[1] Born in Rockford, Illinois, Jean Cione was a dominant lefty pitcher who enjoyed a prolific career over ten seasons in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

Cione is regarded one of the few pitchers to make the successful transition from underhand to overhand through the many stages of the league, although she hurled on awful expansion teams that did not give her much run support.

After the league folded in 1954, Cione taught sports medicine and physical education at the university level for 29 years, earning inductions into several halls of fame across the United States.

[2][5] As she grew up, Cione showed an intense interest in athletics and outdoor activities, developing a practice that was to continue throughout the rest of his life.

When she turned seventeen, she attended an All-American Girls Professional Baseball League tryout held at Racine under the direction of Max Carey.

Other five teams competed in the 110–game regular season: the Fort Wayne Daisies, the Grand Rapids Chicks, the Kenosha Comets, the Racine Belles, and the South Bend Blue Sox.

Besides Cione, the roster of the Peaches included top notch veterans as Deegan, Ferguson, Gacioch, Green, Harrell and Kamenshek, as well as the newly arrived Lois Florreich (P) and Alice Pollitt (3B).

While the film does not use real names, filmmaker Penny Marshall seemed to be aiming for realism, as her work includes fake newsreel footage and pseudo-documentary present day scenes at the beginning and end of the fictitious story.

They have been honored several times for their significant contributions, responding to request for autographs and corresponding with young athletes interested in hearing of their days in the AAGPBL.