It was “A Night of their Own!”
The Cyclones celebrated the 25th anniversary of the classic film, “A League of Their Own” on July 1 with a pre-game ceremony featuring two of the film’s actresses, Megan Cavanagh and Tracy Reiner, along with two members of the All-American women’s Professional Baseball League — which inspired the film — Shirley Burkovich and Maybelle “All The Way May” Blair.
The former pros threw out the first pitch of the game, and they also sang the original Victory Song that the All American Girls proudly chanted back in the day. It was enough to make everyone wish they, too, threw like a girl.
“Today was a blast!” said Cavanagh, who played Marla Hooch in the film. “I’ve never been to Coney Island, so it was really fun!”
Both Cavanagh and Reiner, who played Betty Spaghetti, have done everything they can to popularize the movie, in the hopes of building a stronger voice for female athlete in sports.
“We’ve been doing this continuously,” Cavanagh added. “And what’s amazing about it is that it’s showing massive results.”
There’s still plenty of work to be done, but the results have been positive in the last few years. There is now a Women’s Baseball World Cup, women’s baseball in the PanAm games, professional leagues in over 15 countries across the globe, and, in April, Major League Baseball held its first girls’ baseball event, the Trail Blazer series.
Of course, when Burkovich and Blair were playing, they didn’t think much about their legacy or believe what they were doing would lead to a future in the sport for female baseball players.
“When we played in our day, there was nothing we did that we thought we were doing special,” said Burkovich. “To listen to these girls nowadays say to us ‘If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t be doing this today,’ that’s hard because at the time, we were just playing ball!”
There has been plenty of progress surrounding the inclusion of women in baseball over the years, but the original players believe they can still do so much more.
“I want it go further. That’s been my dream,” said Blair. “We want a league of our own again. That’s what we’ve been working on.”
As more and more women fulfill their professional baseball dream, it’s important to remember that this all started from one pivotal movie — and the spotlight it shined on the athletes whose stories deserved to be told. Now, the actors involved in “A League of Their Own” are hoping the next generation will be able to tell an even more compelling story, bringing female athletes back to the forefront of the sport.
“I’m really happy that the women of the league got to have their story told and they got the recognition while they are still alive,” Cavanagh said. “I just feel so amazing and so humble to be a part of it.”
