This Scene...from A League of Their Own

Hi everyone!

Happy Tuesday, and with it comes another “This Scene…” breakdown. And actually we could say, “These Scenes…” because I couldn’t help myself by sharing two scenes from one of my favorite movies. The transcript to the breakdown is below. I would love to hear what you have to say about these scenes, about my commentary, anything. Let’s get a dialogue going (see what I did there?)

Transcript from The Video

A League of Their Own - “There’s No Crying in Baseball”, and “It’s The Hard That Makes It Great”

Hey, everyone! Since it’s coming to the end of the baseball season, and such an end always coincides with the changing of the seasons, and the reminder that colder days and darker nights are ahead of us…as depressing as that may seem…I don’t mean it to be! I’m just sad that the baseball season is almost over and that, once again, my Cubs didn’t make the playoffs. But to celebrate the changing of the seasons, and to say hello to an upcoming holiday season - because let’s face it, the holiday season starts earlier and earlier every year, I am sharing with you not one, but two scenes from one of my favorite movies of all-time, and one of the best baseball movies of all time - A League of Their Own. Why am I showing two scenes? Well for one, I can’t get enough of this movie, so I’m cheating, but two, I want to point out the flow and rhythm of each of these scenes - yes, we’ll get a little technical and come at these two scenes from a screenwriting perspective.

I know it’s difficult to look past the incredible acting, the delivery of lines, the lighting, all that. I say it virtually every time I post one of these scene breakdowns, but we have to remember that as writers, we’re not in control of the performances or the casting. No one could have played Jimmy Dugan better than Tom Hanks did in this movie. Like him or not, the man is a living legend when it comes to his ability to deliver a line, but…without the lines, he wouldn’t be able to deliver anything. Without the writer, he doesn’t have a job. So…? Why are these two scenes so fantastic? Well, the “no crying in baseball” scene has become a pop culture classic, and yes it’s likely because of Hanks’ performance, but then again…is it?

Look at the word choice, for one thing. The lines that Jimmy Dugan delivers are so steeped in his flaw, personality, and belief system. This isn’t Tom Hanks anymore. It’s Jimmy Dugan - the washed up old ballplayer who is thoroughly pissed he’s coaching a women’s baseball team that he almost can’t believe he’s physically standing there. The one line, though, that proves this - it proves his character, his flaws, his beliefs - is when the umpire comes over and asks Jimmy what’s wrong, and all Jimmy can do is say to the umpire, “She’s crying, sir.”

But consider the placement of the line. Jimmy is saying it as if he is so completely convinced that this other man, the umpire, will take his side of the argument. He completely believes that there is no crying in baseball and that the umpire will agree with him. But what does that line really represent? It represents a version of saying, “women shouldn’t play baseball because they are too fragile, don’t understand, and are inferior to the men who are supposed to be playing the game.” But is that what’s written in the script? God no. It would be boring, and way too on the nose. So Jimmy’s character needs to say something that comes from within him - a washed up, frustrated, regretful old drunk who doesn’t have a mastery over the English language, so he needs to come from a place of pure anger WHILE saying a version of what he believes deep down. “Women shouldn’t play baseball.” Aside from all of this, the script itself - without the visuals - is hysterical because of the comedic lines and the timing and rhythm of those lines. It isn’t just the delivery that makes them funny.

In terms of my earlier comment about the rhythm and flow of these two scenes, I’m showing a second one from the same movie. This second scene is the scene where Jimmy finds out that Dottie won’t be joining them in the upcoming world series and is leaving the team. Not only does this scene deliver the best line in the whole movie - “the hard is what makes it great” - but it has a definitive feeling of beginning, middle, and end. It’s almost like a short film in and of itself. It has a set-up (Jimmy sees that Dottie isn’t joining them on the bus), it has a misdirect and complication (Jimmy learns that Dottie is quitting baseball entirely), and then the so-called punchline or climax. Jimmy “wins” the scene by delivering the fantastic line about how baseball needs to be hard, and how it’s the hard that makes it great.

We have to pay attention to this idea of “winning” the scene. In virtually every scene in any story, there are two characters who have different agendas or wants or goals, and by the end of the scene, one character presents their belief, opinion, or even physical dominance more than the other. It doesn’t mean that in the scene itself we need to see the character that “loses” the scene completely concede. No, it’s actually a set up for a future scene and moment where Dottie ends up returning to the game and team. We don’t know if she is by the end of the scene, but we know that the scene left a mark on her. The same could be said about the “no crying in baseball” scene, only that particular scene is much more focused on presenting character flaw than it is story.

So look past the fantastic performances and the funny delivery of these great lines of dialogue, and consider these scenes as little stories in and of themselves. It might help you look at your scenes in a different way too.

Let’s say goodbye to the baseball season, and another failed Cubs season, by soaking in the fun and drama and meaning within these two scenes from A League of Their Own.

—Max Timm and The Story Farm