BaseballBiz On Deck

No Crying In Baseball - Author Erin Carlson shares "A League of Their Own" stories

November 09, 2023 Mark Corbett & Author, Erin Carlson Episode 216
BaseballBiz On Deck
No Crying In Baseball - Author Erin Carlson shares "A League of Their Own" stories
Show Notes

Erin Carlson spins Baseball Women stories from the movie of "A League of Their Own". How Penny Marshall earned the respect of the AAGPBL, Stories of the All-American Players

  • Tomboy & Director Penny Marshall moves from dancer to performing arts to Laverne & Shirley
  • Transition from Laverne to director
  • From BIG to Baseball 
  • Tom Hanks interprets Penny’s Bronx to the cast
  • Baseball Drill for 6 weeks with coaches in LA
  • Actresses who brought Athletic Talent to the field – Rosie O’Donnel, Lori Petty & Freddie Simpson
  • All The Way Mae - Madonna could not hit, throw but was trainable per Joe Russo
  • Debra Winger, originally cast as Dottie, leaves the team with $3 million
  • Enter Geena Davis – untapped athletic ability & a steely game face
  • 14:4 – Loop?
  • Lori Petty & Kit brings it to the field but was concerned when Winger left
  • Lori Petty & Geena Davis chemistry was strong on
  • AAGPBL story is resurrected through the son of Helen Callaghan Candaele , the Ted Williams of Baseball
  • Cooperstown 1988 - The players were suspicious of what others may do with their story
  • Penny Marshall was kicked out of a AAGPBL banquet
  • Fortuitous Steakhouse dinner with AAGPBL players, Fort Wayne Daisies, Faye Dancer & Pepper Paire Davis
  • Mandel & Ganz – 2 great writers selected for the film
  • Giant Rolodex, Birthday parties with Carrie Fisher and “Bobby D” De Niro 
  • Marge & Helen – sisters from Vancouver leave the factories behind in 1944 and joined the Minneapolis Millerettes, later with the Daisies– template for Dottie and Kit
  • Helen was the “Ted Williams of Women’s Baseball”  Marge had to struggle to keep up with Helen
  • Kelly Candaele’s documentary on mother Helen & Aunt Marge
  • Penny Marshall & David Anspaugh 
  • Casting, location selection & costume design put together by David Anspaugh
  • Anspaugh, Hoosiers director, had a different sense of funny 
  • Studio replaces Anspaugh – heartbroken he had been a fan of the Fort Worth Daisies as a young man.
  • Jimmie Foxx – Lois Youngens & other AAGPBL players had a different view of him than Tom Hanks portrayal of Jimmie Doogan.
  • Marshall honored AAGPBL wishes to stop a Doogan & Dottie intimacy scene
  • Geena Davis leveling the playing field with Institute on Gender Media https://seejane.org/ 
  • Davis found her athletic muscle playing Dottie
  • “A Little League of Their Own”
  • Penny Marshall - plan to develop a biopic on Effa Manley
  • Health issues kept Penny from doing more
  • Whatever happened to the “Pitch” series
  • Who would you cast today in A League of Their Own today
  • Gal Gadot as Dottie – the new Geena Davis
  • Taylor Swift as Kit or Dottie – Travis Kelcie as an extra

Erin Carlson’s book – No Crying in Baseball click here can be found on Amazon 

American Women’s Baseball Classic – members of the original AAGPBL teams will be there along with 60 of the top female baseball players in the world.

Find BaseballBiz on www.baseballbizondeck.com & on iheartradio, Apple & Google podcasts
@TheBaseballBiz on Twitter 
Special thanks to XTaKeRuX for the music "Rocking Forward"