.

Thelma and Louise was Geena Davis's breakthrough movie.

Dottie quits, but comes back to play the world series. She ends up having to play against her sister Kit and lets Kit win because she always wanted to start a family and preferred to be a housewife, and knew baseball was in Kit's blood.

Roseanne created a big scandal in the early nineties when she grabbed her crotch and spat while singing the national anthem before a baseball game imitating a baseball player. Those were more innocent times.

H. Ross Perot was a businessman who ran for President independently in 1992. Other members of the baseball hall of fame are Robert Redford in The Natural and John Goodman in The Babe.