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| Ron Shelton's Cobb A review by David Pietrusza |
| SABR members eagerly anticipated Ron Shelton's film Cobb but unless you lived in a major market it probably didn't make it to a theater near you (and even then you had to get down to the box office before it left on a no-return road trip).
In February, however, I had the dual pleasure of seeing Cobb and of meeting its creator, writer-director, Ron Shelton. As many of you may know Shelton, who also created Bull Durham, is a former minor leaguer who spent five years in the Orioles chain. I am pleased to report that like most former ballplayers Mr. Shelton is both a fine gentleman and a wonderful raconteur. I must say I never been more surprised by a film more than I was by Cobb. Most reviews have centered on its dark vision of Cobb in his last days. That's hardly a surprise to anyone who's ever read Al Stump's magnificent article "Ty Cobb's Wild Ten-month Fight To Live." But Cobb also is a wonderfully funny movie. And that should hardly be a surprise to anyone who's ever seen Bull Durham. Now, not everything in Cobb is factually kosher, although for baseball movies (and motion pictures in general) it's accuracy quota is remarkably high. A motion picture, nonetheless, is not the Baseball Research Journal, and Ron admitted to a taking dramatic license on occasion, particularly in regard to Al Stump. Stump, for example, never did frighten the willies out of that process server as you see late in the film. But it is true that old Tyrus did know about that brunette in Al's past. And to this day Stump has never figured out how. Some background on Tommy Lee Jones, who by the way is Ring Lardner's grandson-in-law. If you're wondering how he could so marvelously mimic the halting movements of the septuagenarian Cobb, he had a little help. Just before shooting starting, he broke his ankle and performed with his leg with a cast up to his knee. That cane he was using wasn't exactly a prop. His baseball scenes had to be delayed until the end of the schedule, and when a double wasn't running for him Jones would just run until he collapsed in pain. Then Shelton would yell "cut," prop Jones up again and try to get a few more shots in the can. One last thing. I had always wondered if Bull Durham's hard-throwing (but wild) Nuke LaLoosh was based on another Oriole farmhand Steve Dalkowski. My suspicions in that regard had been heightened when I read Ron Shelton's chapter on Dalkowski in Danny Perry's Cult Baseball Players. You read it here first. Not only is Nuke LaLoosh based on the Steve Dalkowski, the character of Crash Davis, the veteran player sent down to steady a fireballing prospect, is based on Joe Altobelli, who Shelton knew in the Baltimore system, and who once roomed with Dalko. As Casey Stengle used to say, you can look it up. |