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.
Much of how Cobb was portrayed in this film has now been widely recognized as inaccurate. Al Stump's books and magazine articles on Cobb have now been widely discredited, and serious baseball historians give Stump's account of the later years of Cobb's life very little credence. Charles Leerhsen's biography, "Ty Cobb, A Terrible Beauty," sets the record straight.
Cobb did NOT attempt to have sex with the cocktail waitress in Las Vegas and then attempt to pay her off (Stump fabricated this), and many other alleged darker aspects of Cobb's life are just plain not true. Several serious baseball historians have labeled this film highly inaccurate.
Despite how he was portrayed in the film, the real Mickey Cochrane was able to manage the Detroit Tigers to two World Series in 1934 and 1935. The Tigers won in 1935, their first ever world championship. Cochran also served with honor and distinction in World War II.
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.
The fastball to the head Cobb refers to concerning Mickey Cochrane took place at Yankee stadium, and was tossed by Yankees pitcher Bump Hadley.