Did Dottie Drop the Ball on Purpose in 'A League of Their Own'? It's an Age-Old Debate

When it comes to sports movies, well, are they ever really about sports? Penny Marshall's 1992 sports comedy A League of Their Own is a certified cult classic due to its killer cast of women — Madonna (Desperately Seeking Susan), Rosie O'Donnell (The Rosie O'Donnell Show), and Geena Davis (Thelma & Louise) — uber-quotable lines ("There's no crying in baseball!"), and historic accuracy. It's just a joy from beginning to end.

For those who don't know, A League of Their Own follows the women who make up the Rockford Peaches — an All-American Girls Professional Baseball League team — during World War II. See, because so many athletic men were off fighting in the war, candy maker Walter Harvey (Garry Marshall) funded the AAGPBL, hoping to get some publicity along the way.

While the movie hones in on the sisterly competition between Dottie Hinson (Geena Davis) and Kit Keller (Lori Petty), A League of Their Own highlights the shenanigans, hardships, triumphs, and failures of the whole team. And speaking of failures, the age-old question is still prominent today: Did star catcher Dottie drop that ball on purpose? Let's break things down.

It's no secret that the Racine Belles beat the Rockford Peaches in the 1943 championship game (Game 7 of the World Series) in A League of Their Own, but many wonder if it has anything to do with catcher Dottie purposely dropping the ball at home plate as her kid sister, Kit, runs through the base.

Did she drop the ball, sacrificing a win for the entire team, so her ultra-motivated, passionate sister — now on the Racine Belles team — could feel like she succeeded at the sport she loves so much? Or was it merely that Kit finally overpowered her cut-throat, competitive older sister, Dottie? Well, it's an ambiguous ending, one that really doesn't have a concrete answer.

But in 2017, Lori Petty (Point Break) gave her two cents on the decades-long debate.

“I knew you were going to ask me that,” Lori Petty told The Ringer when the question was brought up. Regarding the internet pop culture conspiracy theorists who dissect everything about the ending scene — from physique to personality traits — Lori Petty hilariously declared them "insane."

“I kicked her ass!” she hilariously stated. Well, if it was up to Lori, then Dottie did not purposely drop the ball.

And on the other end of the spectrum, Bitty Schram (Monk) believes that Dottie did subconsciously decide to drop the ball, according to a 2017 interview with ESPN.

"[But did Dottie drop the ball] on purpose at the end of the movie? If I had to pick, I would say subconsciously yes because she knew how much more it meant to Kit, and she was too good of a player," Bitty said. "From what I remember subconsciously, yes.”

In the same interview, Geena Davis got stubborn, refusing to give us a definitive answer once and for all.

“I’ll say two things about that. No. 1: I know the answer. Because it was me, of course, I know the answer. And No. 2: No, I’m not going to answer that question. I never have, and I never will,” she quipped. Geena!

While we want to say it's up to your personal interpretation, Geena Davis begs to differ.