''Baseball Girls'' is a Canadian documentary film, directed by
Lois Siegel Lois Siegel (born 1946) is an American-born Canadian film director and photographer.Jean Russell, "Genie-award winner Lois Siegel partied all night; Then it was right back to work for documentary film-maker from Kirkland". ''Montreal Gazette'', Mar ...
and released in 1995.Bill Brownstein, "Picking up ball Burns dropped; Montreal director chronicles role of women in baseball". ''
Montreal Gazette
''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
It is the only English-language daily newspape ...
'', March 21, 1990. The film centres on
women's baseball
Women's baseball is played in several countries. The strongest and most organized women's baseball leagues are in the United States, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, Cuba, Hong Kong, and Canada. Those countries have national governing bodies that sup ...
, profiling the history and culture of the sport from the days of the
All-American Girls Professional Baseball League
The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) was a professional women's baseball league founded by Philip K. Wrigley, which existed from 1943 to 1954. The AAGPBL is the forerunner of women's professional league sports in the Uni ...
through to the modern day, through a blend of animation, still photography and live action footage.
Production
Siegel began planning the film before the release of the 1992 film ''
A League of Their Own
''A League of Their Own'' is a 1992 American sports comedy drama film directed by Penny Marshall that tells a fictionalized account of the real-life All-American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL). It stars Tom Hanks, Geena Davis, Ma ...
'', but stated that she was thankful that
Penny Marshall
Carole Penny MarshallBorn Carole Penny Marshall in 1943, as per ''My Mother Was Nuts, a Memoir'', p. 10; . Copyright 2012 (October 15, 1943 – December 17, 2018) was an American actress, film director, and producer. She is best known for ...
's hit film had raised the profile of the subject.Judy Gerstel, "Film goes to bat for women who wanna play ball: Baseball Girls debuts tonight at NFB gala". ''
Toronto Star
The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division.
...
'', February 22, 1996. She also expressed her disappointment that
Ken Burns
Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American filmmaker known for his documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle American history and culture. His work is often produced in association with WETA-TV or the Nati ...
's otherwise acclaimed 1994 documentary series ''
Baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...
'' had devoted very little time to women's role in the sport even though Burns had directly consulted Siegel for assistance in researching that aspect of the sport.
Faye Dancer
Faye Katherine Dancer (April 24, 1925 – May 22, 2002) was a center fielder who played from through for three teams of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Listed at , 145 lb., she batted and threw right-handed.
Women in ...
, who had been a player in the All-American Girls league, served as a creative consultant on the film.Ted Shaw, "After years of being struck out by history Baseball Girls sets the record straight". ''
Calgary Herald
The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network.
History
''The C ...
'', July 1, 1997.
Distribution and response
The film premiered at the 1995
Montreal World Film Festival
The Montreal World Film Festival (), commonly abbreviated MWFF in English or FFM in French, was an annual film festival in Montreal, Quebec, Canada from 1977 to 2019.WTN in 1997.
The film faced some criticism for virtually ignoring the popularity of the sport among
lesbian
A lesbian is a homosexual woman or girl. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate nouns with female homosexu ...
s, with Siegel stating that she had contacted a lesbian baseball team to take part in the film, who declined due to the team members' concerns about being too publicly visible; conversely, however, it received praise for including the stories of some significant
African-American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...
players in the history of women's baseball, an element that ''A League of Their Own'' had downplayed.Ted Shaw, "A look inside the small screen". ''
Windsor Star
The ''Windsor Star'' is a daily newspaper based in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Postmedia Network, it is published Tuesdays through Saturdays.
History
The paper began as the weekly ''Windsor Record'' in 1888, changing its name to the ''Bor ...
'', June 27, 1997.
It was a finalist for best documentary in the 1996 Toronto Film Critics Poll."The 2nd Annual Toronto Film Critics' Poll". '' Take One'', Winter 1997.