Rachel Phelps

**Rachel Phelps** is the main villainess from the 1989 comedy, *Major League*, and the 1994 sequel, *Major League II*.

She was played by the late Margaret Whitton.

## 1st Film

Rachel Phelps is a former Vegas showgirl who inherited ownership of the Cleveland Indians after her husband, Donald Phelps, passed away. She harbored resentment and hatred for the city of Cleveland, because they blamed her for her husband's death. Rachel wanted to uproot the Indians and move them to Miami, revealing that a stadium has been built for the team.

In order to fulfill her goal, Rachel exploited a rule that stated that a team is eligible for relocation if their season attendance falls below 800,000. To make sure that happened, Rachel signed a rag tag team of nobodies, has-beens, and never-will-bes to the team, led by aging catcher Jake Taylor, and consisting of convict turned pitcher Rick "Wild Thing" Vaughn and leadoff hitter Willie Mays Hayes. Despite this, the team showed signs of winning, so the scheming owner decided to cut down on frills to demoralize, including having them travel to games in a run down bus, and not having the locker room hot tub fixed.

It wasn't until GM Charlie Donovan informed manager Lou Brown of Rachel's evil plan that the team became revved up and won games left and right just to spite her. The Indians' winning tear resulted in a first place tie with the Yankees at the end of the season, and the film ended with the Indians defeating the Yankees to win the division. While everyone celebrated, all Rachel could do is watch in disappointment and disbelief, as her plans had failed.

### Alternate Ending

An alternate ending (the intended original ending) to the first film had Lou tending his resignation to Rachel, with her actions as the main reason. Rachel responded by revealing that she had no plans to move the team; saying that she loved the Indians. She also revealed that the team was facing bankruptcy, forcing her to scout the best players she could and preventing her from providing the expensive frills, all the while acting mean and nasty to motivate the team. The ending was scrapped due to audiences preferring Rachel as a villainess, allowing Rachel's heel persona to be maintained in the 1994 sequel.

## 2nd Film

The sequel began with the revelation that Rachel sold the Indians to the team's former third baseman, Roger Dorn, for a huge amount. Unfortunately, Roger's ineptness and over-spending put him in a huge hole, and when even trading their best player, Jack Parkman, to the White Sox wasn't enough, he ended up selling the team back to Rachel, whose return couldn't have come at a worse time--as the team was struggling again.

Rachel wanted revenge on the team, as their fantastic season kept her from moving them to Miami and getting rid of the players for a more established group. The Indians again won the division and won the first three games of the American League Championship Series against the White Sox, much to Rachel's extreme dismay. Before the start of Game Four, Rachel entered the locker room in a celebratory mood, but her intentions were to demoralize the team by pointing out their weaknesses. Rachel's evil mind games worked; the Indians lost their next three games, forcing a deciding Game Seven.

Rachel was shown berating the fans during the game and loudly cheering Parkman's home run that gave the White Sox the lead. Pedro Cerrano gave the Indians the lead back, and the ninth inning saw Vaughn enter to his trademark "Wild Thing" theme, which Rachel despised. Vaughn struck out Parkman to clinch the pennant for the Indians, leaving Rachel disappointed once again.