Atlanta Braves: Power Ranking the Retired Numbers

Jul 27, 2014; Cooperstown, NY, USA; Bobby Cox makes his acceptance speech during the class of 2014 national baseball Hall of Fame induction ceremony at National Baseball Hall of Fame. Mandatory Credit: Gregory J. Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Bobby Cox is what we consider a baseball lifer.  The former third baseman with the New York Yankees was a major architect with the Team of the 90’s.  Bobby Cox took over from Russ Nixon in the second half of 1990 and went on to win 14 straight division titles with the Atlanta Braves.  That record may not ever be topped as the Atlanta Braves were a fixture in the postseason from 1991 to 2005.

After a rough initial run with the Atlanta Braves in the late 1970’s, Bobby went on to have success with the American League’s Toronto Blue Jays before returning to Atlanta to become GM in 1986.  Bobby was responsible for drafting both Tom Glavine and Number 10, as well as orchestrating the John Smoltz-Doyle Alexander Trade in 1987.

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After former Kansas City Royals GM John Schuerholz agreed to come to Atlanta, Bobby Cox remain in the Atlanta dugout as the skipper and went on to become a Hall of Fame Manager, enshrined in 2014 with both Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux.  Cox also had the pleasure to go in with two of his peers from the managerial side in Joe Torre and Tony La Russa, two other baseball lifers.  All three are Top 10 Managers in MLB History.

The Atlanta Braves not only won 14 straight division titles under Cox’s leadership, they went to 5 World Series in a 9-year period, winning it all in 1995.  Perhaps what is the most mind-blowing fact about Bobby Cox’s second tenure as Braves Manager is that from 1991 to 2001, the Atlanta Braves played in 10 straight National League Championship Series.  Keep in mind that the Wild Card came into being for the first time in 1995.  Getting to 10 straight LCS’s may not happen ever again either.

Cox won 2,149 of his 2,504 victories with the Atlanta Braves.  He won NL Manager of the Year three times and holds the record for in-game ejections.  Bobby Cox metaphorically went to war for his players and his teams responded.  At least two of his teams (1991 and 2005) had no business to win their division, but under Bobby Cox’s leadership the Atlanta Braves proved the baseball world wrong.

Next: 3. The Only One to Play Solely with the Atlanta Braves