'A League of Their Own' is still making an impact on Evansville 30 years later

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Patrick Higgs said the best time of his life was playing an extra in the film "A League of Their Own" — except for one day in particular.

He recalled filming at Bosse Field dressed as a 1940s-era vendor in the summer of '91, and all the extras in the stands wanted to eat the prop food he carted around. He tried to explain it was just cold hot dogs for show, but that didn't stop the demand.

"We were throwing oranges and apples to feed the beasts," Higgs said. "It was not a fun day if you were dressed as a vendor."

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Higgs was one of several Tri-State residents who appeared an extras in the film, which marked the 30th anniversary of its theatrical release this year.

The cast and crew spent the whole summer of 1991 in Evansville; Henderson, Kentucky; and parts of Southwestern Indiana filming the movie. That allowed locals to rub elbows with huge stars such as Tom Hanks, Madonna, Geena Davis and director Penny Marshall.

Higgs is currently working on a documentary about the film and how it changed the city. Three decades later, the movie is still having an impact on Evansville, making it a tourist destination for fans and securing it a place in film history.

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Earlier this month, Major League Baseball announced its intention to play a regular season game at Bosse at some point in the near future. It would likely mirror the recent games in Iowa inspired by another beloved baseball film, "Field of Dreams."

"It was one of my favorite times of my life," Higgs said. "It was just a special time."

'Sports tourism'

Mike Schopmeyer, the attorney for the Evansville Convention & Visitors Bureau, said his friend and former Citizens National Bank Vice President Bill Brooks used his "charisma" to steer Marshall into filming at Bosse Field.

According to the Evansville Courier archives, Brooks also helped recruit extras. When filmmakers reportedly worried they'd have a hard time packing the Bosse stands, Brooks encouraged bank employees to take up the challenge, offering them a day off.

And despite the hungry onlookers Higgs encountered, the producers fed all who came with an array of local food, including 50 dozen doughnuts from Donut Bank.

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Schopmeyer said since then, Evansville has changed quite a bit, with the addition of I-69, a finished Lloyd Expressway and an evolving downtown. And along with that, he said, the city's "sports tourism" is blossoming.

"Sports drives visitors and tourism on a much larger degree than it did back then," Schopmeyer said. "We've kind of become what the movie is about."

Bosse Field

Between the Evansville Triplets leaving in 1984 and the Evansville Otters arriving 11 years later, Bosse Field went without a permanent resident.

And the field, the third-oldest in the U.S. along with Wrigley Field and Fenway Park, needed some work, Schopmeyer said. So Colombia Pictures paid for a new roof and fixed up the field. The city has since preserved it.

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"None of us would have guessed it would have became the classic that it did," Schopmeyer said.

Bill Bussing, owner of the Otters, said he remembers how excited the community was that summer. He doesn't think anyone realized, at the time, what kind of impact the movie would have.

It's become an integral part of the park's identity. Remnants of the movie's set design, including the large logo for the Racine Belles, still hang on the grounds, and residents flock to occasional "A League of Their Own" screenings that shine in the outfield on fall and summer nights.

Bussing said the film still attracts people to Bosse Field, many of whom don't come to see the Otters.

"I've lost track of how many people come in the winter just to look at the field," he said.

He occasionally gives tours. And many of the young softball teams who come can recite the movie by heart.

"The impact it has had may be even greater now," Bussing said. "The movie still resonates three decades later."