# 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:** 2
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/21 "2004-11-18T01:35:35Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > I think it’s deliberately ambiguous. Agreed. Every time I watch the movie I come away with a different conclusion. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/22 "2004-11-18T02:44:23Z")
> [@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. Youngest, Dottie threw it. ---
**Author:** ![rolandgunslinger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cdc98d/32.png) [@rolandgunslinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rolandgunslinger)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/23 "2004-11-18T02:48:30Z")
> [@KGS](#): > > 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: Roebud is a sled? The Chick has a penis? Bruce is dead? thanks alot… ☹😃 ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/24 "2004-11-18T03:17:06Z")
> [@Jenny Haniver](#): > > 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. Wow. Great analysis. Younger sibling. Won it fair and square! I just can’t imagine that type of complexity is at work in a Penny Marshall flick. She’s good, but she’s not deep. There are only TWO deep, philosophical moments in this flick: (1) There’s NO crying in baseball AND (2) Avoid the Clap. ---
**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, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/25 "2004-11-18T03:30:39Z")
Well it isn’t really deep to have Dottie throw the game ;). The eldest sibling is always looking out for the younger, even if the younger doesn’t realize it (remember how Dottie said she wasn’t going if Kit didn’t?). ---
**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, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/26 "2004-11-18T03:33:36Z")
Oh, and before someone complains ;): I was using a generalization deliberately… please don’t post where an elder sibling hated the younger sibling. Thanks ;). ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/27 "2004-11-18T03:40:30Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Well it isn’t really deep to have Dottie throw the game ;). The eldest sibling is always looking out for the younger, even if the younger doesn’t realize it (remember how Dottie said she wasn’t going if Kit didn’t?). No. I was saying it would be deep if Marshall shot the film to make younger siblings think that she won failry and older siblings to think the fix was in. THAT would be smart film making. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/28 "2004-11-18T03:44:23Z")
fairly, even… ---
**Author:** ![Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linus_Van_Pelt)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/29 "2004-11-18T04:06:57Z")
My wife and I (re)watched this movie about a month ago. After the climax of the movie, I turned to her and said, “This ending drives me crazy.” She responded, “Yes, yes, I know - you don’t think there’s any way she drops the ball.” To which I replied, “No. I can believe that she drops the ball. What drives me so crazy is that Kit did something unbelievably stupid by not just running through the stop-sign, but doing so when the ball was already in the infield _and she got **rewarded** for it_.” Of course, I say this as a sports fan, not as a movie critic. Regarding Dottie _intentionally_ throwing the game, No Way. Yes, Dottie valued family. She gave up a game that she loved to be with her husband and did it with no regrets. But they also depicted Dottie as a person of integrity and I refuse to believe that she’d compromise that integrity, even to make her sister happy. She could quit, but if she decided to play, she’d play. That’s why they showed her getting the go-ahead hit. That’s why she told her team-mate how best to strike Kit out. I can believe that she might have **subconsciously** wanted to lose for her sister, but she wouldn’t make the conscious decision to throw the game. ---
**Author:** ![Jaade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dfb087/32.png) [@Jaade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaade)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/30 "2004-11-18T04:29:44Z")
Oldest and youngest sibling (depending on whether I’m at mom’s or dad’s!) She threw it, even if she didn’t MEAN to, her fingers just don’t release the ball right away, she kinda lets it roll out of her hands, instead of it flying out as if it were knocked out by Kit running over her. ---
**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, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/31 "2004-11-18T05:49:04Z")
> [@Linus Van Pelt](#): > > My wife and I (re)watched this movie about a month ago. After the climax of the movie, I turned to her and said, “This ending drives me crazy.” She responded, “Yes, yes, I know - you don’t think there’s any way she drops the ball.” To which I replied, “No. I can believe that she drops the ball. What drives me so crazy is that Kit did something unbelievably stupid by not just running through the stop-sign, but doing so when the ball was already in the infield _and she got **rewarded** for it_.” Of course, I say this as a sports fan, not as a movie critic. Assuming Kit was near the bottom of the line-up, I think we’d want to know if the hitter after her was weak, or if she was batting ninth and the next hitter was the top of the batting order. If Kit runs through the stop and is tagged out, we go into extra innings. If she scores, the game’s over. If she stays at third, the next hitter is key to what happens. ---
**Author:** ![Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linus_Van_Pelt)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/32 "2004-11-18T06:27:13Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Assuming Kit was near the bottom of the line-up, I think we’d want to know if the hitter after her was weak, or if she was batting ninth and the next hitter was the top of the batting order. If Kit runs through the stop and is tagged out, we go into extra innings. If she scores, the game’s over. If she stays at third, the next hitter is key to what happens. It doesn’t matter who’s up next, not in the least. Even the worst hitters will get a hit one time out of ten, but 99 times out of 100 that you make a boneheaded baserunning blunder like that, you are out. Don’t get me wrong - it’s still a good movie. But that part really bothers the sports fan in me. ---
**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, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/33 "2004-11-18T07:10:35Z")
> [@Linus Van Pelt](#): > > It doesn’t matter who’s up next, not in the least. Even the worst hitters will get a hit one time out of ten, but 99 times out of 100 that you make a boneheaded baserunning blunder like that, you are out. > > Don’t get me wrong - it’s still a good movie. But that part really bothers the sports fan in me. Let me just add into the equation Evelyn’s inability to throw to the relay man – a flaw Kit knew well, having been a Peach for the whole season. She may have thought there was a better-than-even chance the ball wouldn’t be anywhere near Dottie as she crossed the plate. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/34 "2004-11-18T07:43:36Z")
I think the whole end of the game sequence isn’t directed well. The relay throw from the outfield seems to change directions. And it’s obvious that the ball was already in the infield (if not in the hands of the third baseman), by the time Kit hits third. But I don’t think Dottie dropped the ball intentionally. Why would she let herself get knocked over like that if she wanted to let her sister win? She could have just dropped the throw when it came in. And when the game is over, she isn’t particularly happy. And at the reunion in Cooperstown, it is hinted that Kit and Dottie hadn’t spoken to each other much since then. I always cry at the end of this movie. Sorry, Jimmy. ---
**Author:** ![Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linus_Van_Pelt)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/35 "2004-11-18T08:24:24Z")
**Bricker** , as **BobT** said, the ball is already in the infield by the time she reaches third. It’s horrible, horrible baserunning. However, I acknowledge that it may have been a deliberate choice by the filmmakers. Dottie was depicted as the level-headed one, Kit as the hothead. They may have wanted to show Kit as out of control as she raced, single minded, toward her goal and that her passion was great enough to achieve it. But it still makes me cringe. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/36 "2004-11-18T13:57:15Z")
I’m an older sister, and it never occurred to me that Dottie deliberately threw the game until I heard about this controversy years after I first saw the movie. Maybe that says something about my relationship with my little sister. Anyway, while I can see how it can be viewed that way now, I still don’t think it was a deliberate act on her part–more a matter of Kit, having gotten out of her sister’s shadow and being forced to stand on her own merits by joining the other team, has turned out to be a good enough player to compete on a level with Dottie and, in this instant, win. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/37 "2004-11-18T15:22:38Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Eldest sibling here. Dottie threw it. Ditto. –Cliffy ---
**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 18, 2004, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/38 "2004-11-18T15:25:54Z")
Youngest of 3, Dottie threw the game. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2004, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/39 "2004-11-18T18:45:11Z")
Youngest sibling, Dottie just didn’t want it as much as Kit. She got beaten fair and square. ---
**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 18, 2004, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278/40 "2004-11-18T18:57:34Z")
> [@Linus Van Pelt](#): > > It doesn’t matter who’s up next, not in the least. Even the worst hitters will get a hit one time out of ten, but 99 times out of 100 that you make a boneheaded baserunning blunder like that, you are out. > > Don’t get me wrong - it’s still a good movie. But that part really bothers the sports fan in me. What bothers you? I understand that a runner shouldn’t run in that situation, but that certainly doesn’t mean a runner wouldn’t run in that situation, especially someone ruled by emotions such as Kit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/league-of-their-own-does-dottie-throw-the-game/275278.md?page=3)