A League of Their Own is a beloved baseball movie packed with stars, but now it will also serve as a permanent homage to the iconic field where it was filmed.
On Aug. 22 around 11:30 p.m., the field at Jay Littleton Ball Park in Ontario, California, where the famous movie's baseball scenes were shot, went up in flames. According to KABC, the venue was built in the 1930s and had a wooden grandstand, which was quickly engulfed in flames during the blaze. Firefighters arrived on the scene and found fire rising out of the stadium and dugout, but by that point it was too late.
The field was designated as a historic landmark back in 2003. In addition to the beloved 1992 movie starring Tom Hanks, Madonna, Rosie O'Donnell, and Geena Davis, the ballpark has also been featured in other sports films like Eight Men Out and The Babe Ruth Story. While the grandstand has been renovated many times since it first opened, city officials said that it likely contained a lot of old, dry wood, creating the perfect conditions for a major fire.
Unsurprisingly, locals have been devastated about the loss of such a legendary place in the community.
"This ballpark has been the heart of Ontario. It's a historical ballpark [and] place to play for our kids. And now, unfortunately, we're not going to be able to get a chance to play in it anymore," Ontario Eastern Little League president Aaron Matthiesen told KABC.
The exact cause of the blaze remains unknown, but Matthisen offered his own hypothesis. "We constantly have issues with the homeless at the park," he told KTTV. "In the past, they’ve broken into the building and cut the gas line so they could hook up their own gas… It’s just fallen in disarray, and I unfortunately think that’s what happened."
For now, the iconic landmark will have to live on on celluloid.
