A League of Their Own – Enneagram and Encaustic

JIMMY DUGAN, EIGHT

A drunk. An athlete. A stubborn jerk. Jimmy’s a hard case.

He’s also beautifully written and portrayed. Jimmy has one of the strongest arcs in the movie. But what’s his Enneagram number?

He loves conflict. Oh, he totally knows he’s aggravating that umpire. Not a Nine.

He’s not an Envy person. Dottie’s talent is no problem for him. He wants her to excel and to recognize her gifts. The loss of his career makes him bitter against himself, but he doesn’t measure himself against others.

Possibly an Eight. His “no crying in baseball” line is honest and brutal. (That’s part of what makes it so funny and beloved.) Eights are not ashamed to hurt other people’s feelings. They rip off the band-aid.

Not a One. The mechanics of coaching hold little interest for Jimmy. Not a Seven. An alcoholic Seven would be having much more fun.

Eight it is. When he stops drinking his natural leadership shines through and he becomes a great coach.

KIT KELLER, FOUR

Total Envy Person, right? Her jealousy over her sister Dottie is eating her alive. Credit to the actors for nailing their characters so perfectly that narrowing the Enneagram choices is easy.

Two, Three, or Four? Obviously I jump right to Four because Kit seems consumed with emotion, but let’s dig deeper.

Kit is athletic, yet not a Body Type. Next to Dottie Kit is average, but compared to everyone not Dottie, Kit is cream of the crop. She excels. Possibly a Three.

She second guesses herself, though, and lets Dottie live in her head. Her doubt seems very un-Three.

She’s open with the other players. Everyone likes her. I’m going to say no to a Two, though. Evelyn, mother of Stillwell Angel and instigator of one of the greatest lines in film — “There’s no crying in baseball” — seems like the team’s Two.

So, we’re back to Four. Kit is up and down. Her determination to battle, even though she feels defeated, is Four-like. And the Four/Nine dynamic, with Dottie as the partner Nine, is on steroids here. Everything one number refuses to feel, the other number displays. That mix of deep connection and painful codependency makes for a very compelling sister story.

DOTTIE HINSON, NINE

Oh, she’s a Nine all the way. Her avoidance of conflict, her superior athletic ability, her calm dependability — so much Enneagram Nine.

I’ve complained before about having Nine protagonists at every turn. It’s so predictable. Here’s a good one, though. Dottie’s Nine traits, her placid nature, are used to play off the other characters’ more exuberant traits. Although Dottie is our heroine, this is an ensemble cast. Actors play their individual beats and Dottie sits right at the center, reacting. It’s a very good use of a Nine character. Everything that we see happen to her, from signing up for the team to going to the team reunion, is instigated by someone other than Dottie. Even leaving the team because Bob came home is a passive reaction rather than a decisive action. It makes for an interesting and sometimes frustrating character arc.

Also, her astonishing athleticism is important to the story. She’s almost physically superhuman, which leads to a lot of conflict. Her mild personality is a great contrast because she doesn’t really know how good she is. Someone like this, one of the greatest athletes of all time in the world of this story, should have more strut. She’s a bit of a mystery.

In the end, though, she returns to the playoffs of her own accord. The Nine can’t resist the battle when all’s said and done.