10 Connections Between the “A League of Their Own” Series and the 1992 Movie

The first episode opens with a scene of Carson running to catch the train that will take her to baseball tryouts, nearly missing her chance. It’s a direct homage to a scene from the movie, in which Dottie and Kit are similarly running late and have to run for their lives (or, rather, their careers).

The entire character of Max spins off one of the most iconic shots of the original movie, when an unnamed Black woman catches a foul ball and impresses everyone with her incredible arm when she throws it back to the Peaches. Max, a talented pitcher, gets a scene like that when she shows up for tryouts and is turned away because of her race, but instead of her story ending there, she becomes one of the show’s protagonists.

If the tryouts montage looks (and sounds) familiar, there’s a good reason: it’s nearly a replica of the same montage from the original movie.

“When we walk through the tunnel onto the field, that’s almost shot for shot, I think, of what the movie is,” star D’Arcy Carden told Entertainment Tonight. “That was such a surreal moment.” The montage also uses the same soundtrack as the original movie: “Sing! Sing! Sing!” by Gene Krupa.

There is no line more iconic from “A League of Their Own” than “There’s no crying in baseball!” So, of course, the TV series had to find a way to incorporate it. In the movie, it’s coach Jimmy Dugan scolding Evelyn, one of his players who’s frustrated over her poor playing. In the TV show, Carson has a meltdown before a game in episode five, breaking down crying. Teammate Jess then gets to yell the famous line at her.

The TV version of “A League of Their Own” deliberately sets itself apart from the movie version, with an entirely new story and an entirely new cast. Well, almost entirely. Rosie O’Donnell, who memorably played Doris in the original movie, makes a moving cameo in a mid-season episode as Vi, the owner of a gay bar where several of the characters spend some of their downtime.

Carson often gets referred to with variations of a “Farm Girl” nickname throughout the show, despite her repeated insistence that she is not, in fact, from a farm. In-universe, it’s an allusion to her seemingly wholesome, girl-next-door image, but it also is a reference to the actual farm girls – Dottie and Kit – from the original movie.

Who can forget the scene in the original movie where Dottie and Dugan silently fight over what hand signals to give their players from the sidelines? A similar situation arises in episode four of the TV version, but for these Peaches, their male coach has left them high and dry. Instead, it’s Carson and Lupe, the default leaders of the team, who keep contradicting each other’s signals, resulting in chaos.

Yep, there’s a “charm school” montage in the TV series, just like in the original movie. It’s played for laughs again, but with a bit more of a serious undertone. That slight shift in tone fits in with how the TV version focuses on gender identity, sexuality, and notions of femininity more seriously (and with a little more complexity) than the movie ever did.

The TV show features several scenes of the Peaches making unnecessarily showy plays to grab more attention, just like in the movie. There’s even a shot of Carson, the team’s catcher, making a catch behind her back like Dottie did in the movie.

It wouldn’t be “A League of Their Own” without the all-too-catchy “victory song” for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. In the TV version, we have to wait until nearly the end of the season, when the women gather on the porch of their team house before the last game of the year. Esti insists that they sing the song for good luck before leaving, and the whole team obliges with a rousing round of the anthem – which also happens to be the official song of the real AAGPBL!