TheHappy DaysCast Had a Baseball Team — and They Were Really Good, New Book Reveals (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Cast and crew of “Happy Days” pose in baseball uniforms.Photo:American Broadcasting Companies via Getty

American Broadcasting Companies via Getty

TheHappy Dayscast shared more than just a love for acting.

As Brian Levant and Fred Fox Jr., producers and showrunners for the beloved series, discuss in their new book —50 Years of Happy Days: A Visual History of an American Television Classic— the cast also had a baseball league they played in together.

“In the chapter called ‘Barnstorming a Softball Team,’ we talk about how Garry Marshall enhanced the relationship between the cast. It even enhanced our relationship with the cast, being able to be with them off the set. We made just incredible memories,” Fox Jr. tells PEOPLE.

“Marion [Ross] says Garry started a baseball team to buildtheminto a team, but the discipline and teamwork that was exhibited onstage translated to the field,” Levant says.

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Henry Winkler chats with Dodgers player at charity event.Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

“And Marion’s so funny, we talk about how she used to tell people, ‘I’m a 53-year-old woman who has to tell my friends I can’t go shopping, because I have baseball practice,’ " he adds with a laugh.

They also used sports as a way to honor the troops, traveling and meeting with the enlisted at stops they made to play games. The cast and crew engaged in two USO tours, as well as a number of charity events, showing off the team’s skills.

“Happy Days” cast and crew lined up in their baseball uniforms in 1979.ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty

Together, they visited the border between East and West Germany, seven years before the fall of the Berlin Wall.

The tradition continued even after the show’s conclusion, as Fox Jr. and Levant reveal in the book.

“At 6 a.m. on November 12, 1983, the morning after filming their final episode ever, they flew to Okinawa and swept four games in four days against military teams across the island outpost,” they share.

source: people.com