TV Review: A League of Their Own

So, obviously, I love the new “A League of Their Own” series on Amazon Prime. This rebooted take on the 1992 movie makes up for a lot of sins of omission of the original, and then some. Series co-creator and star Abbi Jacobson seems like she took the whole “I’m gonna give the gays everything they want”-meme quite literally. And we are all the better for it, as is this show.

I enjoy the many callbacks to the original film, which remains iconic for its time. Indeed, the movie casts a long shadow over the new series. But instead of simply retreading the path blazed by its predecessor, the new ALOTO has chosen to shed light on what the original ignored — namely all the queer women playing in the league and the talented Black women who were denied the chance to play because of prevailing racism.

The new League is as refreshing as it feels fresh. Some of that is due to the sometimes decidedly modern dialogue and communication style (no, not the swearing – we always fucking sweared), but it doesn’t distract too much because of the joy this cast injects into every story. Yes, this is a show that actually lets people see the dominant racism/sexism/homophobia of era while also showing how oppressed people still found their happiness (in this case, baseball).

Also, it’s hard to think of another series released on a major network/streamer that cast such a high-profile straight white male lead only to completely disappear him from the screen midway through the season – (SPOILERS) never to return again. Is this heaven? No, it’s lady baseball.

Telling diverse stories always matters. But telling diverse stories that help to tell the accurate history of marginalized groups really, really matters. Part of the reason we’re where we are today is because of the whitewashing of history. Like, slavery wasn’t so bad — at least they were given food and housing for free! Like, the pilgrims were friendly with and appreciated the help of the Native Americans — and that’s why we have Thanksgiving!

We know none of that is true. Yet the battle of how we teach our often ugly history continues to rage. It’s why conservatives have whipped up a frenzy about Critical Race Theory. They’ve fought so hard against the accurate teaching of American history because they know the truth hurts their cause. And, just in case you were confused about their cause, it’s the continued supremacy of straight white men and the patriarchal power structure. You know, that old chestnut.

We’ve always had racists and sexists and homophobes among us. The history of civil rights has been the gradual process of changing hearts and minds to all people’s humanity. When you tell the truth about our history — good, bad and very, very ugly — it actually helps to change people’s minds.

All this relates to “A League of Their Own,” I swear. And that is about the all-too-predictable backlash against the new series from certain segments. You know the ones. The ones that scream “Woke!” at anything with a non-white lead or queer storylines. The ones that think casting Black people or women or queer people in previously straight white males roles is an affront to the natural order and somehow also ruining their collective childhoods.

So, of course, we had to endure the “They ruined ALOTO” whining and the negative review bombing of the series because it puts queer women and Black women front and center. Those are the people who can’t be bothered to learn accurate history, and insist anything that tries to make more people feel included is woke nonsense.

These same people show their own completely gross ignorance. Because they want us to believe that somehow no queer women played in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. Which, excuse me, let me laugh at that forever. Just because they weren’t necessarily out and proud doesn't mean queer women weren’t there. It means queer women were closeted because otherwise the League, fans and public would never accept them.

Seeing Carson and Max’s stories, which should be parallel, go perpendicular because of racism and homophobia is important. Equalizing their lives, yet showing the inequity of their realities is part of the critical work of dismantling white supremacy. Stories - both fictional and historical - matter because in the end stories are all we have, the ones we tell ourselves and the ones we tell about each other. How truthful we are about both makes all the difference.

What the new League is isn’t a rewriting of history, it’s a truthful retelling of hidden LGBTQ+ history. History books don’t reflect the real lives of closeted historical figures. They don’t reflect the secret queer coded world of our community. Instead, like in the original League movie, they just pretend we don’t exist. But we’ve always existed. And we’ll keep existing.

They say history is told by the victors. But history belongs to all of us, and we all deserve to see the stories of our lives reflected accurately. A League seeks to correct our omission and let us finally play ball. And I for one couldn’t be more thankful.