Bobby Cox
Robert Joseph "Bobby" Cox (born May 21, 1941 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA) is the current and longtime manager of the Atlanta Braves and was a former third baseman in Major League Baseball. He first led the Braves from 1978 to 1981, and then managed the Toronto Blue Jays from 1982 to 1985. He later rejoined the Braves in 1985 as a general manager. He moved back to the manager's role during the 1990 season, and as of the 2006 season, Cox is the manager with the longest current tenure in Major League Baseball.[1]
Bobby Cox has been named Manager of the Year four times (1985, 1991, 2004, and 2005) and is one of the only three managers to have won the award in both the American and National League. He is also the only person to have won the award in consecutive years. Cox has also been named Manager of the Year by The Sporting News eight times (1985, 1991, 1993, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005).[2]
Cox is the fifth winningest manager in Major League history, with the record of 2171 wins and 1686 losses through the 2006 season. He led the Braves to win the National League Division Series every year from 1991 to 2005, excluding the strike-shortened 1994 season. He has won a World Series Championship in 1995. In 2001, he became the most successful manager in Braves history. [3] Cox's .563 winning percentage is fourteenth in all-time among managers with at least 1000 games managed, and is the second highest among those who managed the majority of their career after the creation of divisions within each league in 1969.
Cox is currently second for ejections in a career and first among all active managers (Cox was ejected for the 127th time in his career on April 22, 2007, 4 ejections behind John McGraw)[4]. Cox is also the only person among all players and managers to be ejected from two World Series games (1992 and 1996). He was ejected in the ninth inning of game three of the 1992 World Series for throwing a batting helmet onto the field at the Toronto Skydome. Cox was trying to slam the helmet against the lip of the dugout and missed, throwing it onto the field. He was ejected for his action. [5] Cox was again tossed in the final game of the 1996 World Series, protesting an out call of Mark Lemke on a steal at second base. Although video replay showed Lemke was safe, the umpire called Lemke out, and Cox was tossed when he argued with the umpire.[5]
Family
Born May 21, 1941, in Tulsa, OK, Cox graduated from Selma (CA) High School in 1959 and attended Reedley (CA) Junior College. Cox, his wife Pam, and three daughters, Keisha, Kami and Skyla, live in Marietta. He has five other children: Debbie, Bobby Jr., Connie, Shelly and Randy .Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). That first year, 1980, the Braves finished fourth with their first record above .500 since 1972. However, Cox was undone by the 1981 baseball strike when the Braves finished fifth and owner Ted Turner fired him. Asked at a press conference who was on his short list for manager, Turner replied, "It would be Bobby Cox if I hadn't just fired him. We need someone like him around here." Cox had built the team that would pay great dividends for Joe Torre, his replacement as manager.[3] The Braves won the NL West division title in 1982, and finished second in both 1983 and 1984.
Cox led the Toronto Blue Jays in 1982, who had improved over the four years of his management. In Cox's fourth season, 1985, the Blue Jays finished first place in the American League Eastern Division. After elimination from the 1985 American League Championship Series, Cox returned to the Atlanta Braves as a General Manager. After going through two managers over the course of less than five years with disastrous results in attendance and outlook, Cox fired Russ Nixon in June, 1990, and appointed himself the manager. Cox had spent the prior four seasons accumulating talent players, including Ron Gant, Tom Glavine, Steve Avery, Pete Smith, and David Justice. He was also responsible for drafting Chipper Jones with the first overall pick in the 1990 draft.[6]
In 1991, the Braves, along with the Minnesota Twins, became the first team to go from last place in one season to first place the next. The two teams met in the 1991 World Series. Although the Braves lost, they continued to win division titles for a total of fourteen consecutive seasons. On five separate occasions, the Braves have won the National League pennant and played in the World Series, including four in a six-season stretch (1991, 1992, 1995, and 1996). In 1995, the Atlanta Braves won Cox's only World Series Championship to date. Cox's 15 division titles is a Major League record for a manager.
In 2006, Cox won his 2,158th game, which moved him past Bucky Harris for fifth on the all-time managerial wins list.
In 1985, the playoffs expanded to a best-of-seven format after sixteen seasons of a best-of-five format. That difference ultimately made the difference when Cox's Blue Jays became only the fifth team to lose a playoff series after leading 3 games to 1 to the Kansas City Royals. In 1992, Cox's Braves held a 3-1 lead against the Pittsburgh Pirates before losing games 5 and 6, though they did win Game 7 on Francisco Cabrera's two out ninth inning pinch hit two run single. In 1993, the Braves had the best record in baseball after a pennant race where the Braves overcame a ten-game deficit in August to beat the San Francisco Giants by going 51-17 over the last two and a half months of the season to win the division by one game. However, they lost in six games to the Philadelphia Phillies.
In 1996, the Braves were the defending World Champions as they again won the division title. After sweeping the Dodgers in the division series, the Braves' pitching fell behind the Cardinals, three games to one. Facing elimination, the Braves offense outscored the Cardinals 33-1 over the final three games and won the pennant. Bobby Cox became the only manager in history to lose a series leading three games to one and win a series trailing three games to one.[7] The scoring continued into the first two games against the Yankees as the Braves took a two games to none lead by winning with scores of 12-2 and 4-0. In game four, the Braves led 6-0 in the fourth inning, but the Yankees managed to come from behind. Jim Leyritz homered to tie the game, and the Yankees tied the series with a win in eleven innings, 8-6. Cox was blamed for bringing in All-Star closer Mark Wohlers in to try and record the final six outs rather than the customary three. [8]
Following the loss, the Braves lost to the Florida Marlins in 1997 and the San Diego Padres in 1998 in the NLCS. The Braves made it back to the 1999 World Series, but their injury-riddled roster was no match for the defending World Series Champion New York Yankees, losing in four straight games.
Cox was commended for his 2001 team that surprisingly won the division title and upset the favored Houston Astros in three straight games in the division series.[citation needed] However, the Arizona Diamondbacks would defeat the Braves in five games.
Cox's Braves have not advanced past the first round of the playoffs each of the last four seasons. In 2002, the Braves won over 100 games and led the wild card San Francisco Giants two games to one before dropping the last two. In 2003, the Braves pushed the Cubs to the fifth game before falling. The following year, the Braves lost in the best-of-five Division Series for the third straight year. In 2005, the Braves lost to the Astros, the finale taking eighteen innings to decide.
Legacy
Cox is one of the most successful managers in baseball history, having won fifteen division titles, five pennants, and a World Series. He has officially named the Manager of the Year four times in three different decades and eight times by the Sporting News. He has won in both the National and American Leagues, in both the pre- and post-1994 Strike eras, and with different players (his early teams were young, his middle era teams were filled with veterans, and his later teams went back to being youth dominated) and emphasis (His early teams were dominated by great starting pitching, while his later teams were driven by offense and a solid bullpen). [9] Because the Braves have only won one World Series championship out of five World Series appearances and 14 division titles since 1991, they are sometimes referred to as the "Buffalo Bills of baseball", referring to a stretch where the Bills won four straight AFC titles from 1990 to 1993, but could not win a single Super Bowl.[10]
Managerial record
| Team | Year | Regular Season | Post Season | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Win % | Finish | Won | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| ATL | 1978 | 69 | 93 | .426 | 6th in NL West | - | - | - | - |
| ATL | 1979 | 66 | 94 | .412 | 6th in NL West | - | - | - | - |
| ATL | 1980 | 81 | 80 | .503 | 4th in NL West | - | - | - | - |
| ATL | 1981 | 50 | 56 | .472 | 4th in NL West (1st Half) 5th in NL West (2nd Half) |
- | - | - | - |
| TOR | 1982 | 78 | 84 | .481 | 6th in AL East | - | - | - | - |
| TOR | 1983 | 89 | 73 | .549 | 4th in AL East | - | - | - | - |
| TOR | 1984 | 89 | 73 | .549 | 2nd in AL East | - | - | - | - |
| TOR | 1985 | 99 | 62 | .615 | 1st in AL East | 3 | 4 | .429 | Lost ALCS. |
| ATL | 1990 | 40 | 57 | .412 | 6th in NL West | - | - | - | - |
| ATL | 1991 | 94 | 68 | .580 | 1st in NL West | 7 | 7 | .500 | Lost World Series. |
| ATL | 1992 | 98 | 64 | .605 | 1st in NL West | 6 | 7 | .462 | Lost World Series. |
| ATL | 1993 | 104 | 58 | .642 | 1st in NL West | 2 | 4 | .333 | Lost NLCS. |
| ATL | 1994 | 68 | 46 | .596 | 2nd in NL East | - | - | - | Strike Year |
| ATL | 1995 | 90 | 54 | .625 | 1st in NL East | 11 | 2 | .846 | Won World Series. |
| ATL | 1996 | 96 | 66 | .593 | 1st in NL East | 9 | 7 | .563 | Lost World Series. |
| ATL | 1997 | 101 | 61 | .623 | 1st in NL East | 5 | 4 | .556 | Lost NLCS. |
| ATL | 1998 | 106 | 56 | .654 | 1st in NL East | 5 | 4 | .556 | Lost NLCS |
| ATL | 1999 | 103 | 59 | .636 | 1st in NL East | 7 | 6 | .538 | Lost World Series. |
| ATL | 2000 | 95 | 67 | .586 | 1st in NL East | 0 | 3 | .000 | Lost NLDS |
| ATL | 2001 | 88 | 74 | .543 | 1st in NL East | 4 | 4 | .500 | Lost NLCS. |
| ATL | 2002 | 101 | 59 | .631 | 1st in NL East | 2 | 3 | .400 | Lost NLDS. |
| ATL | 2003 | 101 | 61 | .623 | 1st in NL East | 2 | 3 | .400 | Lost NLDS. |
| ATL | 2004 | 96 | 66 | .593 | 1st in NL East | 2 | 3 | .400 | Lost NLDS |
| ATL | 2005 | 90 | 72 | .556 | 1st in NL East | 1 | 3 | .250 | Lost NLDS. |
| ATL | 2006 | 79 | 83 | .488 | 3rd in NL East | - | - | - | - |
| ATL | 2007 | 13 | 8 | .667 | |||||
| Total | 2,184 | 1,694 | .563 | 66 | 60 | .524 | Won 1 World Series | ||
References
- ^ "Manager of the Year Award by The Sporting News". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved 2007-4-05.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "Baseball Managers". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved 2007-4-05.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ a b "Atlanta Braves Managers". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved 2007-4-05.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ {{http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/recap?gid=270422121&prov=ap
- ^ a b "World Series Ejections". Baseball Almanac. Retrieved 2007-4-05.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Sports Reference, Inc. "Chipper Jones". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2007-4-05.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "World Series History: Recaps and Results". MLB Advanced Media, L.P. Retrieved 2007-4-06.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ AllExperts.com. "Bobby Cox". About, Inc. Retrieved 2007-4-06.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Sports Reference, Inc. "Atlanta Braves". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved 2007-4-06.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "Batting .200: Braves remembered in 1990s for losing four of five Series". CNN Sports Illustrated. October 28, 1999. Retrieved 2007-4-05.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=and|date=(help)
External links
- Career statistics from Baseball Reference (as player)
- Career statistics from Baseball Reference (as manager)