My Fellow Phans,
I am by no means a Braves fan, and as I said with my piece on the late George Steinbrenner, I may not be the most qualified person to write this type of piece, but I am going to give it a shot.
On Saturday, the Braves honored one of the greatest managers of all time in Bobby Cox. As a Phillies fan, I am not the biggest fan of Atlanta, but as a baseball fan, I had a great amount of respect for the man who called Atlanta home for a couple decades.
Bobby Cox is not just a great learner and teacher of the game of baseball, but he is also one of the good guys in the game and good for the sport itself.
He finished his regular season career with a grand total of 2,504 wins to just 1,999 losses. That’s a winning percentage of .566 for his career. He ranks 4th overall on the all-time wins list behind managers. During that time, managing both the Braves and Blue Jays in his career, he won 2 World Championships and 4 Manager of the Year Awards. Most of his success came with the Braves whom he lead to 15 straight division titles, 1 World Series Victory, and 3 NL Manager of the year Victories.
However, what Bobby may be best known for his is devotedness towards his players. One of his lesser known records is his lead for all-time ejections by a manager. He passed John McGraw during the 2007 season and still currently holds the mark. Now, that doesn’t mean he has a fiery temper. Bobby usually darts out of the dugout to save his own players before they are tossed. You don’t need to be hot-headed to be tossed from a game; you can always just be protecting your players. Another interesting tidbit: Bobby Cox was the only player or manager to be tossed out of two different World Series games (1992, and 1996).
Don’t get the wrong idea here. Bobby Cox is a class act. He protects and cares about his players and in turn, they do the same for him. Many players have stated that they like playing for him due to his good natured personality. The thing that struck me most on Saturday was at the end of the ceremony when he was giving his speech, and he congratulated the Phillies and Charlie Manuel on winning the National League East and tipped his hat. Some of the crowd booed him at this, but it was a classy move and Bobby Cox is the definition of class.
He is a great manager and just great for the game of baseball.
Good luck on your retirement, Bobby…
Until we meet again Phillies fans; Happy Readings and Go Phillies!
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