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1. The Rockford Peaches were an existent team—one of 15 that existed successful the Midwest-based All-American Girls Professional Baseball League earlier its dissolution successful 1954, including the Kalamazoo Lassies, Chicago Colleens, Peoria Redwings and Grand Rapids Chicks.

As for the inspiration down Dottie, that would beryllium Peaches' archetypal baseman Dorothy "Dottie" Kamenshek, who told Marquette Magazine, "In the beginning, we were lone getting 500 radical successful the stands, and past it got up to 10,000, which is bully for a municipality that supports insignificant league baseball. Eventually, we won them over. At archetypal they conscionable came to spot the skirts, and past we showed them we could play."

Unlike the men, though, they were subjected to a slew of rules extracurricular of the decidedly feminine azygous (designed by league founder Philip K. Wrigley's wife). Shorter hairstyles were a must, arsenic was the etiquette grooming featured successful the film. And if women dared smoke, drink, deterioration pants successful nationalist oregon adjacent measurement retired without makeup, they were taxable to fines. 

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2. A existent labour of love, the last merchandise took years to travel together, starting with the 1987 documentary of the aforesaid name, co-created by Kim Wilson and Kelly Candaele, whose ma Helen Callaghan, was a left-handed halfway fielder successful the league.

"We utilized the documentary to constitute the story, past to merchantability the thought for a feature," Wilson told ESPNW in a 2017 oral history. "We were wholly obsessed with this idea. It took adjacent to 5 years to merchantability it, to bash the probe connected it, to movie it and to constitute the communicative for the [feature] film. It didn't hap successful a week."

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3. Scriptwriters Babaloo Mandel and Lowell Ganz stole an thought oregon 2 from their lives arsenic well. "My mother-in-law lived successful Sherman Oaks, California, astatine the time. And successful her gathering was playwright Neil Simon's mother," Mandel recalled to ESPNW. "One day, my woman and I were going to sojourn [my wife's] parents, and we ran into her, and she was with Neil Simon's brother, Danny. And she introduced him as, 'This is Neil Simon's brother.'"

That infinitesimal turned into a standout enactment betwixt the sisters, said Ganz, "Where Kit says to Dottie, 'You ever perceive Dad present america to people? This is our girl Dottie, and this is our different daughter, Dottie's sister.' It was based connected that anecdote."

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4. While immoderate of the stars had an successful (director Penny Marshall joked Tom Hanks, "asked for the occupation due to the fact that helium had respective flops close before"), picking the close Peaches took immoderate time.

"We were trying to get actresses who really played baseball, truthful that narrowed down the tract close away," shaper Robert Greenhut told ESPNW. "In immoderate cases, it wasn't that important due to the fact that possibly their scenes didn't necessitate that overmuch playing. But for others, they truly had to show immoderate benignant of diversion prowess. So we each rapidly learned however hard it is to propulsion from archetypal basal to 3rd to get idiosyncratic out. It looks truthful casual erstwhile you spot it connected television."

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5. Fortunately,"best darn shot subordinate successful the league" Geena Davis was capable to measurement up to the plate and was a "very intelligibly a talented athlete," said Candaele. "She could propulsion and plaything the bat." 

Though, arsenic the histrion remembers it, her audition, successful Marshall's backyard, was a speedy hitter. "I threw the shot to her, competently got it to her, she caught it and said, 'OK,'" she recalled to USA Today in 2017. "That was the full audition." Before that, the 6-foot prima admitted to ESPNW, she had agelong avoided organized sports: "I assumed I was uncoordinated. I was ever truthful gangly and awkward. That changed my life—learning however to play a sport." Seven years aft the film's premiere, Davis competed successful archery astatine the U.S. Olympic trials. 

6. That divided down location plate? All Davis. After Marshall asked if she could negociate it, "I said to enactment it aboriginal successful the shooting docket to springiness maine clip to enactment up to it," she told USA Today of the Sports Center-worthy catch. "It's hard to larn that quickly. But I did." All that clip loosening up before manus successful a blistery tub couldn't assistance her get close backmost up, though: "There was nary popping up happening," she admitted. "I was stuck determination and had to beryllium helped up."

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7. Madonna was hopeless to beryllium connected the roster, arsenic shaper Greenhut recalled, "And I told her, 'You know, it's precise small money.' She explained that she wanted to beryllium divers successful her career. And she took it seriously. She mightiness person travel successful precocious a fewer times, and possibly I had to bring her to the principal's bureau benignant of thing. But ultimately, she was a sweetheart. She was conscionable truthful enthusiastic astir doing a bully job."

One of her toughest scenes arsenic dancer turned halfway fielder "All the Way" Mae Mordabito progressive sliding into third, helium recalled, "That took a portion to get right." During training, the actresses reportedly practiced by utilizing a Slip 'N Slide.

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11. Marshall's girl Tracy Reiner (left fielder Betty "Spaghetti" Horn) earned her relation the hard way. When she and her relative Wendy turned up to the unfastened call, "There were astir 2,000 girls auditioning astatine USC with [former shot coach] Rod Dedeaux, and his coaches and trainers were going to measure the girls to spot if you were trainable. I was somewhat prepared due to the fact that I played softball connected the weekends," Reiner remembered. "Dedeaux looks astatine maine and says, 'That miss has got an arm.'" 

Having conscionable had her contented teeth removed, "I get location aft popping stitches successful my rima and spitting blood, past my ma was upset," she recalled. "I thought for definite it was astir my teeth. I thought she'd liked that I had tried retired [with the casting telephone group]. She goes, 'No! [How'd] you 2 [end up] investigating successful the apical 20 girls!'"

12. As for Marshall's brother, manager Garry Marshall, helium scored the relation of league laminitis Walter Harvey erstwhile different histrion dropped out. 

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13. The actresses truly had to play hardball, grooming immoderate 8 hours a day, six days a week for seven-and-a-half months. "That bruise connected Renee Coleman [backup catcher Alice Gaspers] from [sliding into base]—that was real," said Reiner. "That was not 1 pinch of makeup. She had that bruise for, like, 10 years."

14. Meanwhile Anne Ramsay (first baseman Helen Haley), broke her chemoreceptor astir 2 weeks earlier filming started. "It was the archetypal time that we switched from modern-day mitts to authentic, vintage mitts from the '40s. The mitts were restored a small bit, but they were the archetypal deals. We were successful Chicago, the manager throws maine the ball...and possibly the 4th clip helium threw it, it conscionable slips and hits me," Ramsay shared. "They took maine to the hospital, and we had to reset it, and my chemoreceptor has ne'er been the same. But who cares!"

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16. Rosie O'Donnell had on-the-field skills. "I played with my brothers and successful small league," she told Entertainment Weekly in 1992 of being capable to realistically prima arsenic erstwhile bouncer and 3rd baseman Doris Murphy. But it was her comedic timing that was champion remembered by her castmates.

"She suggested to the accumulation institution that they prosecute a stand-up comic person of hers to support the stands [of extras] blessed due to the fact that determination was a batch of downtime," recalled Megan Cavanagh (second baseman and ace slugger Marla Hooch). "And Rosie would travel retired and sing Madonna songs." 

And two stars shared a dynamic arsenic affable arsenic their characters'. "Rosie was not acrophobic of Madonna. She did what she wanted to do, and I deliberation Madonna loved that," said Cavanagh. "Rosie would sing each of 'Holiday,' and Madonna would get huffy astatine her and say, 'Don't ever sing 1 of my songs again.' And the adjacent day, she'd travel retired and sing 'Vogue.' It was truthful amusive to ticker her bash that."

17. Hanks would besides spot successful to amuse the extras, forced to endure the 100-plus grade summertime heat. The two-time Oscar victor reportedly performed puppet shows down the dugout. 

18. Another item of the months-long shoot, says Cavanagh, "I retrieve 1 night, Madonna had a day enactment that we each attended astatine her house. She made Rice Krispies treats for herself."

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19. To trim the flick from its archetypal 4 hours to conscionable much than two, rather a fewer scenes were edited out, including 1 that would person been a existent curveball. After Dottie watches Jimmy deed batting practice, he goes successful for a kiss, the infinitesimal being the real crushed the league's star attempts to quit.

However, "It was precise upsetting to the existent women players, apparently," Cavanagh told ESPNW. "Davis' quality was married, and it upset the [former AAGPBL] players that she would buss different antheral portion her hubby was astatine war." Another trimmed scene had Dottie revealing she had joined her husband Bob the nighttime helium got drafted. 

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22. No, that's not Davis playing an older mentation of herself successful the flash-forward scenes. Lynn Cartwright, a then-65-year-old actress, was picked to play an older Dottie with the other Peaches receiving a much mature treble arsenic well. "We felt it was a gamble," shaper Elliot Abbott admitted to the Los Angeles Times in 1992, but they disquieted the aging constitution wouldn't look realistic enough. "We didn't cognize whether oregon not it was going to work, which frightened america to death."

Though Cartwright studied Davis' enactment to nail her mannerisms, production chose to dub successful the star's voice "because Lynn's dependable is truthful different, truthful deep, it would person pulled you out," said Abbott. "It's each you would person thought about."

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24. The large debate: Did Dottie truly driblet the ball? Bitty Schram (right fielder Evelyn Gardner) believes so: "I would accidental subconsciously yes due to the fact that she knew however overmuch much it meant to Kit, and she was excessively bully of a player."

But erstwhile it comes to spilling that detail, Davis isn't consenting to play ball. "I'll accidental 2 things astir that. No. 1: I cognize the answer. Because it was me, of course, I cognize the answer," she shared with ESPNW. "And No. 2: No, I'm not going to reply that question. I ne'er have, and I ne'er will."