Cobb (film) - Plot

Plot

Sportswriter Al Stump (Robert Wuhl) is hired in 1959 as ghostwriter of an authorized autobiography of the great Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb, one of the best baseball players of all time. Now 72 and in failing health, Cobb (Tommy Lee Jones) wants an official biography to "set the record straight" before he dies.

Cobb wants a sanitized hagiography which will present him virtually without flaws. Such books were common in earlier decades and the public images of many players (such as Babe Ruth, whom Cobb strongly resented, but respected as a player), had been shaped by such coverage.

Stump arrives at Cobb's Lake Tahoe estate to write the official life story of the first baseball player inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He finds a continually-drunken, misanthropic, bitter racist who abuses his biographer as well as everyone else he comes in contact with. Although Cobb's home is luxurious, it is without heat, power and running water due to long-running violent disputes between Cobb and utility companies. Cobb also rapidly runs through domestic workers, hiring and firing them in quick succession.

Although Cobb is seriously ill and prone to frequent physical breakdown, he retains considerable strength and also keeps several loaded firearms within easy reach at almost all times, making the outbreak of violent confrontation always an immediate possibility in his presence.

Cobb and Stump eventually decide to travel together cross-country to the Baseball Hall of Fame induction weekend in Cooperstown, New York, where many players from Cobb's era attend, and then on to Cobb's native Georgia, where his estranged daughter continues to live. After spending a few months with Cobb and absorbing considerable abuse, Stump is torn between writing the book that Cobb wants and writing his own book on Cobb which will reveal his true highly abrasive nature. Cobb begins to regard Stump as a friend of sorts; it is clear his conduct has driven away virtually all his legitimate friends and family.

Thus, Stump writes two books simultaneously: the puff piece Cobb expects, and his own, sensational, merciless account which will reveal the true Cobb, warts and all. Stump plans to complete Cobb's whitewashed version while the old man is still alive, guaranteeing his payment for the autobiography project, letting Cobb die happy, and then issue the hard-hitting followup after Cobb dies. At one point, after a long night contending with the raging Cobb, Stump passes out and Cobb discovers his notes for his no-punches-pulled version, bringing on an epic explosion from Cobb.

The film concludes with the news that Cobb has died and we see several scenes from Cobb's playing career, with Stump gaining a grudging respect for the player's legendary intensity and fearsome competitive fire, and an understanding the murder of Cobb's father may have been partly responsible for his antagonistic personality. The film ends with Stump conflicted in his opinion of Cobb: whether respect for his playing accomplishments can outweigh his repellent personal conduct. In the end, Stump decides to publish the whitewashed version of Cobb's life, mainly out of respect for Cobb's memory and his belief in redemption.