# League of Their Own: does Dottie throw the game? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 17, 2004, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278 "2004-11-17T15:59:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/1 "2004-11-17T15:59:57Z")
Already feeling guilty about her sister Kit being traded to Racine, and knowing that she’s going to leave the league to go back to Oregon, Dottie’s the catcher in game seven of the World Series with two outs when Kit hits a long ball past the centerfielder. This should have put the tying run across the plate and left Kit on third. But Kit disregards the third base coach and barrels on towards home. Dottie catches the ball and is ready to tag Kit out, but Kit slams into her; Dottie loses the ball and Kit crosses home plate for a Racine win of the game and the series. We saw Dottie hang on to the ball in similar circumstances earlier in the year. Did Dottie decide to let Kit be the hero and deliberately drop the ball? ---
**Author:** ![Rufus\_Xavier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@Rufus\_Xavier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rufus_Xavier)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/2 "2004-11-17T16:03:43Z")
Yes. One of the subtexts of this movie is that family is more important than baseball. ---
**Author:** ![Dob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Dob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dob)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/3 "2004-11-17T16:04:43Z")
haha…this was just on HBO this morning! Im not sure she throws the game tho. She did go to the pitcher and tell her to throw the high heat, which her sister cant hit. If she wanted to throw the game why try and strike her out? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/4 "2004-11-17T16:07:13Z")
I never got that impression. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/5 "2004-11-17T16:10:37Z")
I think it’s deliberately ambiguous. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/6 "2004-11-17T17:21:43Z")
I disagree. I think Kit just knocked the hell out of Dottie, perhaps (if you want to get into subtext) because of all that pent up sibling rivalry. Dottie took the game seriously, and dramatically, it was much more interesting to see the team come that far and then lose. Kit was simply the plot device. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/7 "2004-11-17T17:34:51Z")
I thought it obvious that Dottie threw the game. In the earlier scene when she held on to the ball, wasn’t it shot from almost the same angle? It doesn’t seem ambiguous to me at all. I also don’t find it inconsistent with her instruction to throw the heat; this is the type of mood that can change second to second, and Dottie realized when she told the pitcher what to throw that she’d crossed the line she’d drawn. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/8 "2004-11-17T17:57:56Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > I thought it obvious that Dottie threw the game. In the earlier scene when she held on to the ball, wasn’t it shot from almost the same angle? It doesn’t seem ambiguous to me at all. What I meant by “ambiguous” was that those who think she deliberately let go of the ball will find ways to support their view, as you just did. Those who don’t will find ways to support that view, as **kunilou** did. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/9 "2004-11-17T18:01:39Z")
I also agree that she threw the game, and that it was pretty obvious to me. Especially considering Dottie’s looking at the field, looking at her husband, etc. right before that - an obvious choice that to her, she had everything that she needed, and that single Kit had much more to gain by winning. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/10 "2004-11-17T21:00:27Z")
Wow. Not like I was planning on watching this particular film but nothing like a big ol’ honkin’ SPOILER right in the thread title. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/11 "2004-11-17T21:33:51Z")
Hmm. I always thought it was more that Kit’s heart was more into the game than Dottie’s. I even noted that Dottie had made the same play successfully earlier in the film. I thought the film was just saying that Kit had turned it up a notch and that Dottie didn’t truly want the win as much as Kit. But I can see her “throwing” it. In fact, with this in mind, it makes the scene at the end where Kit and Dottie talk after the game much more interesting. I had always thought Dottie was feeling awkward around Kit because Geena Davis is a bad actress and ALWAYS seems awkward. But maybe it was that, “YOU GOT ME” act that one puts on when they let someone win and are trying to act deferential. ---
**Author:** ![MonkeyMule](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc348/32.png) [@MonkeyMule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MonkeyMule)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/12 "2004-11-17T22:54:14Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Wow. Not like I was planning on watching this particular film but nothing like a big ol’ honkin’ SPOILER right in the thread title. Jesus man, that movie is over 10 years old. Pretty much everypne who wanted to see it has seen it by now, and if that ‘spoiled’ the moive for you, you obviously didn’t want to see it anyway I did have a point, but I think I lost it. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/13 "2004-11-17T23:16:21Z")
> [@MonkeyMule](#): > > Jesus man, that movie is over 10 years old. Pretty much everypne who wanted to see it has seen it by now, and if that ‘spoiled’ the moive for you, you obviously didn’t want to see it anyway. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’ll bet you tell everyone that Rosebud is a sled, the chick in The Crying Game has a penis, and Bruce Willis is dead, people. :rolleyes: Just because it’s an old movie doesn’t mean it’s ok to spoil the ending. I saw _The Bad News Bears_ for the first time recently and the ending surprised the hell out of me (mainly because it seemed like the type of film destined for a “cliche” ending, heh.) Yeah, anyone reading a thread about a specific movie should expect spoilers whether they’re indicated or not, but this one’s in the freakin’ TITLE, fer cryin’ out loud. Someone did that for a Harry Potter book a couple years back, and I was pissed because I hadn’t gotten around to reading Goblet of Fire yet. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/14 "2004-11-17T23:28:07Z")
> [@watsonwil](#): > > Hmm. I always thought it was more that Kit’s heart was more into the game than Dottie’s. I even noted that Dottie had made the same play successfully earlier in the film. I thought the film was just saying that Kit had turned it up a notch and that Dottie didn’t truly want the win as much as Kit. That’s what I thought. Not as much that she deliberately threw the game, but that she was only playing at 95%, as opposed to Kit’s 110%, (to throw around sports cliches), and so Kit won. ---
**Author:** ![JDeMobray](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@JDeMobray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JDeMobray)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/15 "2004-11-17T23:47:53Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > Just because it’s an old movie doesn’t mean it’s ok to spoil the ending. Yes it does, read the forum rules 🙂 I don’t think she deliberately threw the game, either. But I agree that the movie is constructed in a way that you could think that. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/16 "2004-11-17T23:55:08Z")
> [@JDeMobray](#): > > Yes it does, read the forum rules 🙂 Well, the forum rules implicitly tell you not to spoil in the subject line. I can’t beleive she threw the game. Her teammates were important to her as well, she wouldn’t betray them like that. ---
**Author:** ![Jenny\_Haniver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Jenny\_Haniver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenny_Haniver)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/17 "2004-11-18T00:00:47Z")
I’ve got a perspective I don’t think has been mentioned yet - I’m the eldest child in my family, and have always thought that it was clear Dottie threw the game. When I mentioned this to my _little sister_, however, I got an earful about it, as she thinks the movie went out of its way to show that Kit really did beat Dottie in the end. I’d be interested in knowing where the other posters in this thread stand, sibling-wise, and if they thought it had any influence on their interpretation. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/18 "2004-11-18T01:02:43Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Wow. Not like I was planning on watching this particular film but nothing like a big ol’ honkin’ SPOILER right in the thread title. The movie is ten years old. > [@](#): > > It should be evident from these examples that we can’t give hard-and-fast rules about when to use spoilers. The guidelines must be common sense and courtesy: if you’re revealing a major plot element that could ruin the first-timer’s experience, then DON’T. If it’s a brand new work, be careful about revealing minor plot elements, as well. > . > . > . > On the other hand, anyone who doesn’t know that Dorothy could have gone home anytime by clicking her heels, well, the hell with ‘em. Frankly, I felt that this part of the rules applied. I’m willing to admit, on review, that it wouldn’t have hurt anything to make the title more ambiguous. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/19 "2004-11-18T01:30:00Z")
Interesting perspective on the eldest-youngest silbling idea. I’m the eldest sibling and I think it’s clear that Dottie threw the game. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/20 "2004-11-18T01:31:27Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Interesting perspective on the eldest-youngest silbling idea. > > I’m the eldest sibling and I think it’s clear that Dottie threw the game. Eldest sibling here. Dottie threw it. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278.md?page=2)