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Bitty Schram

Bitty Schram has worked across film, television and Broadway, with two roles in particular shaping how many viewers know her. Born in New York City on July 17, 1968, she grew up in Mountainside, New Jersey, and attended Jonathan Dayton High School, where she was a competitive athlete. She later studied at the University of Maryland, College Park, on a tennis scholarship, graduating with a degree in advertising design. “Bitty” was a nickname she chose to use when she became an actress. Schram first drew wide attention as Evelyn Gardner, right fielder for the Rockford Peaches in Penny Marshall’s A League of Their Own. Evelyn is the player on the receiving end of manager Jimmy Dugan’s exasperated warning, “There’s no crying in baseball!” She is also the mother of Stilwell, the team’s memorably obnoxious young companion. The role placed Schram at the center of one of the movie’s defining exchanges and gave her a distinctive place within its ensemble. Her work was not limited to the screen. From 1993 to 1995, Schram appeared in the original Broadway production of Neil Simon’s Laughter on the 23rd Floor, adding an extended stage run to a career that crossed between different kinds of performance. In 2002, she took on a major television role opposite Tony Shalhoub in the USA Network series Monk, playing Monk’s assistant through the middle of the third season. Schram left when the network decided to take some characters in a different creative direction, and Natalie Teeger, played by Traylor Howard, became the new assistant. Schram later returned for a guest appearance during the eighth and final season in the aptly titled episode “Mr. Monk and Sharona.” From a baseball ensemble to Broadway and a long-running detective series, Schram’s career is marked by roles that place her in direct, lively partnership with strong central characters.