Line #1 TearJerker/ALeagueOfTheirOwn


1	* After the tryouts, nearly every woman has either left the field or gone to sit with her team...but one lone person, Shirley Baker, is still standing in front of the posted lists, helplessly rocking back and forth. The coach questions Shirley, who's near tears but won't say why. Another player, Helen, realizes what's happening--Shirley doesn't know how to read and can't find her name. While it's quickly resolved in a happy way, the anguish and shame on Shirley's face is palpable, especially when you realize that she's having to confess her illiteracy in front of a huge crowd.
2	* [[WhamLine "I'm sorry, Betty."]] This only gets worse the more you think about it; it would be bad enough in any time period, but during the WWII era, the husband was seen as the breadwinner of the family while the wife stayed at home and filled the traditional role of the housewife, dependent on her husband to provide. Betty now faces a very uncertain future. Fortunately, the GI Bill would make sure she would always have an income.
3	** Everyone's reaction when the telegram guy shows up. The ones who are married are terrified that it's about their husband, and the ones that aren't are upset because they know what it means. (And when asked, surviving players reported that it happened ''a lot''.)
4	** And Dottie in the scene immediately after. Having not heard from her husband in weeks, and that fresh in her mind, she breaks down fearing the worst. But then...
5	* Lowenstein is trying to get LIFE magazine to write a story about Dottie to help revive the league. Kit asks if he mentioned her and Lowenstein replies that he told the story of how the scout didn't even want to bring her along, but Dottie wouldn't go without her. Kit looks utterly dejected and even Mae looks like she feels bad for her (though Doris seems to think it was hilarious).
6	* Though Doris spends most of the film as FatComicRelief, she has a small moment when she discusses her current relationship with a deadbeat man who's all but stated to abuse her verbally and physically. Even worse, it's suggested that this was still ''better'' than how other guys treated her because of her baseball skills, so she stayed with him because she'd become convinced that he was the best she could get.
7	-->'''Doris''': He’s stupid, he’s out of work, and he treats me bad.
8	-->'''Kit''': Then why....?
9	-->'''Doris''': Why? Why do you think? Because, you know... None of the other boys never, uh… [they] always made me feel like I was wrong, you know? Like I was some sort of a weird girl, or strange girl, or not even a girl, just ’cause I could play. I believed them, too, but not anymore, you know. I mean, lookit. There’s a lot of us. I think we’re all all right.
10	** Edges into CMOH/CMOA territory when she snatches up the man's picture, tears it into pieces and tosses them out the window, signaling that she's leaving him for good.
11	** The RealitySubtext of her last lines also can apply to lesbians who just came out and found other women who were the same way. Rosie O'Donnell confirmed that even though Penny Marshall tried to downplay it, she ''absolutely'' played the scene with a gay subtext.
12	* When Ernie refuses to let Marla join the team, despite her amazing batting skills, because she is too plain-looking, her father delivers a heartfelt speech, begging Ernie to reconsider and blaming himself for raising Marla as a single father.
13	** Similarly, Marla's saying goodbye to her father. Most of the other girls are eager to join the team, but Marla is clearly reluctant and anxious about the situation.
14	* The RealitySubtext of Harvey's plan to end the league once the war ends. As Ira points out, ''all'' women who finally got to enter new areas of the workforce are going to get kicked out once the men get home. While the league survives in the end, other women weren't so lucky.
15	** It's most apparent when Mae, upon hearing about the league's possible closure, has a near breakdown about her prospects. Though she [[ReallyGetsAround loves men's company]], it's also clear that she's terrified of going back to her old life (which is implied to be [[HookerWithAHeartOfGold prostitution]] in all but name) and will do ''anything'' to avoid it:
16	--->'''Mae''': And what am I supposed to do, huh? Go back to taxi dancing? Ten cents so some slob can sweat gin all over me? ''I'm NEVER doing that again.'' So you go back there and you tell rich "Mr. Chocolate Man" that he ain't closin' ME down!
17	* Jimmy admitting that he "wasted" the last 5 years of his major league career, and how he would give anything to have them back. It's a brief glimpse that he's not just a womanizing drunk, he's a ''self-loathing'' womanizing drunk because he knows he ruined his chance and can't hide from the guilt.
18	* The epilogue is full of these moments, including Dottie looking at Jimmy's death dates in Cooperstown and telling the other women that Bob has died. But the saddest moment comes when she encounters a grown-up Stillwell:
19	-->'''Stillwell''': Hi, Dottie. You remember? ''(In a nasally voice)'' "You're gonna lose..."
20	-->'''Dottie''': Stillwell Angel! My goodness. Where's your mom?
21	-->'''Stillwelll''': ...Mom died. Couple years ago...when I heard about this, I just felt I owed it to her to be here. She always said it was the best time of her life.
22	** Later, Stillwell takes a picture in front of a full-sized display of his mother, and while he smiles, he's clearly near tears.
23	** In a similar vein, Dottie seeing Jimmy's Cooperstown exhibit - along with his date of death. Especially when you consider that they probably never saw each other again after she retired.
24	** When Dottie reveals that Bob is dead, she doesn't even have to finish the sentence, and Marla isn't even shocked, just sad. Dottie's reaction to learning that Evelyn died is the same. They're at that age where their contemporaries dying is a regular occurrence.

Context TearJerker / ALeagueOfTheirOwn