Series created by Will Graham and Abbi Jacobson
Based on the motion picture screenplay by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel
Based on a story by Kim Wilson and Kelly Candaele
Starring Abbi Jacobson, Chanté Adams, D’Arcy Carden, Gbemisola Ikumelo, Melanie Field
Series premiere August 12 on Amazon Prime

by Megan Bailey, Staff Writer

In 1992, the best baseball movie of all time came out: A League of Their Own. The film follows the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, formed in the wake of World War II. America needed baseball, and the women needed to be on the field playing it, since the men were overseas. Starring Geena Davis, Tom Hanks, Madonna, and Rosie O’Donnell, the movie is a classic for good reason.

In developing the A League of Their Own television show, Abbi Jacobson and Will Graham intentionally did not want to make a sequel series. They wanted to “evoke the spirit” of the original while filling in the gaps that it couldn’t cover. The characters who could only exist on the margins. And so we have Carson Shaw (Jacobson) and Maxine Chapman (Chanté Adams) as the leads of the show, navigating their place in the world and on the baseball field. 

In the pilot, Carson literally runs away from her hometown, and her husband who is due to return home from war, to try out for the All-American Girls League. Along the way, she meets Greta (D’Arcy Carden) and Jo De Luca (Melanie Field), who she follows to tryouts. Capturing the same wonder as the tryout scene in the original film, it’s amazing that all of these women turned up to play ball. Max and her friend Clance (Gbemisola Ikumelo) also attempt to try out but are turned away because they’re Black. She gets one sick throw in, which Carson notices. 

From there, we see the forming of the teams, including the Rockford Peaches, which is our main focus for the season. Carson, Greta, Jo, Lupe (Roberta Colindrez), Maybelle (Molly Ephraim), Esti (Priscilla Delgado), and Jess (Kelly McCormack) round out the major players of the team. Lupe and Jess are great on the field but not super feminine, which means they have to play along during the lady classes in the second episode. Meanwhile Maybelle and Greta are femme women who get through the classes with no trouble. Esti only speaks Spanish, and Lupe is the only one who can talk to her. After getting heckled in the stands and losing their first game, the girls aren’t super confident about the series. But Greta and Carson agree that what’s going on between them is real and they’re going to “rob the bank” with as much time as they can get.

Max, who works at her mother’s hair salon and is desperate to find her way onto the field by any means necessary! She tries to get a job at the screw factory, which has its own team. After getting turned away by the racist recruitment ladies, she decides to pretend to be a man in order to get work. The manager tells her that he doesn’t care about her gender, as he just needs someone who can do the work. Max struggles with working nights at the factory and days at her mom’s salon, then finally comes clean about her second job. 

And then there’s the romance. Carson and Greta have sparks immediately, sharing a few flirtatious conversations and charged moments in the first few episodes. Carson attempts to write to her husband with Greta’s help, but they get so drunk that Carson can’t remember what she wrote. Carson and Greta kiss at the end of the first episode, which Max sees. Max has an ongoing dalliance with Leah, who we discover is the preacher’s wife. Both couples get into arguments: Carson insists she’s “normal” and just wants to be Greta’s friend, and Max realizes that Leah isn’t capable of a true relationship. These relationships, and others, are explored throughout the series in really compelling ways.

While I think the first episode is a little rocky, A League of Their Own really finds its footing over the course of the season. The pilot is a little try-hard with the jokes, but not so bad that it kept me from plugging into the story and characters. Some of the dialogue feels a bit forced, but it also improves across the eight episodes. 

Throughout the season, I found myself rooting for the women. Episode six, “Stealing Home,” is a standout, especially the final sequence. I’ll simply say that I went from pure joy to tears in the span of about two minutes. There’s queer freedom, joy, discovery, and yes, sadness too. It’s such a beautiful episode about identity, and there’s so much heart depicted in that and the last few episodes of the season.

On the whole, Abbi Jacobson and Chanté Adams are incredible, but the real stars for me were Gbemisola Ikumelo as Clance and Lea Robinson as Bert. Two incredible characters who are so charming and thrilling to watch on screen. I’m so glad they fill out the world of A League of Their Own. Clance is so sweet and nerdy, while trying to find her footing as a newlywed and then supporting Max in her journey to the pitcher’s mound. Her relationship with Guy is precious. And with Bert, who only appears later in the season, there’s so much about identity and living authentically, no matter the consequences. It’s a joy to watch.

I’m a sucker for the found family trope, and it really feels like a lot of the teams become families by the end of the season. These women care about each other, and I care about their relationships! On top of that, the solidarity and understanding between queer women felt really special. Obviously, there have been shows with multiple queer women before, but it still feels like something revolutionary to have this many queer women in one show. So much of League is about the joy that comes with finding yourself and people like you, your community, and your team (as the Prime marketing keeps repeating). 

I can’t speak to the representation in Max, Clance, and Bert in their lives as Black people, but what I think the show does well is depict their separate journeys. They aren’t locked in as the only Black person in the show, which means they get to be their own people, with their own wants, needs, and relationships. Part of the tragedy of the original film is that we only get that one glimpse of the unnamed Black woman, who shows her skills and then leaves. The first episode of the show very intentionally draws on that scene but then expands the story outward so we can see Max as a full person, as well as her friends, her family, and her love life.

From a visual standpoint, so much of this show works. The costuming is all gorgeous and actually seems to get dirty and worn multiple times over the season. I wanted to wear so many of Greta’s outfits, including these incredible shiny pants that make a few appearances. Likewise, the hair and makeup are usually pretty good, with only a few noticeable wig moments here and there. But while I usually found the lightning unobtrusive, some of the night scenes felt too dark, which I know can be a difficult line to straddle in terms of realism versus visibility. I would’ve liked things a little lighter, at least for some of the longer scenes between Max and Carson later in the season.

There are enough cameos and callbacks to the original (and yes, a “no crying in baseball” reference), but it never feels shoehorned in or like a rehash of the original. We have plenty of differences between the characters here, and I was genuinely riveted by the story. While subverting expectations has become a calling card for hacky television writing, I think it’s done well here. I really loved this show, and I hope for more seasons! I think there’s always room for new characters in a show like this, and I’m excited to see familiar faces and new characters in the future. Please join me in the stands as I cheer on A League of Their Own’s first inning!