| Director | Ron Shelton |
|---|---|
| Genre | biographical film |
| Runtime | 128 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $25.5 million |
| Box office | $1 million |
In 1960, sportswriter Al Stump is hired as the ghostwriter for an authorized autobiography of baseball player Tyrus Raymond "Ty" Cobb. Now 74 and in failing health, Cobb wants an official biography to "set the record straight" before he dies. In addition, Stump will get to accompany Cobb at the annual Baseball Hall of Fame ceremony in Cooperstown, New York, where Cobb is set to attend.
Stump arrives at Cobb's estate on Lake Tahoe, where he finds Cobb to be a continually-drunken, misanthropic and bitter racist who abuses everyone he comes in contact with. Even though Cobb's darker reputation was already a known secret by many, including Stump, the sportswriter is still shocked at the length of Cobb's behavior and ill temper when seen at face value. 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 breakdowns, including sexual impotence, he retains considerable strength and also keeps several loaded firearms within easy reach at almost all times, making the outbreak of violent confrontation a constant possibility. Stump finds himself butting heads with Cobb from the first day of the job, when the two men differ on the structure of the book, with Cobb wanting to emphasize his self-proclaimed greatness, while Stump argues that Cobb can't call himself great, but needs to rely on others proclaiming his greatness.
Before heading for Cooperstown, Cobb plans a quick trip for him and Stump to Reno for fun. Cobb almost gets killed in an automobile accident off the Donner Pass, driving recklessly in a blizzard. Stump rescues him, but Cobb then seizes control of Stump's car until he gets into another accident. The car has to be towed to Reno. There, Stump and Cobb see a show at a resort hotel featuring Keely Smith and Louis Prima, whose act Cobb rudely interrupts.
One morning, Cobb comes into Stump's hotel room and looks at some notes Stump had written that decry the ballplayer as "pathetic" and "lost in the past". In a rage, Cobb argues with Stump that people aren't interested in Cobb's personal issues. Only his achievements as a great player are important. He then gleefully reveals that Stump's agents agreed, behind the writer's back, to allow Cobb final editorial approval on his book, breaking the standard clause Stump has in his contract. Despite Cobb's preferred vision for the book, the player does start opening up to Stump about the pivotal event of his life, the death of his father by his mother, which he tells Stump was a result of his dad's jealous personality.
A cigarette girl, Ramona, becomes interested in Stump, but when Cobb barges into the hotel room, he's in a jealous rage. He knocks Stump out and takes Ramona to another room, where he physically abuses her, while still failing to achieve sexual arousal. Stump comes to just in time to see Ramona storm out of Cobb's room, viciously mocking the player as "Georgia trash." Horrified with what he's seen of Cobb since meeting him, Stump decides to focus on writing the true story of Cobb, instead of Cobb's intended version.
Aware of Cobb's editorial approval, Stump writes two books concurrently, the one Cobb expects ("My Life in Baseball") and a sensational, merciless account that will reveal the real Cobb, warts and all. Stump continues writing notes for the expose on different forms of hotel stationery, including hotel napkins which he hides. Stump then places the typewritten pages of "My Life in Baseball" on his workspace for Cobb to see and approve. Stump plans to complete Cobb's version while the old man is still alive, guaranteeing his payment for the project without violating Cobb's approval clause, and letting Cobb die happy. Stump will then issue the hard-hitting follow-up after Cobb is gone.
As Cobb and Stump resume the road trip, the two work on Cobb's book during the day, while Stump works on his book late at night, as Cobb sleeps. Stump soon goes from just being Cobb's ghostwriter to a general caretaker for the player, making sure Ty takes his various medications during the trip. Stump is amazed by the ill Cobb seeming to maintain some vitality despite his various ailments, which include cancer.
Cobb and Stump finally reach the Hall of Fame's induction weekend in Cooperstown, New York, where many star players from Cobb's era are in attendance, including Rogers Hornsby and Mickey Cochrane. In the runup to the dinner, Stump learns that Cobb has secretly been financially helping some old former teammates who have been struggling, which further shows layers to Cobb's person. During the Hall of Fame dinner, a hallucinating Cobb becomes haunted by images from his violent past as he views film footage of his career. Despite publicly honoring Cobb, many of the same players attending the dinner block Cobb out of their private hotel afterparties, having been fed up with his bad behavior. From Cooperstown, Cobb and Stump drive south to Cobb's native Georgia, where his estranged daughter refuses to see him, which Cobb later tells Stump is the same case with the rest of his surviving children and his ex-wives.
Continuing to write his dual accounts, Stump starts drinking heavily himself as he realizes that by doing his secret book and Cobb's book concurrently, Stump was becoming what Cobb, for all his faults, wasn't: a liar.
Despite still seeing Cobb as a man who treats people like dirt, Stump gains a grudging respect for the player's legendary intensity, competitive fire, and no-holds-barred honesty about his reputation as a tough player, taking pride in how hated he was by fellow players and even spectators. Cobb, in turn, begins to regard Stump as a friend of sorts; it is clear his conduct has driven away virtually all his legitimate friends and family.