Cobb (1994)
What does a biographer do when the truth about his subject is far less pleasant than the legend? That is the moral dilemma at the heart of Cobb, which explores the lives of both baseball's premier hitter, Ty Cobb (Tommy Lee Jones), and the sportswriter assigned to set his story down, Al Stump (Robert Wuhl). Stump arrives at the Tahoe home of the dying Cobb to write the official life story of the first man inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame. He finds a drunken, misanthropic, bitter racist who abuses his biographer as well as everyone else. Stump must either candycoat his subject's life or present an accurate picture of a disgusting man who happened to become an American sports hero. The movie's biting focus on Cobb, ferociously performed by Jones, is not matched by its weaker representation of Stump, an imbalance which ultimately weakens the film's overall effect.
"Everyone hated this baseball legend. And he loved it."
Ramona: Who are you again?
Ty Cobb: I am the Georgia Peach. I have 4,191 base hits in 11,429 at bats, 920 stolen bases, 2,244 runs scored, and 93 batting records; and I want you to take off every stitch of your clothes.
Ramona: I don't think so.
[Cobb poi
Athens, Georgia, USA
Birmingham, Alabama, USA
Carson City, Nevada, USA
Cooperstown, New York, USA
El Dorado County, California, USA
Four Winds Restaurant - 3435 State Street, Santa Barbara, California, USA
(bar)
Lacy Street Production Center - 2630 Lacy Street, Los Angeles, California, USA
Lake Tahoe, California, USA
Los Angeles, California, USA
Reno, Nevada, USA
Royston, Georgia, USA
Tennessee Valley Railroad, Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA
Truckee, California, USA
Most of the scenes filmed in a ballpark were filmed at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. Rickwood Field is designed from the old Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.
Despite how he was portrayed in the film, the real Mickey Cochrane was able to manage the Detroit Tigers to a playoff appearance and serve in WW II.
Tommy Lee Jones had broken his leg prior to filming. He performed most of his role in a cast. The scene in the ballgame was shot last, when he had regained some mobility.
The fastball to the head Cobb refers to concerning Mickey Cochrane took place at Yankee stadium, and was tossed by Yankees pitcher Bump Hadley.
Factual errors
When stump asks for a stock tip he is told to buy coke stock as it is about to come out in cans and he says coke in cans I don't believe so. This movie takes place in 1960 and coke first came out in cans in 1955.
Anachronisms
Cobb is seen being treated by a black nurse at Emory University Hospital shortly before his death. In 1961, Georgia hospitals and their staff were still strictly segregated.
In the panoramic shot of of downtown Reno, modern-day casinos are visible that did not exist when Ty Cobb lived in the area.
Near the end of the film and in the bathroom of the Southern Comfort Motel where Ty coughs up blood into the sink, there is a three pronged grounded outlet on the wall. These outlets weren't used until 1962 and even by 1969 only half of American structures had them installed.
Errors in geography
When Stumpy and Ty are en route to Cooperstown, NY, they are shown pulling out of a desert gas station with a Route 66 sign on the roadway. Route 66 is very far south of where their route would've taken them.