\n
\t\tImage credit:
\n\tBobby Cox (Photo by Jeff Gross\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The first time I really became aware of Bobby Cox was in the 1991 World Series.<\/p>\n
Five years before the 1996 Summer Olympic Games, Atlanta and the Deep South seemed like another planet to a kid from Southern California. The \u201cTomahawk Chop\u201d showcased the most frenzied\u2014and best\u2014fanbase in all of baseball. Jimmy Carter, Jane Fonda and Ted Turner, who, ironically, would precede his close friend and colleague in death by only three days, were at every home game. The Braves and Twins were playing arguably the best Fall Classic in the history of the game.<\/p>\n
And yet, I was drawn to Bobby. Perched along the top step of the dugout or sitting down as pitching coach Leo Mazzone maniacally rocked next to him, Bobby was in control. You could tell, even on TV, even 3,000 miles away, how much his players loved him and respected him and how deeply he understood the game. I thought Bobby was one of the best managers in Major League Baseball. I was wrong.<\/p>\n
He was the best.<\/p>\n
I also thought the name \u201cBobby Cox\u201d sounded southern. Bo Duke. Boss Hogg. Bobby Cox. As Bobby and the Braves continued to dominate, they were such a fun and likeble team, it felt like they won with a sort of southern hospitality. Again, I was wrong. Bobby was not from the south. He was born in Oklahoma. He was raised in Selma, California, 20 minutes south of Fresno and 90 minutes north of Bakersfield in inland Central California. It was about three-and-a-half hours from where I grew up.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bobby signed with the Dodgers out of high school and began his playing career in 1960 at 19 years old. He played in the minor leagues for the Dodgers and Braves before being traded to New York, where he made his MLB debut with the Yankees at age 27 in 1968. Bobby played for the Yankees in 1968 and 1969 and played another year of minor league baseball at age 29 in 1970.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The following season, in 1971, he was named manager of the Fort Lauderdale Yankees. Bobby managed in the Yankees\u2019 farm system from 1971 through 1976 before joining their MLB staff as first base coach for the 1977 World Series champions. Turner hired him in November 1977 at only 36 years old to be an MLB manager down in Atlanta. Bobby was manager for the Braves from 1978 through 1981 and then for the Blue Jays from 1982 through 1985.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ted Turner hired Bobby again in 1986, but this time in the role of general manager. Under his leadership, the Braves created the foundation for the \u201cTeam of the 90s\u201d with players like Chipper Jones, John Smoltz, Tom Glavine, Steve Avery, Ron Gant, David Justice, Ryan Klesko and countless other young talented players. Bobby and his baseball operations team stocked Atlanta with young, talented players with upside, mostly from the high school ranks. After the 1990 season, the Braves brought in John Schuerholz as GM and Bobby went back into the dugout as manager for many of the players he acquired.<\/p>\n
I think this gets lost a lot when people talk about Bobby. Best manager ever? No doubt. But he might have been an even better GM. Bobby got Smoltz for six weeks of Doyle Alexander. Bobby took Chipper over Todd Van Poppel, who was considered a generational talent. Not only did Bobby know talent, but he also knew the talent that knew talent. The scouting director for the entirety of Bobby\u2019s time as GM was the legendary Paul Snyder, who passed away three years ago in late 2023. Paul\u2019s prot\u00e9g\u00e9, Roy Clark, who passed away last year, was hired by the Braves when Bobby was GM. Roy would go on to deliver talent to Bobby and those Braves teams that helped hang a lot of pennants, including players that are still producing today.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
I could easily write for days and weeks about what a great manager Bobby was. How nobody will ever win 14 consecutive division titles again. How he made players comfortable and better. Bobby\u2019s pure heart, combined with his acumen as a former player, coach, evaluator, GM, and manager created a rare compound of brilliance. All that being said, my goal for this column is not to recite his accomplishments\u2014there are too many to list or even fully remember\u2014but rather, to share my personal experiences with Bobby.<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u2013<\/p>\n
The first time I met Bobby Cox was Wednesday, October 11, 2006. It was at Disney\u2019s Wide World of Sports complex in Orlando, Florida. The Braves\u2019 streak of 14 consecutive division titles ended two weeks earlier with the conclusion of the 2006 regular season. The organization always held offseason meetings in Orlando because it provided top officials, coaches and scouts the chance to see young players during instructional league. The Braves\u2019 top brass would meet all morning, break for lunch, then watch a game in the afternoon. These meetings would last three days, usually a Monday through Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Schuerholz called Yankees GM Brian Cashman a week earlier to ask permission to interview me for the vacant Braves director of baseball administration role. My interview was going to be during lunch and was set for noon that day. I arrived at the complex at 10:30 a.m. and just hung around the stadium hiding for an hour before making my way upstairs to the meetings around 11:30. About 15 minutes later, the meeting had ended, and three of my baseball heroes filed out in order: Bobby, Schuerholz and Jim Fregosi.<\/p>\n
Bobby peeled off from Schuerholz and Fregosi and walked to where I was waiting.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, are you the Notre Dame guy? My name is Bobby Cox,\u201d he said. \u201cI heard about you from Billy Connors. Good luck!\u201d<\/p>\n
I was so shocked that Bobby knew who I was, that he took the time to come and introduce himself to me, and that he would wish me good luck.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But it wasn\u2019t just me. That\u2019s how Bobby treated everybody. Years later, I would see that Bobby took the time to get to know every front office member. All the media relations team. People from sales, accounting, ticketing\u2014you name it. He took the time to get to know every writer. When fans met with Bobby, he got to know them and was able to make an instant connection. Bobby didn\u2019t just know every clubhouse attendant\u2014he knew their families, their lives, their journeys into baseball.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Two months after I was hired, I went to my first winter meeting with the Braves. The first night of the meeting, which is always a Sunday night, we had a big organizational dinner. Bobby sought me out in the lobby and asked me to sit next to him at dinner. He said he wanted to hear some Billy Connors stories (Billy, who passed away in 2018, was one of the best pitching coaches\/gurus ever and had so many great stories, most of which are not fit to print). At that dinner, Bobby made me feel comfortable the first time I was in a large group setting in a brand new organization. He even gave me half of his steak!<\/p>\n
Bobby\u2019s last year as manager for the Braves was 2010. Beginning in 2011, he transitioned into a \u201cspecial assistant and advisor\u201d role, remaining close to the organization. He was there for all of spring training. He saw all the minor league teams and watched a ton of major league games. He mentored new manager Fredi Gonzalez, future manager Brian Snitker and many other coaches, front office, player development officials and scouts.<\/p>\n
Bobby would never force himself or his opinions on anybody but was always available if you needed him. Following the 2014 season, I needed Bobby.<\/p>\n
At that time, the Braves had the second-worst farm system in MLB as rated by Baseball America. We had bad contracts. Two of our best players, Jason Heyward and Justin Upton, were a year away from free agency, and we couldn\u2019t afford to pay them. We lost 800 innings of starting pitching from four starters, two that were injured (Kris Medlen and Mike Minor) and two that left as free agents (Ervin Santana and Aaron Harang). Looking forward to a new stadium in 2017, we couldn\u2019t spend dollar-for-dollar with other teams in the NL East, and they already had better MLB teams and farm systems.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Braves don\u2019t rebuild, but they seemingly had to take a step back to take two steps forward. Bobby and Braves president John Hart were able to sell a vision to ownership that I couldn\u2019t as the youngest GM in Braves history. During that 2014-2015 offseason, when we traded Heyward and Upton before they could hit free agency, I spoke to Bobby almost daily, and he was the most supportive person to me during my time as GM of the Braves.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We were all aligned on the Heyward trade: Heyward and Jordan Walden for Shelby Miller and Tyrell Jenkins (which later became Miller for Dansby Swanson, Ender Inciarte, and Aaron Blair). However, we were not aligned on the Upton trade. There were multiple high-ranking officials who preferred other prospects to Max Fried because Fried was so far away. He had Tommy John surgery in late 2014 and wouldn\u2019t even pitch until 2016. I\u2019d loved Fried since the 2012 MLB draft, and our special assistant to the GM, Chad MacDonald, actually drafted Fried for the Padres and was now working for us. Bobby absolutely pounded the table for Fried. He kept raving about his delivery and athleticism, saying Fried reminded him a little of Sandy Koufax.<\/p>\n
Done deal.<\/p>\n
Bobby also had a massive impact on how we drafted when I was GM. Bobby was the GM who was the architect of those early 1990s Braves teams built around young high school talent with upside. I spoke a lot with Bobby and Roy Clark and Paul Snyder and Brian Bridges about getting back to the \u201cBraves way\u201d of targeting those same types of young high schoolers with upside. In the 2015 draft, our first four selections were high school players. A year later, our first three selections were high school players. In 2017, our first selection was Kyle Wright and then two high school players.<\/p>\n
Bobby loved going on the road to see our young players at different minor league outposts. I can still hear his voice talking excitedly about our young players when he saw them at our different farm system affiliates. I remember going up to games with him in Rome, where he would politely sign autographs for everybody and interact with all our young players. He took the time to get to know their names, backgrounds and development timelines, and he had a way of making them comfortable. Bobby himself was most comfortable in the coach\u2019s office pregame and postgame, talking with Braves coaches he\u2019d known for decades who were the lifeblood of player development.<\/p>\n
Bobby also hit the road and became a secret weapon for recruiting free agents. I remember picking him up at his house in the Indian Hills neighborhood of suburban Marietta and piling into my car along with Fredi Gonzalez to drive up to Tennessee to visit Ben Zobrist and R.A. Dickey. Bobby was always willing to give his time to help the organization, and when he showed up at the door\u2014we never told the players that Bobby was coming\u2014their jaws dropped to the floor because he was so respected, loved and admired in the game. The fact that he was also a great conversationalist who could connect with everybody made it even better.<\/p>\n