A daughter tries to remedy her dysfunctional relationship with her ailing father, a decorated baseball scout, by helping him in a recruiting trip which could be his last.
Gus Lobel (Clint Eastwood) is a baseball scout. The team he works for thinks he should retire. He asks them to let him do one more scouting job to prove himself. His friend, Pete Klein (John Goodman), asks Gus' estranged daughter, Mickey (Amy Adams), if she could go with him to make sure he's okay as his eyes are failing. The doctor tells Gus he should get his eyes treated, but he insists on doing his scouting assignment, which takes him to North Carolina. Mickey decides to put her work on hold to go with him, and she wants him to explain why he pushed her away. While there, he runs into Johnny (Justin Timberlake), a scout from another team who was a promising player Gus once scouted. Johnny and Mickey take an interest in each other.—[email protected]
In Atlanta, aging Brave's baseball scout Gus Lobel (Clint Eastwood) is near the end of his contract and manager Vince (Robert Patrick) questions whether or not it is time for his retirement. Meanwhile, the stubborn and grumpy Gus learns that he has problems with his eyes and needs to go to a specialist, but he hides the medical recommendation from everybody. Gus' boss and friend Pete Klein (John Goodman) knows that baseball is the pride and joy of Gus, and a retirement would kill him, and asks him to travel to North Carolina to scout the promising player Bo Gentry (Joe Massingill). Pete also protects Gus from the ambitious colleague Phillip Sanderson (Matthew Lillard) that wants his position, and to get Gus fired. Pete visits Gus' estranged daughter Mickey (Amy Adams), who is an efficient lawyer that is disputing a partnership in the office where she works with her colleague Todd (James Patrick Freetly), and asks her to travel with Gus to North Carolina. Mickey is a great fan of baseball and has a great knowledge of the sport since she used to travel with her father when she was young, but she has a childhood trauma since Gus abandoned her with an uncle when she was a child. In North Carolina, Gus meets former pitcher Johnny (Justin Timberlake), who had an early retirement due to an injured shoulder, and now is scouting for the Red Socks, but aiming to be a broadcaster. When he meets Mickey, there is a mutual attraction between them. Along the days, Gus discovers that Gentry has problems with curve balls and he does not recommend the player to the Braves. He also tells Johnny about Gentry's problem. But when Phillip (Matthew Lillard) advises Vince (Robert Patrick) to hire Gentry, Vince's decision affects the lives of Gus, Mickey, and Johnny.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
An aging baseball scout with failing sight hits the road with his estranged daughter to pursue a promising young ballplayer, and they learn just how much they have in common as they make their way from Georgia to North Carolina in this sports drama produced and directed by frequent Eastwood collaborator Robert Lorenz. For decades, Gus Lobel (Clint Eastwood) has been one of the best scouts in Major League Baseball. But these days his eyes just aren't what they used to be, and as a phenomenal young batter enters the draft, the owners of the Atlanta Braves cast a shadow of doubt over Gus' judgment. Meanwhile, his daughter Mickey (Amy Adams) is an aspiring partner at a major Atlanta law firm. In the wake of his wife's death, Gus sent Mickey away, and their relationship has been strained ever since. But she knows a thing or two about baseball, and recognizing that her father's job is in jeopardy, she decides to help him, even at the risk of derailing her own career. Now, throwing caution to the wind (and ignoring her gruff father's objections), Mickey joins Gus for a scouting trip that could keep him in the game until he's ready to retire, as well as repair a father/daughter relationship that once seemed all but lost.
An aging Atlanta Braves baseball scout, Gus Lobel (Clint Eastwood), is given one last assignment to prove his value to the organization, who views him as unable to adapt to changes within the game. His boss and friend Pete (John Goodman) does not want to see him let go but is fighting off the advances of an ambitious younger protege, Philip (Matthew Lillard), who is gunning to get Gus fired and take Pete's job.
Pete suspects Gus is hiding problems with his health, so against Gus's wishes, Pete contacts Gus's daughter Mickey (Amy Adams), a workaholic lawyer pursuing a partnership at her firm, to join her father on a scouting trip to North Carolina. Gus is to review a top prospect named Bo Gentry, a brash amateur whose statistics make him a likely top draft pick. Mickey is working on a presentation for a client, that could decide her promotion, but decides to work on it while she is on the road trip with her dad, against the advice of her seniors in the firm.
Mickey realizes that Gus's vision is failing and starts to take an active role in his work to make up for his shortcoming. Along the way, Gus reconnects with a former player he once scouted, Johnny "The Flame" Flanagan (Justin Timberlake), who is now a scout for the Boston Red Sox, and who takes an interest in Mickey. When Mickey questions Gus about his leaving her with an uncle she barely knew as a child, after her mother's passing, the conversation takes a sour turn, and Mickey storms off, leaving Gus frustrated.Mickey's bosses decide to bring in Mickey's promotional rival into the case, putting extra pressure on Mickey to come back, but she decides to stay put with her dad.
As Gus, Mickey and a group of other scouts watch Bo play, he seems the perfect hitter. They watch him in a bunch of games & every time Bo manages to score the home runs. He is the pick everyone wants. Philip has even sent his spy to keep an eye on Bo & Gus. Gus and Mickey realize he can't hit a curve-ball.Johnny & Mickey get romantically involved.
Gus advises Johnny to pass on Bo in the draft, and Johnny takes his advice. However, when Gus calls Pete and the Braves' management with the same advice, Philip disagrees based on statistical analysis and stakes his career on his opinion, leading Braves general manager Vince (Robert Patrick) to draft Bo against Gus's advice. When Johnny learns of the move, he believes that Gus and Mickey double-crossed him to allow the Braves to draft Bo instead and angrily leaves.
Mickey reveals to Gus that she might not make partner at her firm & says that she loves baseball & might become a full-time scout to follow in the footsteps of her father. Mickey is angry with her dad for leaving her behind with an uncle or sending her to a boarding school & never calling back. Gus reveals that one-time when Mickey was 6 yrs old, she was travelling with Gus to a small town when she went missing. Gus looked around & found her in a dark shack with a stranger who had his hand up her shirt. Gus realized that taking Mickey on his road trips was endangering her.
Gus abandons Mickey at the hotel. She hears a pitcher throwing outside her room, and realizes he is talented just from the sound. She approaches the young man, Rigo, and volunteers to catch for him. After seeing him throw a few curve-balls, she calls Pete, who reluctantly agrees to have him tryout in Atlanta.
Gus returns to the Braves' office where Vince and Philip criticize him for his evaluation of Bo. Pete interrupts to let them know that Mickey has brought Rigo to the field. As Bo practices batting, Philip mocks Gus and Mickey for bringing in Rigo, an unknown. Mickey insists, however, and Pete allows Rigo to pitch. Rigo throws several fastballs, which Bo repeatedly misses. Mickey calls for Rigo to throw a curve and again Bo cannot connect with the ball, and the staff realize they were wrong about both Bo and Gus.
Mickey learns that her promotional rival messed up the client presentation & that the seniors are fast tracking her promotion to partnership. Mickey says to Gus that she will think about joining the law firm back.The management resume their meeting, intent on signing Rigo. Gus suggests Mickey could be Rigo's sports agent, due to her legal background and knowledge of the game. When Philip makes another snide remark towards Gus, Vince fires him and offers Gus a contract extension. Outside the stadium, Mickey and Gus find Johnny waiting. Mickey approaches him and they kiss while Gus lights a cigar and walks away.
