I love the two girls in this scene, but the way the guy softened after he realized what was going on is also just such a nice addition. He wasn’t being nasty or mean - he made an assumption, and upon seeing he misunderstood what was happening, he gave a smile and a reassuring nod to welcome her.
It wasn't his fault for not knowing that Shirley Baker didn't know how to read. Thanks to Helen Haley helping her, the Racine coach's attitude softened.
@@rogergarrison4271assume positive intent unless proven otherwise. Not like “We’re blind to the negative human actions” but “He needed to get the teams going and he just was unaware of here problem and she was embarrassed to say it.”
@@bensonbrett30 if he was so eager to get the teams going and if he recognized that there WAS a problem why not ask, instead of automatically assuming she was just willfully holding up production?
The scene at the make/cut lists sign gets to me every time. She did a great job portraying scared and nervous, swaying and frantically looking across the pages, on the verge of tears, bringing out that child like fear of feeling guilty for just not knowing how to do something you're expected to know how to do. She feels bad for something that wasn't her fault. I can't place an exact memory but her expressions and body language resonate with something in my childhood.
I also liked how Madonna helped Shirley read. Yes, even though she read and Madonna helped her read the trashy romance novels, Shirley was reading. Bravo, Madonna!!!! The girls were on her for helping Shirley read them, but the point was, she was reading!!!! Reminds me of my Grandpa reading to me "Popular Mechanics", "National Geographic", and "Guns and Ammo". I told Dad the story of the. 357 Magnum and he was concerned about me reading about that. Grandpa just said, "She's reading isn't she? You just never mind!". Dad just smiled, understood, and let him read to me from the magazines. Warms my heart everytime!❤
This right here represents the level of respect I have for those that act. Ann Cusack played this so brilliantly that the emotion just pours out of you while experiencing Shirley Baker's turmoil. Brilliant!
As a Teacher this scene gets me so emotional everytime. There are so many adults just like her and that should not be the case. I do love the smile on her face when she realizes she made the team.
I was a volunteer who taught adult literacy classes in the 1980s and 90s. The number of adults in the U.S. who can’t read a newspaper is just astounding. Some of them graduated high school without ever learning to read, write or do basic math. I would have adults in their 50s and 60s who relied on their spouses to read and write for them and then got divorced or their spouse died. Male and female. The goal of the classes was to have someone be able to read at 6th grade level in eight weeks. Most of the students were highly motivated and virtually all were able to meet the goal. These were adults, English was their primary language and they had no learning disabilities. There were separate classes for those who had another language as their primary or had learning disabilities. I didn’t volunteer for those because I didn’t feel qualified to even act as an assistant. I tutored thousands of people over the years and don’t regret it.
US schools just push kids through without actually knowing whether they know these skills and if you're a talented athlete, they DEFNITELY do not care whether you can read or write. My uncle played pro football and when he left the sport, he became a teacher at the university he graduated from (Mississippi State). He talks about how A LOT of the football players are barely literate by the time they get to college. It's really sad.
@@lotuselise4432 I've seen it a little bit but CAN'T READ at all? That incredible. Parents fault not the teachers. Well, obviously the teachers also. But that starts at home.
How about when Doris shows the picture of her boyfriend and Dottie says the pix looks out of focus and Doris responds, "No he always just looks that way."😂
We are talking about when they are riding to I guess another place where they were gonna play and Mae is teaching Shirley to read using a uh steamy romance book. LOL@@carolinewilson8048
I remember that scene. Evelyn Gardner was shocked to hear Shirley Baker reading a steamy romance novel, and asked Mae what she was giving Shirley to read. Mae Mordabito told Evelyn that the important thing that mattered was that Shirley was reading, and shooed Evelyn away on the bus. Shirley was intrigued by what she was reading, but didn't put the book down. She must have somehow liked it. It was a good thing Mae DID teach Shirley to read, even if it WAS a steamy romance novel.
Dottie's heart was not completely in playing baseball she initially only went because if she didn't agree to go they wouldn't have taken Kit . Dottie did enjoy some of it and she made friends all the girls looked up to her . But really she was just passing the time waiting for her husband Bill to come for her and take her back home to their lives back home.🌺🥰
@@oooh19my neighbor can't read, and it definitely wasn't uncommon back then!!! He came to me one day with a newspaper with tears in his eyes and said can you read this too me, I simply said no problem and we've been great friends ever since!!!
It was VERY COMMON in the era that many could not read, given the limited education in mainly rural areas. Which most of these gals likely were. My gdpts (depression era) didn't read the greatest growing up. My gdm teaching herself via fashion magazine articles as the war enfolded. Adult literacy didn't become "a thing" until sometime in the 1950's.
@@oooh19eh, I imagine she was probably poor, whereas Dottie and Kit more and likely had come from a little money or had educated parents, and so they had the opportunity to have some education. This is a generalization of course but as someone who came from a poor family, a lot of my elderly relatives were grown before public education was required and so many of them were blue collar workers and stay at home mothers with little education.
@@NoFirstNoLastName it seems so unheard of that really poor ppl couldnt read. like schooling as well as libraries have existed but if school wasnt required then many ppl wouldnt learn. we just dont think of it in the modern era.
I’m a guy and watching this always reminds me of growing up. I’m from North Texas and I remember in school the time a timid little girl from West Texas came into our class and couldn’t read and started crying when the teacher asked her to finish a paragraph. felt so bad for her. Luckily all the other girls came to her aid. The way the manager handles it like a gentleman is perfect.
Saw this movie in the theater back when it came out and it really moved me. I think everyone in the theater enjoyed it as much as I did because no one would leave when the credits started rolling! Everyone stayed in their seats as they showed the ladies playing during their reunion. As much as I liked it back then, this movie just gets better and better every time I watch it.
Shirley Baker was played by Ann Cusack, sibling to John and Joan, talented family. And Betty Spaghetti is Rob Reiner's daughter, wonder why she wasn't in more. She was really good, too.
@@tiadaid she was also in Die Hard as the girl who hands Dick Thornburg the information on where Holly Gennero-McClain lives so he can talk to their children.
Everyone is talking about the list scene, which is absolutely heartwarming, but man I also love the montages of this film, Hans Zimmer absolutely NAILED this 40s golden-age baseball aesthetic to the sound, idk what u call it but its pitch-perfect, and the editing of the sequences too. The music is so bombastic yet fun and cheery, but real tender when it needs to be, but when it goes big, it hits homeruns every damn time
I love that when the manager realizes Shirley didn't know if she was cut or not because she couldn't read that he didn't poke fun. He just smiled and told her to join her team.
Yeah, Helen was amazing here. She was so sweet, it's one of the reasons why I love this movie so much. Is seeing these women be there for each other, there's no bullies or anyone doing anything malicious.
The plot about Kit always feeling inadequate around Dot was well-written. Lots of people have had that parent, sibling or friend who just naturally outshone everyone around them - they were taller, prettier, stronger, manlier... whatever. It's not that you hate 'em - you still love 'em - but at the same time it's nice to get out of their shadow once in a while.
Shirley Baker is played by Ann Cusack. She's the sister of John and Joan Cusack. She doesn't have the same career as her brother and sister but she's had steady work and is still active today.
A couple of years later Ann Cusack played the White House tour guide in another favorite of mine, My Fellow Americans, starring Jack Lemmon and James Garner.
This is the only role I can tolerate Lovitz in. I just can't stand the guy. But the role was written specifically for him, and he really nailed it here.
Movies that make you truly feel immersed in the story throughout the entire watch are such a great experience. It's like it was actually filmed in the set era. This movie, The Sandlot, Dazed & Confused, and the BTTF trilogy are up there for me. Whenever I'd catch any of these at any point in the film, I'd always give in to stting and watching it the rest of the way through.
I'm surprised he didn't figure it out since illiteracy was common back then, especially among rural people who worked constantly on farms and didn't "have the time" to go to school or didn't prioritize it.
@@catherinesanchez1185 Illiteracy is still a problem today. TBH, illiteracy had always been a problem since time immemorial. I do get what you're saying, though.
Shortly after I got started in a sales job after college, I was meeting with a business owner and made the same assumption about his ability to read. He was asking very specific questions and, instead of answering his questions, I kept referring him back to the document. I finally realized what was going on and transitioned to make it work, but that feeling of sadness and embarrassment for what I had put him through has never left me. It comes back like a tidal wave whenever I see this scene no matter how many times. I’ve tried to take it as a guide for how to treat people over the last 40 years.
As someone who works in a library I love that May helps her and teaches her how to read. And be still my heart Geena Davis. That the coach/manager didn’t ever realize she couldn’t read is great commentary men/boys were afforded more opportunities than women.
Actually, at that time, a boy would have been just as likely, or more so, to not be able to read. I believe she's supposed to be from the South. In the 40's, there were still many communities, especially here in the Appalachians, that had limited to no access to school. There were a lot of subsistence farmers in the mountains. Boys were more useful on farms, so they actually tended to get less schooling than girls, who could be spared to stay in longer. My maternal grandfather grew up on a cotton farm in Alabama during the Depression. He only got a 3rd grade education before he had to go to work. My maternal grandmother got to 10th or 11th grade before leaving to marry. I don't know how much education my paternal grandfather had growing up in the 20's, but I believe my dad said he was barely literate. My dad's mother also made it to high school before dropping out to marry. The coach, being from the North, and likely from a city, probably didn't consider someone not being able to read because his community would have had a higher standard of living and people would have had access to years of education. Even where schools existed in the mountains, they usually stopped at 8th grade. A lot of people here in the 40's still didn't have electricity or indoor plumbing.
1:08 I never noticed that the catcher most disheartened by Dotty’s skills (blue hat) is the catcher for the Belles, the team Kit is traded to. Seems the whole team has a Dotty complex 😂😂
I can’t stand this movie, but I completely agree with everyone’s assessment of the Shirley Baker scene at the bulletin board. Just heartbreaking and then heartwarming. A brilliant scene that encapsulates what life was like in America at this time.
I worked with two guys that were illiterate. One mistakenly read a sign that said,"Friendly Kia" as "Family Kia" or maybe vice versa. I politely corrected him. He appreciated it.
My grandpa dropped out of school at 12 to start working on the family farm. He never really could read much. My grandma would read the menu at restaurants to him and she did all the bookkeeping for the their lives.
yeah, my dad quit school after the 7th grade so he could work on the farm, too. he could read, though. He joined the Navy in 1945 and ended up doing well.
Madonna Rosie O Donnell, Tom Hanks Geena Davis were great in this and I love this movie*** I have this movie on DVD and Madonna's song This Used To Be My Playground always made me cry*** Madonna was in her prime. Great movie A Leaque Of Their Own was based on a True Story and Penny Marshall directed this***
Didn' realize until now, Shirley Baker is the sister of Buck Weaver !!! Real life siblings Ann and John Cusack playing ballplayers (he was in Eight Men Out)
Charlie Collins, the Racine coach, had a great grandson who went on to have a great career in the US Air Force, although much of his work remains classified.
I had a friend that kept asking me to read his txt once. He then asked me to read another one to him and another. I thought he was trying to be funny so I asked him candidly "Do I look like your butler or something?" His reply was "Oh I'm sorry. I...I just don't read that good." It totally shocked me. The year was 2006 and a I met a guy in his mid 20's that reads at an elementary level if that. He would occasionally read them himself, it was like sitting with your child, he would ask for help at common words like "temperature" and "custody." I usually associated illiteracy with the homeless or old people, but this was a young guy. He had a nice car, clothes, a girlfriend, he even had a job. I never mocked, always helped, and was thankful that I could read and write. ✌️
When Shirley found out she was on the team? Or them being happy to make the team themselves? I never noticed how they weren't clapping or even happy when Shirley came over haha
this scene still reminds me of the dramatic help I can give when they think their computer is dead. Many vets have offered me their world for saving them. It costs them only dinner and a cold beer. I damn sure leave their honor and dignity in tact.
I love this movie so much my mother showed me telling Rosie was in it and Madonna so I’m like wtf Madonna and watching fell inlove with every character
I have dysgraphia and I get the same anxiety when I have to fill out forms or even write a check. My wife or whoever is with me writes for me. It is not as serious as not being able to read these days but it was hard when I went to school in the 70's and 80's by college I was able to get computer time and use an early version of a word processor.
I always wondered why Shirley Baker made it to adulthood without learning to read. As a teacher, this still bothers me.......the scene on the bus where May was teaching her how to read always makes me chuckle. :O
As was noted by one of the characters toward the end of the film, those few years of playing baseball indeed had to have been the very best time of their whole lives.
I was a food safety inspector for over 25 years. I checked restaurants in several rural counties in the south. Many of the older people who ran those stores couldn't read or write. I acted like my handwriting wasn't very good so I had an excuse to read the report to them. Respecting someone's dignity when they are doing the best that they can is something we can all learn from.
I was Today Years Old when I realized that Shirley Baker is Ann Cusack (John & Joan Cusack's sister). Plus, didn't realize she also played "Rebecca", Chuck McGill's former wife in Better Call Saul
This may sound odd, but I liked Helen Hailey in this scene. I get that this is a scripted scene, but she was the only one to get up and offer Shirley any help. And, step in toward Shirley before asking her if she can read.
A few years back I had a couple of labourers working under me. We filled out out FRLA forms every morning without fail and I had to review them. The problem with the labourers was it was filled out everyday by one of them. I told them that had to stop and the other guy was to start filling them out every second day. They didn't say anything but about 1/2 hour later I was summoned to the Superintendents office and dressed down because it turns out that the one labourer could neither read or write. I felt like a bit of a jerk but then the Super threatened to fire me and I saw red. I told him that under the circumstances that man had no business on site and should he choose to fire me I would be talking to the client poste haste at which time he cooled his jets. You see, he did not want it known that someone else had to have written his safety test in indoctrination and passed or he would have been sent home. When I went back to the job I took that labourer aside and apologized since no one had told me. I also asked how he had passed the indoctrination test and he told me he had never taken one which meant that in all likelihood the safety officer himself had completed the test at the supers order.......... I just hope the poor bastard never got killed when he wandered into and area he should not have been in.
Even the illiterate need jobs. It is dangerous for them to be working on such sites. But manual labor is the best they can get without literacy skills.
@@druidriley3163 What I found out later that really galled me about the whole thing was his Union offered courses in camp to help those with reading problems but he had never been offered them. His good buddy the superintendent had told him just stick with me and you don't need to know how to read.
I love the two girls in this scene, but the way the guy softened after he realized what was going on is also just such a nice addition. He wasn’t being nasty or mean - he made an assumption, and upon seeing he misunderstood what was happening, he gave a smile and a reassuring nod to welcome her.
General Hammond was always a good guy.
It wasn't his fault for not knowing that Shirley Baker didn't know how to read.
Thanks to Helen Haley helping her, the Racine coach's attitude softened.
@@JoseFigueroa-iz2on the woman was standing there looking panicked and confused. What else could've been the matter?
@@rogergarrison4271assume positive intent unless proven otherwise. Not like “We’re blind to the negative human actions” but “He needed to get the teams going and he just was unaware of here problem and she was embarrassed to say it.”
@@bensonbrett30 if he was so eager to get the teams going and if he recognized that there WAS a problem why not ask, instead of automatically assuming she was just willfully holding up production?
The scene at the make/cut lists sign gets to me every time. She did a great job portraying scared and nervous, swaying and frantically looking across the pages, on the verge of tears, bringing out that child like fear of feeling guilty for just not knowing how to do something you're expected to know how to do. She feels bad for something that wasn't her fault. I can't place an exact memory but her expressions and body language resonate with something in my childhood.
You described that moment so accurately, yet you didn't make it a spoiler. Job well done.
Totally agree!!
@@louisborselio8608 thank you 🙏
@@late_night_club You're very welcome.
Yeah, and then the girls teach her to read..... romance novels....soft porn ones...... that look on her face was PRICELESS.
That was one of the sweetest scenes in cinematic history. The ones that show some humanity always are. Thank you for that, Penny. Rest in Peace.
I also liked how Madonna helped Shirley read. Yes, even though she read and Madonna helped her read the trashy romance novels, Shirley was reading. Bravo, Madonna!!!! The girls were on her for helping Shirley read them, but the point was, she was reading!!!! Reminds me of my Grandpa reading to me "Popular Mechanics", "National Geographic", and "Guns and Ammo". I told Dad the story of the. 357 Magnum and he was concerned about me reading about that. Grandpa just said, "She's reading isn't she? You just never mind!". Dad just smiled, understood, and let him read to me from the magazines. Warms my heart everytime!❤
@@triciajohansen7124 Your grandpa, that's a great man right there.
Absolutely so sweet to show humanity.
@@triciajohansen7124um...its a movie
@@sid2112 thank you so much! This means so much to me. I miss him every day of my life.😪❤
This right here represents the level of respect I have for those that act. Ann Cusack played this so brilliantly that the emotion just pours out of you while experiencing Shirley Baker's turmoil. Brilliant!
As a Teacher this scene gets me so emotional everytime. There are so many adults just like her and that should not be the case. I do love the smile on her face when she realizes she made the team.
Sadly someone could have given her the wrong info like told her she didn’t make it or she was on a different team
I was a volunteer who taught adult literacy classes in the 1980s and 90s. The number of adults in the U.S. who can’t read a newspaper is just astounding. Some of them graduated high school without ever learning to read, write or do basic math. I would have adults in their 50s and 60s who relied on their spouses to read and write for them and then got divorced or their spouse died. Male and female. The goal of the classes was to have someone be able to read at 6th grade level in eight weeks. Most of the students were highly motivated and virtually all were able to meet the goal. These were adults, English was their primary language and they had no learning disabilities. There were separate classes for those who had another language as their primary or had learning disabilities. I didn’t volunteer for those because I didn’t feel qualified to even act as an assistant. I tutored thousands of people over the years and don’t regret it.
US schools just push kids through without actually knowing whether they know these skills and if you're a talented athlete, they DEFNITELY do not care whether you can read or write. My uncle played pro football and when he left the sport, he became a teacher at the university he graduated from (Mississippi State). He talks about how A LOT of the football players are barely literate by the time they get to college. It's really sad.
I don't understand that at all. I see how it's true and all.
But dang, they didn't get called on in 1st, 2nd or 3rd grade AT ALL?
The insidious evil of social promotion, driven by the need to retain students for funding purposes.
Wow I never new that as I am from the UK but thank you for volunteering but it is shocking that in a civilised country it was that bad.
@@lotuselise4432 I've seen it a little bit but CAN'T READ at all? That incredible. Parents fault not the teachers.
Well, obviously the teachers also. But that starts at home.
One of my favorite films. Love the scene where Mae teaches Shirley to read. So sweet and funny.
How about when Doris shows the picture of her boyfriend and Dottie says the pix looks out of focus and Doris responds, "No he always just looks that way."😂
Mae ? Mae is played by Madonna and this actress isn't Madonna.
Not this scene; later on, Mae helps Shirley learn to read - using erotic novels 😂
We are talking about when they are riding to I guess another place where they were gonna play and Mae is teaching Shirley to read using a uh steamy romance book. LOL@@carolinewilson8048
I remember that scene.
Evelyn Gardner was shocked to hear Shirley Baker reading a steamy romance novel, and asked Mae what she was giving Shirley to read.
Mae Mordabito told Evelyn that the important thing that mattered was that Shirley was reading, and shooed Evelyn away on the bus.
Shirley was intrigued by what she was reading, but didn't put the book down.
She must have somehow liked it.
It was a good thing Mae DID teach Shirley to read, even if it WAS a steamy romance novel.
When the one player helps the other find her name - makes me cry every time.
Me too
I love that part. It shows already the caring support of her teammates
I know who you're talking about.
Helen Haley.
She was the one who helped Shirley Baker.
@Malcomdeeb, me, too.
I love how Dottie doesn't even care to look at the list. She knows she made it lol
She would have had to check to find out which team she was on.
She was only there for Kit, she didn't care about the rest or herself.
Yep - True.
Her name was right above Shirley Baker
Dottie's heart was not completely in playing baseball she initially only went because if she didn't agree to go they wouldn't have taken Kit . Dottie did enjoy some of it and she made friends all the girls looked up to her . But really she was just passing the time waiting for her husband Bill to come for her and take her back home to their lives back home.🌺🥰
After all these years, I still burst into tears when I hear ‘Can you read, Honey?’ What a great movie :)
Why couldn’t she read though? Was it because she was a farmer or something? Even farmers can read like Dottie and Kit weren’t illiterate
@@oooh19my neighbor can't read, and it definitely wasn't uncommon back then!!! He came to me one day with a newspaper with tears in his eyes and said can you read this too me, I simply said no problem and we've been great friends ever since!!!
It was VERY COMMON in the era that many could not read, given the limited education in mainly rural areas. Which most of these gals likely were. My gdpts (depression era) didn't read the greatest growing up. My gdm teaching herself via fashion magazine articles as the war enfolded. Adult literacy didn't become "a thing" until sometime in the 1950's.
@@oooh19eh, I imagine she was probably poor, whereas Dottie and Kit more and likely had come from a little money or had educated parents, and so they had the opportunity to have some education.
This is a generalization of course but as someone who came from a poor family, a lot of my elderly relatives were grown before public education was required and so many of them were blue collar workers and stay at home mothers with little education.
@@NoFirstNoLastName it seems so unheard of that really poor ppl couldnt read. like schooling as well as libraries have existed but if school wasnt required then many ppl wouldnt learn. we just dont think of it in the modern era.
2:34 Seriously gets me every single time, the actress playing Shirley Baker done a amazing job
I’m a guy and watching this always reminds me of growing up. I’m from North Texas and I remember in school the time a timid little girl from West Texas came into our class and couldn’t read and started crying when the teacher asked her to finish a paragraph. felt so bad for her. Luckily all the other girls came to her aid. The way the manager handles it like a gentleman is perfect.
Saw this movie in the theater back when it came out and it really moved me. I think everyone in the theater enjoyed it as much as I did because no one would leave when the credits started rolling! Everyone stayed in their seats as they showed the ladies playing during their reunion. As much as I liked it back then, this movie just gets better and better every time I watch it.
Shirley Baker was played by Ann Cusack, sibling to John and Joan, talented family. And Betty Spaghetti is Rob Reiner's daughter, wonder why she wasn't in more. She was really good, too.
She was in Apollo 13 as Mary Haise,
@@tiadaid she was also in Die Hard as the girl who hands Dick Thornburg the information on where Holly Gennero-McClain lives so he can talk to their children.
Not just Rob Reiner's daughter but Penny Marshall's as well. Penny Marshall aka Laverne DeFazio directed this movie.
@@Rockhound6165 Yes true! God I miss Penny Marshall movies!
She did a great job. Her best moment for me was the "George" telegram scene. I cry during that scene every time.
(Baker makes the team)
Me *sniffles * ....There's no crying in baseball!
they weren't playing baseball yet
Them onion ninja's are sneaky buggers.
I'm dyslexic and that moment reading the lists the really hurt to watch. I felt that so deeply.
Everyone is talking about the list scene, which is absolutely heartwarming, but man I also love the montages of this film, Hans Zimmer absolutely NAILED this 40s golden-age baseball aesthetic to the sound, idk what u call it but its pitch-perfect, and the editing of the sequences too. The music is so bombastic yet fun and cheery, but real tender when it needs to be, but when it goes big, it hits homeruns every damn time
I loved how when Shirley had a hard time reading. And the one player came to help her out
Then the rest of them helped her learn to read.......even if it was a smutty romance novel.
I love that when the manager realizes Shirley didn't know if she was cut or not because she couldn't read that he didn't poke fun. He just smiled and told her to join her team.
@@Craig_N
That part is both endearing and hilarious… “the important thing is she reads, now shoo, shoo”… 😂😂
"Hard time reading"? She didn't have a 'hard time' she COULDN'T read, she wasn't even functionally illiterate she was completely illiterate.
Yeah, Helen was amazing here. She was so sweet, it's one of the reasons why I love this movie so much. Is seeing these women be there for each other, there's no bullies or anyone doing anything malicious.
Very good scene! Was so teary eyed and wanted to run and help her too. One of my favority films to watch.
I rewatched this for the first time since I was a kid. This scene and the telegram scene both hit me as an adult.
I wouldve gone down the cut list first so not to stress her more.
The plot about Kit always feeling inadequate around Dot was well-written. Lots of people have had that parent, sibling or friend who just naturally outshone everyone around them - they were taller, prettier, stronger, manlier... whatever. It's not that you hate 'em - you still love 'em - but at the same time it's nice to get out of their shadow once in a while.
Shirley Baker is played by Ann Cusack. She's the sister of John and Joan Cusack. She doesn't have the same career as her brother and sister but she's had steady work and is still active today.
She's lucky she isn't on the cut list.
Hopefully not as crazy as John (shudders).
A couple of years later Ann Cusack played the White House tour guide in another favorite of mine, My Fellow Americans, starring Jack Lemmon and James Garner.
"Excuse me. That's not a baseball uniform." - All the Way Mae
"Yeah, what do you think we are? Ball players or ballerinas!" - Doris
😂😂😂😂😂
"it's Dr. Baker now ....... I'm a Doctor!!"
I’m blown away that I just realized the woman playing Shirley Baker was Ann Cusack, the older sister of Joan and John Cusack… 😮😮
That’s why I’m here now. I was watching the boys insane to myself. Annie’s mom looks so familiar and sure enough. It was Shirley 😍😂
This is a great movie.
John Lovitz steals every scene he is in.
This is the only role I can tolerate Lovitz in. I just can't stand the guy. But the role was written specifically for him, and he really nailed it here.
Wouldn't that be nice if such kindness was commonplace these days? Very heart-warming scene.
Who says there isn’t?
@@joewhitehead3 True kindness does still exist but it could be better
@@aprilgosa5779 Good point
Ann Cusack is amazing at selling desperate and confused. Not only in this movie.
Movies that make you truly feel immersed in the story throughout the entire watch are such a great experience. It's like it was actually filmed in the set era. This movie, The Sandlot, Dazed & Confused, and the BTTF trilogy are up there for me. Whenever I'd catch any of these at any point in the film, I'd always give in to stting and watching it the rest of the way through.
I love the later scene when Maye is teaching her to read and it’s some smutty romance novel 🤣
I like that the coach didn't realise but was handling it well if a bit brash and then once he knew wasn't a jerk about it.
I'm surprised he didn't figure it out since illiteracy was common back then, especially among rural people who worked constantly on farms and didn't "have the time" to go to school or didn't prioritize it.
@@catherinesanchez1185 Illiteracy is still a problem today.
TBH, illiteracy had always been a problem since time immemorial.
I do get what you're saying, though.
@@catherinesanchez1185 People being so illiterate they can't recognize their own name hasn't been common since the middle ages.
Best line in the movie - “you got yourself on the team. I got you on the train.”
No, this exchange is:
"Sir! Your knee!"
"You like it?"
@@Rockhound6165 avoid the clap. ~~~Jimmy Dugan
@@dickhickey909 that's good advice.
Shortly after I got started in a sales job after college, I was meeting with a business owner and made the same assumption about his ability to read. He was asking very specific questions and, instead of answering his questions, I kept referring him back to the document.
I finally realized what was going on and transitioned to make it work, but that feeling of sadness and embarrassment for what I had put him through has never left me. It comes back like a tidal wave whenever I see this scene no matter how many times.
I’ve tried to take it as a guide for how to treat people over the last 40 years.
As someone who works in a library I love that May helps her and teaches her how to read.
And be still my heart Geena Davis.
That the coach/manager didn’t ever realize she couldn’t read is great commentary men/boys were afforded more opportunities than women.
Actually, at that time, a boy would have been just as likely, or more so, to not be able to read.
I believe she's supposed to be from the South. In the 40's, there were still many communities, especially here in the Appalachians, that had limited to no access to school. There were a lot of subsistence farmers in the mountains. Boys were more useful on farms, so they actually tended to get less schooling than girls, who could be spared to stay in longer.
My maternal grandfather grew up on a cotton farm in Alabama during the Depression. He only got a 3rd grade education before he had to go to work. My maternal grandmother got to 10th or 11th grade before leaving to marry.
I don't know how much education my paternal grandfather had growing up in the 20's, but I believe my dad said he was barely literate. My dad's mother also made it to high school before dropping out to marry.
The coach, being from the North, and likely from a city, probably didn't consider someone not being able to read because his community would have had a higher standard of living and people would have had access to years of education. Even where schools existed in the mountains, they usually stopped at 8th grade. A lot of people here in the 40's still didn't have electricity or indoor plumbing.
I first saw this movie in highschool. A movie can remind us all of the way things used to be, and a really good movie can keep doing it🙂
Don S. Davis in one of his pre-Stargate SG1 roles. RIP Don, AKA General Hammond, you are missed.
I got to meet him once years ago at a convention. He was such a sweet, lovely man.
Hammond of Texas! Your warriors do you great honour!
"I don't know... Why didn't I shoot him?"
I know I would have gotten up to see if I could help her too. I love this scene.
1:08 I never noticed that the catcher most disheartened by Dotty’s skills (blue hat) is the catcher for the Belles, the team Kit is traded to. Seems the whole team has a Dotty complex 😂😂
I just caught that on this watch of this video right now.
She also remarks after Dottie catches a foul ball while doing the splits "I can't do that!"
This movie is definitely one of my guilty pleasures. It's so good.
I forget sometimes how good this movie was
Right?
To add to that, Penny Marshall truly was a talented, entertaining but UNDERRATED director. It’s sad :(
RIP Penny!
I can’t think of another film that has as many short, powerful scenes in it as A League Of Their Own.
I can imagine many of these lafies grew up during the Depression, had to work on farms just to eat. No time for school. Well done scene.
this was during WW2, so of course they grew up during the depression!
I can’t stand this movie, but I completely agree with everyone’s assessment of the Shirley Baker scene at the bulletin board. Just heartbreaking and then heartwarming. A brilliant scene that encapsulates what life was like in America at this time.
One of my favorite movies. I always, ALWAYS cry.
Ditties very very GOOD
TO HELP Her team mate
I broke up twice during this movie, once with the Shirley Baker scene and at the ending at the opening of the HOF.
Not during the telegram scene? Doesn't matter how many times I've seen this movie, that scene always gets me.
The Shirley"Illiterate Girl" Baker scene brings a tear to my eye every time.
It's not easy to top Joan but Ann is forever my favorite Cusack. I love this scene so much.
Shirley Baker is played by Ann Cusack, sister of John and Joan.
I can't help it I watch this every fourth of July this is one of my favorite movies ever
I worked with two guys that were illiterate. One mistakenly read a sign that said,"Friendly Kia" as "Family Kia" or maybe vice versa. I politely corrected him. He appreciated it.
Love the SB cant read scene,and she ends up a Dr
My grandpa dropped out of school at 12 to start working on the family farm. He never really could read much. My grandma would read the menu at restaurants to him and she did all the bookkeeping for the their lives.
yeah, my dad quit school after the 7th grade so he could work on the farm, too. he could read, though. He joined the Navy in 1945 and ended up doing well.
I agree about the uniform dress. lol
Madonna Rosie O Donnell, Tom Hanks Geena Davis were great in this and I love this movie*** I have this movie on DVD and Madonna's song This Used To Be My Playground always made me cry*** Madonna was in her prime. Great movie A Leaque Of Their Own was based on a True Story and Penny Marshall directed this***
I always cry at that scene.
I cry at this scene every single time.
Politics aside...way aside..... Madona and Rosie did a great job in this movie. Every actor did and the movie holds up very well.
I just realised Ann Cusack was in Better Call Saul as Chucks love interest. She tells the lawyer joke to Jimmy. Cool beans!
At 0:34 when "Kit" is pitching, I'll bet it was funny to be behind the scenes since it was actually a guy wearing pigtails under his hat.
Nope.
@@LFire12 Yup
Every time I see this I tear up
RIP Penny Marshall.
.
Didn' realize until now, Shirley Baker is the sister of Buck Weaver !!! Real life siblings Ann and John Cusack playing ballplayers (he was in Eight Men Out)
Shirley Baker😢❤
This scene warms my heart (in a movie full of these types).
Love this movie
This is my favourite sports movie of all time. Penny Marshall was a genius.
Charlie Collins, the Racine coach, had a great grandson who went on to have a great career in the US Air Force, although much of his work remains classified.
Best scene in entire movie, that and when dad puts daughter on train. His only family but he knows it's best thing for his daughter
God that part wrecks me every time. I don't even know why.
This is the cutest scene
I had a friend that kept asking me to read his txt once. He then asked me to read another one to him and another. I thought he was trying to be funny so I asked him candidly "Do I look like your butler or something?" His reply was "Oh I'm sorry. I...I just don't read that good." It totally shocked me. The year was 2006 and a I met a guy in his mid 20's that reads at an elementary level if that. He would occasionally read them himself, it was like sitting with your child, he would ask for help at common words like "temperature" and "custody." I usually associated illiteracy with the homeless or old people, but this was a young guy. He had a nice car, clothes, a girlfriend, he even had a job. I never mocked, always helped, and was thankful that I could read and write. ✌️
When I was eleven or so, my dad started asking me the same, or how to spell words with more than one consecutive vowel.
Darn good movie,took me back to the 60s wooden everything.
Who would of ever thought Rosie O'Donnell loved eating chicken way back then 🤔😋😂😂😂
It was this scene that endeared everyone to this movie. RIP Penny Marshall
I love Madge and Rosie's reaction
When Shirley found out she was on the team? Or them being happy to make the team themselves? I never noticed how they weren't clapping or even happy when Shirley came over haha
this scene still reminds me of the dramatic help I can give when they think their computer is dead. Many vets have offered me their world for saving them. It costs them only dinner and a cold beer. I damn sure leave their honor and dignity in tact.
I love this movie so much my mother showed me telling Rosie was in it and Madonna so I’m like wtf Madonna and watching fell inlove with every character
I have dysgraphia and I get the same anxiety when I have to fill out forms or even write a check. My wife or whoever is with me writes for me. It is not as serious as not being able to read these days but it was hard when I went to school in the 70's and 80's by college I was able to get computer time and use an early version of a word processor.
One of my favorite scenes
This movie is ICONIC. ❤
I always wondered why Shirley Baker made it to adulthood without learning to read. As a teacher, this still bothers me.......the scene on the bus where May was teaching her how to read always makes me chuckle. :O
Love Don S. Davis! He seemed like such a nice guy. We share the same bday.
As was noted by one of the characters toward the end of the film, those few years of playing baseball indeed had to have been the very best time of their whole lives.
You got yourself on the team. I got you on the train.
I love this movie and THIS scene, especially!
I love later on we see the other women teaching her how to read
what a good movie --
What starts at 2:11 is a beautiful throat swelling moment.
I like how she says “plucked”.
I was a food safety inspector for over 25 years. I checked restaurants in several rural counties in the south. Many of the older people who ran those stores couldn't read or write. I acted like my handwriting wasn't very good so I had an excuse to read the report to them. Respecting someone's dignity when they are doing the best that they can is something we can all learn from.
Jesus. That was wholesome. Forgot about that scene. Great movie 🍿 going to re-watch!!
I was Today Years Old when I realized that Shirley Baker is Ann Cusack (John & Joan Cusack's sister). Plus, didn't realize she also played "Rebecca", Chuck McGill's former wife in Better Call Saul
Damn good acting
I think this scene foreshadows Helen Haley becoming a doctor. She figures out what’s wrong quickly and wants to help the woman in need.
Notice how May rolls her eyes at Betty joining the team and doesn’t clap but she’s the one who helps her read later on.
This may sound odd, but I liked Helen Hailey in this scene. I get that this is a scripted scene, but she was the only one to get up and offer Shirley any help. And, step in toward Shirley before asking her if she can read.
The best sports film ever
Yup!!
A few years back I had a couple of labourers working under me. We filled out out FRLA forms every morning without fail and I had to review them. The problem with the labourers was it was filled out everyday by one of them. I told them that had to stop and the other guy was to start filling them out every second day. They didn't say anything but about 1/2 hour later I was summoned to the Superintendents office and dressed down because it turns out that the one labourer could neither read or write. I felt like a bit of a jerk but then the Super threatened to fire me and I saw red. I told him that under the circumstances that man had no business on site and should he choose to fire me I would be talking to the client poste haste at which time he cooled his jets. You see, he did not want it known that someone else had to have written his safety test in indoctrination and passed or he would have been sent home. When I went back to the job I took that labourer aside and apologized since no one had told me. I also asked how he had passed the indoctrination test and he told me he had never taken one which meant that in all likelihood the safety officer himself had completed the test at the supers order.......... I just hope the poor bastard never got killed when he wandered into and area he should not have been in.
Even the illiterate need jobs. It is dangerous for them to be working on such sites. But manual labor is the best they can get without literacy skills.
@@druidriley3163 What I found out later that really galled me about the whole thing was his Union offered courses in camp to help those with reading problems but he had never been offered them. His good buddy the superintendent had told him just stick with me and you don't need to know how to read.
I played for 7 years - I miss it ❤