Bobby Cox – 50 years in baseball
Bobby Cox spent the afternoon shaking hands, accepting congratulations and smiling enough to look almost comfortable as the center of all that attention. Then, he took his favorite seat in the dugout and guided the Atlanta Braves to a fitting victory. After 50 years in baseball, Cox revealed his plan Wednesday to retire as manager of the Braves following next season. Now comes the hard part: sticking to it. “It’s the only way I think I’m ever going to walk away from the game, is to go ahead and say I’m going to, and then I’ve got to,” Cox said. “There’s no turning back now — win, lose or draw. Whatever happens next year is going to be it.”
The 68-year-old Cox, a four-time Manager of the Year, agreed to a one-year contract extension for 2010, the Braves announced before Wednesday night’s 5-2 win over the New York Mets. He will start a five-year consulting agreement to advise the team in baseball operations after he steps down as manager. “I’ll believe it when I see it,” Braves slugger Chipper Jones said. During an illustrious tenure on the bench, Cox has guided Atlanta to 14 consecutive postseason appearances (1991-2005) and the 1995 World Series title.
A cigar-smoking baseball lifer, he managed the Braves from 1978-81, switched to manage the Toronto Blue Jays from 1982-85, then returned to Atlanta as general manager. He went back to the dugout in 1990, leading the Braves to five NL pennants and a record 14 straight division titles from 1991-2005. “There is a little bit of relief once you come to grips with announcing it,” Cox said. “I’ve never lost the love to manage, period. But you have to make a decision. At my age, you have to make a decision. Somebody a little younger can start up.” Cox has 2,409 regular-season wins as a manager, fourth behind Connie Mack (3,731), John McGraw (2,763) and Tony La Russa (2,550). Cox and Joe McCarthy are the only managers with six 100-win regular seasons.
