“Dirt in the Skirt!”

Nothing says summer like one of America’s greatest pastimes...baseball!

In the summer of 1943, it was a group of pioneering female athletes that came together to form the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) and kept baseball alive while the boys went off to war.

Director Penny Marshall tells a story of that inaugural summer of women’s professional baseball in A League of Their Own (1992). Beyond a simple sports tale, A League of Their Own illustrates a time when women’s societal roles were changing. With a nation at war, women were asked to leave their homes and take on new challenges that also brought new freedoms. Not only were women given the chance to work in factories and perform skilled labor, but they got to prove they could rival men at professional sports as well.

In an effort to keep major league franchises from collapsing during the war, a candy-bar magnate (Garry Marshall) decides to form a women’s professional baseball league. The jovial, but competitive relationship between sisters Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis) and Kit Keller (Lori Petty) takes on new heights when they leave their hometown in Oregon for Chicago to tryout for the baseball league along with hundreds of other hopefuls. Kit continually feels out-shined by her talented older sister, Dottie who really only plays baseball to pass time until her husband returns home from war.

The sisters both manage to land a spot playing for the Rockford Peaches, along with new teammates Doris (Rosie O’Donnell), Mae (Madonna), Evelyn (Bitty Schram) and Betty "Spaghetti" (Tracy Reiner). Former major-league home run champ turned drunken slob, Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) is recruited as the Peaches disorderly manager.

The “diamond gals” of the AAGPBL make a slow start, vying for starting positions, drawing fans to the female sport and growing accustomed to the restricted league rules of conduct. In time, the Peaches form a camaraderie and Jimmy embraces his players, helping the team move to the top of the league. Playing through grueling heat, double-headers and injuries pay off when the Peaches make it to the playoffs. After a disagreement and in an effort to keep Dottie, the league’s best player from leaving, a trade is arranged and kid sister, Kit is sent to the Racine Belles to face her original team in the World Series. In the end, it comes down these two sisters and their passion for the game, trying to win it all for their teams.

While joining the AAGPBL provided many of the women with a fresh start and allowed them to break out into new roles, they also discovered a greater pursuit. As Jimmy tells his star player, “Baseball is what gets inside you. It's what lights you up.”

A League of Their Own is a light, good-natured movie that combines humor, heart and historical elements, providing an engaging experience for all movie fans. Whether you’re a sports buff or not, the roster of stars bring these charming characters to life and open a window into a captivating period where these women got a chance to blaze trails for generations of athletes.

And just for fun, here's one of the film’s more iconic scenes: