Does playing softball make you gay? A 1993 photo of the Supreme Court hopeful playing during her time at the University of Chicago set off a frenzied debate about Elena Kagan’s sexuality.
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America’s indubitably straight sweetheart is starring as a professional softball player caught in a (heterosexual) love triangle in a new James L. Brooks romantic comedy due out this winter.
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Soft-rock crooner Michael Bolton is also a softball freak. In 1993, he put out an instructional video giving tips and tricks for how to master the game.
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In the 1980s, the Batman star was a regular player in the ShowBiz Softball League, a group of Hollywood professionals who met frequently to play in Encino, Calif.
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Who’s the Boss? star Tony Danza played in the ShowBiz Softball League and also on the Happy Days softball team, organized by director Rob Marshall.
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At its peak, the Showbiz Softball League had 700 players (including Billy Crystal), spread over 43 teams, and was one of the biggest industrial softball leagues—often called “beer leagues”—in the country.
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Perhaps his participation in the Showbiz Softball League inspired Thirtysomething co-creator Ed Zwick to write About Last Night…, in which Chicagoans played by Rob Lowe and Demi Moore meet at a softball game.
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Michael Jackson’s older brother was one of the founding members of the Showbiz Softball League and has also been an enthusiastic touch football player throughout his life.
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Tom Dreeson, a stand-up comedian who occasionally opened for Frank Sinatra, was once nearly late for a show. "Sinatra asked me what was so important in L.A. to almost make me late," he said. "I told him I was playing softball. He used to play himself, so he says, 'For a softball game, I can forgive you.' "
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Actress and cellist Lori Singer is a gifted softball player. Last summer, she joined Alec Baldwin, Tracy Feith and others at the 61st Annual Artists Vs. Writers Charity Softball Game in East Hampton.
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The Office star and St. Louis native Jenna Fischer is a life-long baseball fan and softball enthusiast. She wrote a poem about the Cardinals during the 1982 World Series and read it on the radio.
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Before she played FBI special agent Renee Walker on 24, Annie Wersching played for a junior high school softball team called the Lucky Sluggers.
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The supermodel played her first game of softball ever during a guest appearance on the second season finale if Ugly Betty. When on the day of the shoot, the show’s director told her softball required wearing flat shoes, Campbell protested, saying, “Can I please have heels?” The costume department relented and found her a pair of high-heeled sneakers.
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