My mother was an outfielder, and my mother's sister was a second baseman. But regarding the storyline and the script, there was more potential for conflict and a dramatic arc by making them a pitcher and a catcher.

Wilson: For us, it was like trying to solve a puzzle. We watched a lot of movies to figure out what that story would be. His mom and her sister played on the same team. They weren't on opposite teams. But for the sake of the movie, we put them as competitors.

Mandel: [Another interesting tidbit is] my mother-in-law lived in Sherman Oaks, California, at the time. And in her building was playwright Neil Simon's mother. One day, my wife and I were going to visit [my wife's] parents, and we ran into her, and she was with Neil Simon's brother, Danny. And she introduced him as, "This is Neil Simon's brother."

Ganz: We actually put that line in the movie. Where Kit says to Dottie, "You ever hear Dad introduce us to people? This is our daughter Dottie, and this is our other daughter, Dottie's sister." It was based on that anecdote. That was the emotional motor of the movie for us.

Candaele: I'm sure my mom and her sister had those kinds of dynamics.

Take 3: Film in motion

Greenhut: The script was good, and Penny was good. She had worked with Tom Hanks in "Big." So it was like, here they come again.

However, this was not the easiest film to make. It was a long process, and I was sort of squeezing this in between two Woody Allen films. Good thing Columbia/Sony Pictures was really into it, so they didn't nag us about cutting scenes or taking out a million dollars or anything like that. Of course, we had to explain what we were doing.

Marshall, as told to an audience at the Hudson Union Society in 2012: Tom asked for the job because he had several flops right before. He did "The 'Burbs" [in 1989] and "Joe Versus the Volcano" [in 1990].

Greenhut: The casting took forever. We were trying to get actresses who actually played baseball, so that narrowed down the field right away. In some cases, it wasn't that crucial because maybe their scenes didn't require that much playing. But for others, they really had to display some sort of athletic prowess. So we all quickly learned how hard it is to throw from first base to third to get somebody out. It looks so easy when you see it on television.

Marshall, as told to The New York Times in 1992: I hadn't worked with so many women before. I thought it was something I should do. But I wasn't doing it just to do a women's picture. The problems as they're presented in the movie apply to both men and women. It's about, "Don't be ashamed of your talents." It's a universal thing.

Candaele: Geena Davis (Dottie) was very clearly a talented athlete. She could throw and swing the bat. Then all of the other women they found to fill out the teams were great athletes. So it just reinforced this idea that there are great women athletes out there that are tremendous baseball players. They brought those skills to the tryouts, then, of course, the movie.

Greenhut: We went through a lot tryouts. We had Demi Moore out there in a batting cage. (Moore eventually couldn't do the film after she became pregnant.) We even had Debra Winger, but that didn't work out. However, I had worked with Geena Davis before [on "Quick Change," which came out in 1990]. And then Madonna came into play. So Columbia/Sony wanted to do this whole package thing, which we could market. And Madonna wanted to do it. She was hot stuff at the time, and she was athletic enough.

Madonna just really wanted to do this film. And I told her, "You know, it's very little money." She explained that she wanted to be diverse in her career. And she took it seriously. She might have come in late a few times, and maybe I had to bring her to the principal's office kind of thing. But ultimately, she was a sweetheart. She was just so enthusiastic about doing a good job.

And a little more background, though it's slightly off-topic ... going back more than 10 years earlier, before Madonna was an established singer, I was production manager on the [1979] musical film version of "Hair," and we wanted to do the film with unknowns. We had open tryouts in New York City. You had to sing and dance. We took over a rehearsal studio in the theater district, and we had announced the tryouts, and people started showing up like two days before. So we put up a sign-up sheet in front of the theater to put some order to who will be allowed in first to audition. There were at least 1,000 names on it. And the very first name was Madonna Ciccone. She had to have gotten there like 40 hours before the audition. That's just a great example of her ambition. I wish I had kept that sign-in sheet.

Anyway, the hardest thing Madonna had to do baseball-wise was sliding into third or home, and that took a while to get right.

Take 4: Production

Geena Davis played catcher Dottie Hinson: I hadn't heard anything about [the movie] until I was offered my role. I had just made "Thelma and Louise" in 1991, and it was such an incredible treat to be in a movie with two strong and important female characters. With ["ALOTO"], I was going to get a chance to be involved in something that was about women who changed the world.

Once I read the script and saw the part I was going to get to play, it was an ABSOLUTELY.

I have always sought characters that got to do interesting things, from a selfish point of view as an actor. I didn't want to just be the girlfriend of the person who is having all the interesting things happen. And this is the ultimate example of that. I bring it up when I give speeches because I say, "I would rather play the baseball player than the girlfriend of the baseball player." And I'm lucky that I've had the opportunity to do that.

“I would rather play the baseball player than the girlfriend of the baseball player.” Geena Davis

Anne Ramsay played first baseman Helen Haley: Initially, I learned about the project when David Anspaugh was still signed on to direct it, and I auditioned. But I guess David wasn't too impressed. I didn't get a callback.

A year or two later, I hear that Penny is at the helm of the project, and she brings me back. This film needed a woman director. And I did well in my audition with Penny, but she could not place me. And she just couldn't figure out how to fit me in for one of the roles that were already in the scripts. And I mean, she had me come in at least five times. One time she goes, "Wash off all of your makeup." I walk to the bathroom in the middle of the audition. She was trying to see me differently, fit me somewhere.

I could tell she liked me but couldn't figure it out! Then I get I call from the casting department saying that Penny loved me but couldn't figure out where to put me. Then the casting agent says, "Penny is going to write a role so that you can be in the film."

I was like, 'Thank GOD!" Penny gave me a chance and launched my career. She gave me wings to fly.

Tracy Reiner played left fielder Betty "Spaghetti" Horn: I was probably the most shocked [to get the role] because I only went to the auditions because my cousin Wendy wanted to go. I had just had my wisdom teeth pulled.

There were about 2,000 girls auditioning at USC with Rod Dedeaux [the former USC baseball coach who died in 2006], and his coaches and trainers were going to evaluate the girls to see if you were trainable. I was somewhat prepared because I played softball on the weekends.

Dedeaux looks at me and says, "That girl has got an arm." I get home after popping stitches in my mouth and spitting blood, then my mom [Penny Marshall, the director] was upset. I thought for sure it was about my teeth. I thought she'd liked that I had tried out [with the casting call group]. She goes, "No! [How'd] you two [end up] testing in the top 20 girls!"

Davis: I came late to the training. My other teammates had been doing it for a while, and a good number of them could actually play baseball -- unlike my situation. I had to work hard, as I was going to play the catcher. I remember working on that, and I soon had all these round bruises on my shins and forearms from not catching the ball. And I remember one of the coaches saying, "Now this is why it's much easier if you CATCH the ball." And I was like, "Good point." One of the highlights of my life was when I'd been training for a couple of weeks, and one of the coaches said, "You have some real, untapped, natural athletic ability." I had always avoided playing sports. I assumed I was uncoordinated. I was always so tall and awkward. That changed my life -- learning how to play a sport.