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View Full Version : Congratulations Bobby Cox



stoops the eternal pimp
10/12/2010, 09:32 AM
on a great career. I was never a Braves fan but always admired the job that Bobby C did as a manager.

See, I remember the Dale Murphy, Bob Horner Braves. The Chief Noc-A-Homa Braves. The mid to late 80's Braves. The 100 year old Phil Niekro Braves. No team in baseball could snatch defeat from the hands of victory like the Braves could. If you are too young to remember, picture the modern day Kansas City Royals or maybe the Pirates. A team that year after year, you expect them to lose.

In 1990, the braves made a change that, little did they know, would turn that franchise from a cellar dwellar to a contender and champion year after year. The Braves were in the midst of yet another awful season, probably won around 60 or so games that year, when they made the switch from Russ Nixon to Bobby Cox. BC was no stranger to the organization as he was first manager back in the late 70's and had some success before getting fired and replaced by a young manager named Joe Torre. Cox had also became the GM back in the mid 80's.

Around this time, the Braves began to make the right moves. Drafting a kid named Chipper in the '90 draft. Developing some young pitchers named Glavine, Smoltz, and Avery. Heck Leo Mazzone deserves a little bit of credit too. Terry Pendleton's bat caught fire all of a sudden. The young rotation developed quickly. How quickly? The Braves went from having the worst record in baseball to playing in the World Series the next season.

As impressive as that was, it wasn't his most impressive feat. The most impressive thing for a manager/coach isn't that they have a great season of success, but they take the reputation of a team and through consistency transform it into a winner. When you take a team to a place that when they do have a losing season, its a shock. When your fanbase automatically assumes that every season, you will be in the post-season. Folks, an 11 year ownership of the NL East.

A lot of names had a lot to do with their success along the way...Maddux, Justice, Gant, Wright, Neagle, etc...But the name I will remember most as a non-Braves fan is Bobby Cox.

Baseball won't be the same without ya.

ouleaf
10/12/2010, 12:03 PM
Class act all the way.

texaspokieokie
10/12/2010, 12:05 PM
i remember the Boston Braves.

texaspokieokie
10/12/2010, 12:08 PM
i remember the braves being in the world series in 57 & 58, winning one.

also tied dodgers for nl title in 59, losing play-offs.

i remember Spann & sain .

texaspokieokie
10/12/2010, 12:08 PM
Spahn

Blue
10/12/2010, 01:10 PM
Thanks for the memories, Bobby.