Happy Birthday, Bobby Cox!: Our Hall of Fame Manager
By John Buhler
Today is Hall of Fame Manager Bobby Cox’s 74th Birthday. There is arguably not a man more instrumental in the success of the Atlanta Braves organization these last 25 years than Bobby Cox. The man who drafted Chipper Jones number one overall in 1990 as the GM opted to once again manage the big league club from the dugout once Russ Nixon was let go that summer. Bobby was a major reason John Schuerholz left the Kansas City Royals to build a new empire in Atlanta back in 1990.
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One may argue that it takes a special player to transform a downtrodden franchise. I’d like to say it’s the architects of the team’s construction and the man who leads his team into battle. For all of my childhood, that man was the same person. That man was Bobby Cox.
With Schuerholz, Cox took the worst team in the NL West in 1990 to a World Series berth in 1991. Through solid starting pitching, timely hitting, great defense, and a healthy farm system, Cox led the Team of the 90’s to five World Series appearances in nine seasons, winning it all in 1995 over the Cleveland Indians.
Bobby was the ultimate player’s manager. Whether you were a perennial All-Star or a guy up for a cup of coffee from AAA Richmond/Gwinnett, Bobby expected just three things from his ball players. Show up on time, wear the uniform correctly, and play the game the right way. Players went to war for Bobby. Many guys had their career years in Atlanta because they played so hard for a man they respected so much.
Even five seasons since his retirement and nearly a year since his 2014 Baseball Hall of Fame induction, part of me still believes that #6 is still in the dugout out at Turner Field waiting for the CB Bucknor to make a bad call and get himself ejected. Sometimes I wonder if Bobby thinks about how many of his ejections were because Major League Baseball didn’t have expanded instant replay during his managerial career. His all-time ejections record will never be broken just like no one is ever going to win 500+ games as a starting pitcher and surpass Cy Young.
With all the great things Bobby Cox has done for the Atlanta Braves, we will always remember the fourteen straight division titles and the animated ejections. Very few men have gotten more out of his players than Bobby did. No matter who was on the Atlanta roster, Cox found a way to win and win with class. Happy Birthday, Bobby Cox! You will always be an Atlanta legend.