Welcome back to Good Day Stateline.
You know her as Marla Hooch from a league of their own.
Meghan Cavanaugh is with us tonight.
So excited to chat with you.
Hi, Meghan.
Hello. How are you, Michelle?
So good.
Thank you so much for being here with us.
We are so excited to talk to you,
especially right here from Rockford.
How does it feel
to see a league of their own still be such a huge movie?
30 years after you shot it it is so amazing to me
that this movie has state has such staying power.
Yeah.
And it also makes perfect sense because it's been the catalyst
for so many girls to play sports,
and that just makes my heart warm.
Absolutely.
So 30 years ago you shot this movie.
What memories do you have from shooting a
an incredible movie, but working with some huge names?
Yeah, it was intimidating, to say the least.
It was my first movie and I was the fourth lead in the movie.
And according to our call sheet and you know,
my name was between Tom Hanks and Madonnas.
It was
it was really overwhelming and it was an experience
of a lifetime for me.
What are some of the moments
like from the movie that we all know and love
that are your favorite moments when you rewatch the movie
or when you think back so I love the John Love.
It's moment when we we
we come out of the tunnel into Wrigley Field.
I'm a huge Cubs fan, so to be on the field
at Wrigley was a religious experience,
and I invited my father.
He got to come to the set and we got to sit in the Cubs dugout
and that was amazing.
There are so many amazing moments for me to to
I could be here all day
and all night,
tell you all the things that I
loved about being part of that movie. But.
But being at Wrigley.
Yeah, extremely special.
I can believe it.
So you grew up in the Chicago suburbs.
So did I mean, you grew up in, like, Oak Park, right?
Yeah.
River Forest
is where I spent my youth, and Oak
Park is where I had spent some of my more adult life.
My parents moved to Oak Park when they sold our house.
So when did you first like, know of Rockford?
Because I grew up in Schaumburg.
I didn't know what Rockford was
until I saw a League of their own when I was seven.
I knew of Rockford because we used to drive
past Rockford on our way to for summer vacation
when I was a kid. So I knew the sign, you know,
so I knew it existed, but I didn't know very much about it.
And then I had a
a friend
who trained me for the movie,
who was from Rockford,
Jeff Hermanson, and he would speak about Rockford.
So, you know, I knew a little bit about it.
And then I didn't
actually get to really go there until after the movie came out.
And I got to go to Byers Stadium and and experience it.
And I love Rockford now.
I go there all the time. Yeah.
So how much was was baseball or sports ever in your life,
or was it just
it happened to be
part of this huge movie that was your big break.
Well, baseball was a part of my life in terms of watching it.
Yeah, I didn't play.
I played 16 inch softball,
which is only played, I think in Chicago Melon Ball.
And I was in a theater league and I had a friend
who really taught me how to bat,
and I was a I was a good hitter.
I'm an OK fielder, but my hitting was, was really
what and I and then I had to learn to bat
left handed for the movie, which I can still hit
balls left handed.
I just
I just last week and so yeah, I, I'm kind of playing a game
and, you know, either playing or managing, I'm going to do
a little bit of both probably at the event yeah.
And so I wanted to like
go to the cages just to see if I could still hit a ball
win. When you auditioned for the movie,
was there like baseball skills part of the audition
or did they figure Oh,
we'll get the good actors,
we'll make sure they play baseball
or you got to to show them your skills.
You had to play baseball before that you could even even read.
And that was for all the actor sets.
And, you know, every actress in L.A.
Was trying out for this.
And then they went to New York and they went
I mean, they went everywhere looking for four women,
but playing ball, you had to be
trainable.
OK, so they put it so like rad data was our history.
You had a coach at USC, God rest his soul, and he
he was the person who decided whether or not
you were trainable or if you had any skills
you had to be good enough. Right.
That's awesome.
So you are coming again to visit us here in Rockford,
which is so cool to celebrate the anniversary
next Friday and Saturday.
Why is it so important for you to still be a part of
the whole League
of their own world and join us for celebrations like this?
Well, besides the fact that it's super fun,
I love the fans and the the young women and girls
that come up to me and tell me how much it influenced them.
Because my goal when I did this
movie was to make the women from the all-American Girls
Professional Baseball League proud.
And I am cheering on.
I feel like their lineage,
even though I, I wasn't, you know, a player in real life.
I'm an actor who played it.
But this movie affected so many young people
and who are now in their thirties and forties.
So and their children now are being, you know, shown it.
And I just love meeting all the people that loved it
because I loved it.
And it's it's such a
baseball and softball.
They're such a wholesome game.
And it teaches
so much about teamwork and you know,
working together and and losing is really important.
Winning is fantastic because you have to be able to lose.
Yeah. To be able to win. You know what I mean?
Like all the failures and all of the
the wonderful things that come from playing and a team sport.
And I just I just love it.
And I want it I want it to be part of my life
for the rest of my life.
And it is I love that so much.
It's so awesome to talk to you.
Before we go, you know,
it's funny because, of course, so many people
recognize you for league their own,
but you're on a very, very popular TV show.
Friends that you played, Luisa which is a very prominent
episode.
Do you get people who see you in public
and they're like, well,
we say you shot Bebe with the dance show I do get it.
I lose the GMAT from homeroom.
Yeah, I it
is it's very iconic and people definitely remember it.
And I I do get asked if I was in that.
Ah, I look a lot like that person.
You know, I get that, too.
It's, it's, it's adorable.
And I want to say to
I want to give a shout out to the International Women's
Baseball Center for bringing me to Rockford.
This for this event.
Maybelle Blair, one of the original ball
players, Shirley Perkovic, God rest her soul, founded the ABC.
And they are doing their wanting to make a museum
and a playing area.
And they want to be able to teach girls how to umpire
and do other things in baseball besides play, but
playing as well.
And I'm just so grateful that they invited me to come.
Absolutely.
We are so grateful that you are
on our website about what's happening.
Thank you so much for spending some time with us.
And again, thank you. Have a great day.
You, too. Want to start.
We'll be right back
with more Good Day Stateline.