‘League Of Own’ Director

Penny Marshall Dies At 75

COOPERSTOWN – Penny Marshall, who directed the baseball classic “A League of Their Own” after taking inspiration from as Baseball Hall of Fame exhibit, died Monday night in her Hollywood Hills home  due to complications from diabetes, said Michelle Bega, a spokeswoman for the family.

Laura Moellering, Cooperstown, recalled that her mother,  Rita Meyer, a former shortstop for the Peoria Redwings with the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, met Marshall when, in 1988, she attended the 50th reunion and unveiling of the Baseball Hall of Fame’s “Women in Baseball” display.

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Marshall was also in attendance, and invited Meyer to the auditions in Illinois.  “They wanted to narrow down who could still play in the reunion game scene,” said Moellering in a 2017 interview. Later, Marshall cast Meyer in the end scene of the film, shot in Cooperstown.

“A League of their Own” was added to the National Film Registry in 2012, and Jimmy Dugan (Tom Hanks) quote “There’s no crying in baseball!” was listed as #54 in the 2005 list of The American Film Institute’s “100 Years…100 Movie Quotes.”