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\"It was hard times … a lot of the players were making more money than their parents, working in factories,\" she said. \"They were making $100, as much as $150 a week, so they would send money back home. Their parents weren’t making half that in the factories.\"

Despite the inclination of Hollywood to dramatize true events, Lesko said Marshall got a lot of things right in her movie.

\"It was very accurate, except for the way [the women in the film] treated the chaperones, which wasn't very nicely,\" she said, laughing. \"Of course, the gals did pull tricks on them, put salt in their beds and other stuff, but it was all in fun. They weren’t making fun of them or anything.\"

Another scene from the movie that Lesko says could never happen was when Hanks' character came into the women's dressing area and went to the bathroom.

\"[The coaches] would never have done that, that was Hollywood too,\" she said.

Marshall worked with about 10 of the past players living in Palm Springs and interviewed them, taking their stories to mold the film's characters.

In fact, many believe someone like Hanks' Dugan was based much off actual baseball legend Jimmie Foxx. Geena Davis' character Dottie Hinson was also loosely inspired by Dottie Kamenshek and so forth.

Before Cooperstown

Lesko said that despite the pay and the fanfare, she, like other women in the league, didn't tell their children or make a big deal about their past. Then the girls got invited to the Baseball Hall of Fame in the 1980s, followed by the release of the film in the early '90s.

\"All of our kids, they didn’t know we played until they grew up,\" she said. \"I never told my children, never told my husband until they started calling us about the movie.\"

In fact, the current association president, Richard Chapman, didn't know his mother Dorothy played, and now she has a statue standing out front, swinging a bat in Cooperstown.

\"PHOTO:
Jeneane Lesko
PHOTO: Jeneane Lesko, former All American Girls Professional Baseball League player, still promotes the game she loves today around the country.
>

But when the players' families found out, they \"went crazy,\" Lesko said. In fact, Lesko and others were invited to stadiums like the Kingdome in Seattle and Wrigley Field to be celebrated.

The women also have a reunion every year to inspire other young girls to play baseball and show that they still have what it takes. Last year's reunion took place in Florida, with next year it's happening in Cincinnati, Ohio.

\"It’s been a great life and a great life experience,\" Lesko said. \"I’ve been in real estate for 50 years for a living, but my love has always been sports ... We go around and do autograph-signings all the time. We’re still out there, limping around or being pushed around. We’re in the Hall of Fame!\"

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