No Crying in Baseball

The Inside Story of a League of Their Own: Big Stars, Dugout Drama, and a Home Run for Hollywood

By: Erin Carlson

Narrated by: Mia Hutchinson Shaw

The inside story of how A League of Their Own—one of the most beloved baseball movies of all time—developed from an unheralded piece of American history into a perennial cinematic favorite. Featuring exclusive interviews and behind the scenes memories from the original cast and creators.

No Crying in Baseball is a rollicking, revelatory deep dive into a one‑of‑a‑kind film. Before A League of Their Own, few American girls could imagine themselves playing professional ball (and doing it better than the boys). But Penny Marshall's genre outlier became an instant classic and significant aha moment for countless young women who saw that throwing like a girl was far from an insult.

Part fly‑on‑the‑wall narrative, part immersive pop nostalgia, No Crying in Baseball is for those who love stories about subverting gender roles as well as fans of the film who remain passionate thirty years after its release. With key anecdotes from the cast, crew, and diehard fanatics, Carlson presents the definitive, first‑ever history of the making of the treasured film that inspired generations of Dottie Hinsons to dream bigger and aim for the sky.

©2023 Erin Carlson (P)2023 Hachette Books

Critic reviews

“Baseball stories are never just about baseball, Erin Carlson reminds us. And Carlson’s baseball story, about the making of A League of Their Own, is about the business of Hollywood, the telling of women’s stories, the magic that ensues when the right performers meet the right director and the right script, and what, precisely, takes place when Madonna, at the height of her fame, decamps for the third-largest city in Indiana to shoot a movie. No Crying in Baseball is sheer, joyous fun, studded with insight into the grit and determination it took then—and now!—to make a movie that celebrated the accomplishments of women.”—Saul Austerlitz, author Generation Friends

“If you’re a fan of A League of Their Own, you’ll love all the behind the scenes info, and if you’re not already a fan, this book will make you want to watch immediately! Erin brilliantly weaves juicy stories with the triumphant tale of getting the historic film made. I loved it. Perhaps there's no crying in baseball, but you may shed a tear or two of joy while reading this wonderful book!”—Danny Pellegrino, author of How Do I Un-Remember This?

Great story

This is a great book for fans of this movie. The author does a great job going into how the movie came out and how the actors were selected. It was a thoroughly enjoyable listen and a lot of fun to hear how some of the iconic scenes in this movie came to be. It was smart to include the critics’ poor opinions of this movie. Shows how the critics are so out of touch and have been forever. Overall great listen.

Great story

Great story about A League of Their Own. It’s the in and outs of this book.

A must for fans of the film

If you’re a fan of the movie you’ll appreciate this book. It’s a quick read with the history of getting the film made. Skip the Audible version. It’s incredibly slow. It sounds like AI is telling the story. A few times there are even mispronounced words.

Loved it!

Great behind the scenes stories, but some of the narraters pronunciations were strange and distracting.

This book mostly not about the making of the film

This book is about lots of things. Among those things you will find some scattered anecdotes about the making of A League of Their Own. Maybe 1/4 of this book is about the making of the film. But it’s mostly about other things. There are mini-bios of like, everyone, including people who are only tangentially involved with the movie. Do they provide a footing for deeper meaning to scenes later in the book? Not really. Do they feel like filler, keeping you from the stuff you really want to read about? Absolutely.

It’s one of those book where the author follows the research away from the subject: author goes to Evanston to research movie in place where movie is made; author learns little about movie but lots about Evanston; stuff about Evanston goes in book about movie. Does author add some literary flair to make the narrative side-trip worth the distraction? No.

There’s also random spots of snark disguised as feminist critique. It comes off as cheap and unsupported. Like, why doesn’t Lori Petty have a career after LoTO? Because she refused to conform to the standard model imposed by the Patriarchy. ‘nuff said!!

Well, no. If you want to say stuff like that you want to support your thesis. It is a very supportable thesis but go all or nothing. The half-measures are lame and strike discordant notes.

Potential reader/listener: this is not the book you're looking for.

Some about the movie some not

I feel like this is more a biography on Penny Marshall with some anecdotes about making the movie. Not as good as I hoped for, not that I don’t appreciate Penny Marshall and her works. Not a fan of the narrator, is it AI? Probably wouldn’t recommend.