A ‘great ride’ ends for Bobby and his Braves, and we applaud
We'll never see his likes again. (AJC photo by Curtis Compton)
The great manager said it after Game 3: “We’re not the best team in baseball, OK?” But you know what these Braves were?
Pound for pound, they were the most entertaining aggregation we’ve seen around here. And you know what the great manager also called this band of Braves? “The hardest-working team I’ve ever had.”
It ended for both parties Monday, for Bobby Cox and his final ballclub. It ended because these diminished Braves weren’t good enough to deliver big hits or field their positions in the crucible of October. It ended not because they didn’t give it the ol’ professional try after the abject disappointment of Sunday’s Game 3. On the contrary, it ended because a true professional pitcher talked the departing manager into letting him go a batter too far.
Seventh inning, one out. Working with a one-run lead, Derek Lowe walked Aubrey Huff, then yielded a swinging-bunt single to Buster Posey. It was just the second hit the Giants had mustered, a point Lowe surely made to Cox when the manager paid a visit. Indeed, Lowe had begun lobbying when Cox was still on the infield grass. After a short dialogue, the manager patted his pitcher on the flank and let him stay.
And Lowe walked Pat Burrell on five pitches to load the bases.
That was it for Lowe, and that one final walk was enough to lose the game. Such was this team’s margin for error. Speaking of which …
Alex Gonzalez threw high to second on Juan Uribe’s RBI grounder, enabling the bases to stay loaded with the game tied. And then, after Jonny Venters struck out Aaron Rowand, the No. 8 hitter Cody Ross — considered a target of interest for the Braves back in July — drove the go-ahead single into left field.
Being the Braves, they tried to give us a finish, as Ernie Johnson Sr. would say. Rick Ankiel walked with one out in the ninth. Then Eric Hinske, who was very nearly the hero of Game 3, walked. The winning run was aboard. But Omar Infante struck out, and it was down to Melky Cabrera, which tells us something about this season and this roster. Cabrera grounded to Juan Uribe at third, and this fighting club was finally finished.
And then something wonderful happened. Even as the Giants were celebrating at the center of Turner Field, the crowd started chanting, “Bobby! Bobby!” And the great manager, his heart surely breaking, emerged from the dugout to tip his cap and acknowledge the cheers, and then you looked back at the happy Giants and you saw them …
Standing and applauding Bobby Cox.
Said Chipper Jones, who has seen many things: “That was classy.”
People on the outside don’t understand the reverence in which this manager was held in this game. His critics see him as the guy who only won one World Series, but there can be different levels of success — yes, even in professional sports. And Bobby Cox’s last act was his greatest.
He took a team that lost Chipper Jones, Martin Prado, Kris Medlen and Jair Jurrjens along the way and led the National League East for 99 improbable days. He squeezed 91 victories and a wild card out of one of the weakest rosters ever to grace a postseason diamond. And he made the Giants work like crazy to win three games by one skinny run apiece. If you don’t think that’s managing … well, I don’t know what to tell you.
But his team knew, and the winning team in this Division Series knew, too. These Braves weren’t the best team in baseball or even, in terms of aggregate talent, the 12th-best, but they got to October and they gave it a go, and they gave us 26 wins in the final at-bat along the way.
Afterward Cox addressed his final team, or he tried. Said Chipper: “There wasn’t a dry eye in the place. Out of all the teams he’s had, he’s got a soft spot for this club.”
And what did Cox actually say? “Maybe 10 words. He couldn’t get it out. He started to break down.”
Before the game, I was talking with Reid Johnson, a fan from Smyrna, and he called this whole season “a great ride.” And that’s what it was, from Jason Heyward’s Opening Day home run to the final out of Game 4. It was a great ride, a wild ride, a sentimental journey with the best manager we’ll ever see. That it ended Monday night changes nothing. It was, and will forever be, a season to remember and cherish.
Thanks, guys. Thanks, Bobby. Go in peace.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
785 comments Add your comment
helmet head
October 12th, 2010
9:08 am
blah blah blah….who’s next?
Poorbrave
October 12th, 2010
9:09 am
What a man. What a Manager. Love him are hate him for 29 years he gave his all for Baseball, the Fans and the Braves. May his retirement be happy. God Bless Bobby Cox and Family.
Now a new manager must get this team back to World Series..as always Go Braves. A fan since the 60’s.
Swampdog
October 12th, 2010
9:10 am
HEY HERSHEL TALKER
Should be called Big Talker…. and I wonder if behind all of your sarcasm have you achieved any remotely comparable in your own life….. all I know is that Cox gave it his all and brought great glory and respect to Atlanta and the Braves over 25 years…. just look at how the Giants responded….
It is the “Little Guys” (with the little guys) who always want to tear down the great successes to help gloss over your own insecurities and short comings…… and this applies to “1 of 15″ and “Lake Dawg” too……GO GET A LIFE!
COX WAS GREAT!!!
scott
October 12th, 2010
9:12 am
Thank Bobby
Swampdog
October 12th, 2010
9:12 am
PHIL….
you are included also!
Poorbrave
October 12th, 2010
9:14 am
Please don’t hire TP as manager. Thats my only request.
stendek
October 12th, 2010
9:15 am
Applaud Mark? Really? Hell no! It is attitudes like yours that will forever keep sports in Atlanta as an afterthought. Applaud. Hmm. Braves return home after split in California then promptly go bellyup to choke away two games to vastly inferior squad. Clap clap. Transparency of one player who took dive in third game plain to everyone with eyesight. Clap clap. Overrated manager brings in one minor league pitcher after another in unsuccessful loser parade. Clap clap. Good will of home success flushed down toilet in successive defeats. Clap clap. Braves embarrass themselves once again on national stage. Clap clap. Know one damn thing I DO applaud Mark? Bobby Cox will not be around to screw up team next season. CLAP CLAP! Applaud? My a$$! STENDEK
Seemore Hiney
October 12th, 2010
9:16 am
Finally!!! The Braves will get a new skipper! Maybe we’ll finally get a chance at a world series.
Naboo the Enigma
October 12th, 2010
9:16 am
Thanks Bobby, through the good and bad I appreciate all you’ve done for the Bravos. I can’t remember Braves baseball without ya sir. Good luck.
HitaSingle
October 12th, 2010
9:16 am
Give me a Break – How many have the Giants, Cubs, Astros, Brewers, A’s, Mariners, White Sox, Padres, Tigers, Devil Rays, Rangers, Red Sox, Colorado, Mets, Nationals, Orioles, Diamondbacks, and Indians won? Let’s compare it to the whole league and just not those two.
Lobosolo
October 12th, 2010
9:17 am
What are you naysayers getting out of your comments? Some sort of strange satisfaction?
In all of those years with Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz, there was still a piece-meal attitude in the front office to the position players… Atlanta’s talent never matched up on paper with the Yankees, ever… Even when they beat the Indians in ‘95, they were out-gunned in the batter’s box…
To get all the way through the playoffs and World Series does take a HUGE degree of luck… The stars have to be lined up just right for a team to win… If talent or managing alone was the deciding factor, then the Yankees should win every year…
Baseball is a game of percentages… ALL MANAGERS manage that way, with few exceptions here and there… It is up to the players to execute, not the manager, which leads to:
Baseball is a game of peaks and valleys… ALL PLAYERS, PITCHERS AND HITTERS (and fielders!) go through them. ALL TEAMS GET HOT AND COLD!!! The team that wins the series has to be on one of those hot streaks or “peaking”… Look at the Cards a couple of years ago… They happened to be hitting on ALL cylinders at JUST THE RIGHT TIME… Even the talent rich Yankees don’t win it every year… To reach the CHANCE to win the series 14 years in a row is a mind-boggling feat… Not even the talent rich Yankees can lay claim to that many division titles in a row…
A slump here or there, a bad call or two, a sudden gust of wind knocking a sure homer back into the park, a bad divot in the outfield, a pebble in the infield diverting a hit ball millimeters from the fielder’s glove, etc., etc., etc… CAN AND DO AT TIMES ALTER THE EXPECTED COURSE OF A BALL GAME… There is a tremendous degree of luck and kismet over the course of the playoffs… Above everything else, ALL of the players need to be “ON”… The trio of Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz were not enough on their own to ensure a series win… Talk to ballplayers, and thet’ll tell you the same…
Knowledgeable baseball folks will ALL attest to Cox’s abilities as a manager… Armchair managers with the benefit of hindsight (and on here, ones that seem to live their own miserable failures through a coach or manager) are not even CONSIDERED to run professional baseball teams…
So, Herschel Talker (a lot of that, for sure), Mitchell, etc., etc., etc… (you all know who you are)… Maybe you wouldn’t get your feelers hurt and would start appreciating the BEAUTY of a baseball game if you’d stop for a moment and try to LEARN something about the game and its oddities… You’re of the ilk that scream and pout – and take it personally – because “your” team is not perfect…
Bobby Cox is one of the greatest managers of all time, period… He has the record to prove it… Joe Torre is a great manager, too, but he ALWAYS had WAY more to work with, as the Yankees ALWAYS do… Who is to say that the Yanks under Cox wouldn’t have won more than 4… How would Stengal and McGraw have done in this era of many more teams, free agency, steroids, etc., etc., etc…
You petulant, small-minded jerks who have nothing better to do than cry like babies and insult over things you don’t know of should just plain GET A LIFE… stay on the couch with your binkies if you can’t handle the heat…
Thanks for everything, Mr. Cox… You will always be the best that ever was in my book… The Braves will miss you tremendously…
Seemore Hiney
October 12th, 2010
9:18 am
Go Bobby!……and take Pendleton with you!!!
HitaSingle
October 12th, 2010
9:18 am
THANK YOU BOBBY COX! And now you won’t have to listen to all these morons that think they know baseball. Enjoy you retirement and thanks for the memories.
reckingball
October 12th, 2010
9:18 am
One thing that you can say for Cox, is that he left the Braves in a lot better shape, than they were in, when he came back for his second time around as the manager.
stendek
October 12th, 2010
9:18 am
I doubt anyone hates Philly, the whole damn place, more than I. That said…GO PHILS! Send Posey and his pretenders packing! Phils will not lay down like Braves did. STENDEK
o-me
October 12th, 2010
9:19 am
Some people are born losers=STENDEK
HitaSingle
October 12th, 2010
9:19 am
Seemore Hiney – You are just jealous because you couldn’t play for Bobby because you wear your pants to low.
Fred
October 12th, 2010
9:20 am
u got that right o-me.
Stendek IQ is around 34………….
Phil
October 12th, 2010
9:22 am
Lots of “Greatest Manager Ever” on here.
If Cox is the Greatest Manager ever and only won 1 World Series, then what does that make Cito Gaston with 2 WS wins??
The “Super Duper Greatest Manager of all time”??
What about Torre with 4 WS wins?? “The Most Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Manager of all time”??
reckingball
October 12th, 2010
9:22 am
I will be very supprised, if the Braves do not hire that guy, that managed the Marlins, the 1st half of this season.
Dave
October 12th, 2010
9:23 am
People who complain about having only ONE World Series have NOT looked at how the playoffs have been set up since 1995. Each year, four teams from each league go into the playoffs. Each one of those teams have good starting pitching, good hitting, good defense and good relief pitching, because no team without these four essential elements of the game would make it past the competition over a 162-game season.
So they all essentially have an equal chance at winning. There is an enormous amount of luck involved in each playoff series. Look at the just-completed series (for which, BTW, the Braves have NOTHING to be ashamed; it was a great series played by a team that was crippled with its two best players injured and after losing its closer).
- The only run of Game 1 was scored when the umpire missed the OUT tag at second base on Posey’s steal.
- Glaus takes a HUGE risk by throwing to second, throws WIDE but Infante adjusts and gets the throw off in time to complete the double play. Then a journeyman outfielder connects for a 450-foot home run to win Game 2 for the Braves.
- Kimbral leaves a 1-2 slider over the plate and the hitter hits a 10-bounce ground ball up the middle for a hit, a ball that just as easily could have been hit to the 2nd baseman or shortstop for the final out.
- A crucial out was missed when the umpire called the runner safe on the force at second last night, a call that could have gone either way. At the same time, the throw that got the runner at the plate on the next hit was JUST in time.
All things considered, the Braves were lucky to make tne playoffs and acquited themselves well. Even if they had made it past the Giants, it would have taken a major miracle for the Braves to beat the Phillies. I expect the Giants-Phillies NLCS to all be close games due to the iants excellent pitching, but the Phillies will win in no mre than six games.
As for the Braves future, it has never looked brighter.
STARTING PITCHING: They have four solid starters in Lowe, Hudson, Hanson and Jurgens, with great potential for the #5 starter with Minor, Beachy and maybe Venders. The only BIG issue is what to do with Kenchen Karakamai.
RELIEF PITCHING: The loss of Billy Wagner to retirement is great, but there are great arms in the bullpen with Dunn, Kimbral, O’Flaherty, Farnsworth, Moylan, and Saito.
They are set at catcher, shortstop, right field and second base, with adequate backup at third if Chipper cannot come back. First base goes to Freddy Freeman. There should be healthy competition for center field.
The Braves WILL try to get a big bat to play left field, but they have the parts to trade for a good left fielder.
The Phillies will be the team to beat, but they are not invincible, and the Braves showed they have what it takes to win. I cannot wait for next year!
HitaSingle
October 12th, 2010
9:23 am
I don’t think the Braves laid down at all.
Fred
October 12th, 2010
9:24 am
Its sad to get old but we all do. The RIDE will continue but with a new conducter…..thanks Bobby and have a great retirement.
stendek
October 12th, 2010
9:24 am
Hey Fred Flintstone. How are things in Bedrock? Damn jerk. I do wish to thank Bobby Cox for one thing. Getting the Hell out of Atlanta. OVERRATED SF: Three wins with two in Atlanta. That will forever be legacy of manager. Nothing more. Live with it loser! STENDEK
leslie22h
October 12th, 2010
9:25 am
Swampdog, I hate to hurt your feelings over Bobby Cox, but I’ll always remember him as the manager who proved most capable to lead his team to the playoffs, but rarely capable of advancing and winning the World Series. It seemed as though he always changed his managerial style somewhat once he got to the playoffs – especially when his teams advanced to the NLCS. It’s hard to say whether the Braves will be as good without Bobby (my guess is the Bravos will suffer for a couple seasons) as they were for such a long run under his directive.
o-me
October 12th, 2010
9:26 am
reckingball, I agree it will be Fredi. I hope.
stendek
October 12th, 2010
9:27 am
Hi HitaSingle. Two late leads squandered at home in playoffs! Not laying down? New to watching baseball? Sheesh! STENDEK
meb
October 12th, 2010
9:27 am
Although it is emotional to see Bobby’s time come to an end, it is absolutely necessary. To have taken the braves to the post season so many times and to come away with only 1 WS Championship is not good by any measure. Some manager can get you to a certain point and then another manager is needed to get you over the hump. Being a player’s manager is ok as long as it produces the results. However, being a player’s manager usually leads to coming up short because you are trying to please the players instead of getting the win by managing the game.
Fletch
October 12th, 2010
9:29 am
Thanks for all the great memories Bobby….you will be missed!
Aaronfan
October 12th, 2010
9:29 am
Why did the ye ole great manager take Matt Diaz out of the lineup in the seventh inning after Matt threw the ball from right field to home plate for an out? McCann was in front of the plate when Matt threw the ball. I thought that was pretty good, and Matt deserved to stay in the game rather than putting in Melky Cabrera. What was the point of putting Melky in? So he could make the last out?
5150 P.O.A.D
October 12th, 2010
9:29 am
Thanks Bobby.
1eyedJack
October 12th, 2010
9:32 am
Thanks Bobby…just thanks.
bamabrave
October 12th, 2010
9:32 am
Greatest Manager in the world! We love you Bobby!
MikeR
October 12th, 2010
9:33 am
It is very obvious that almost all the bloggers never followed the Braves prior to 1991 and know little about the history of the Atlanta Braves. Those of us that have followed the Braves since they moved to Atlanta in 1966 are fully aware that the 1969 team is the only contending team we’ve had that was not built by and/or managed by Bobby Cox. Even the 1982 team managed by Torre was built by Bill Lucas & Cox, as Torre himself has pointed out. Those of you who are glad Cox is gone, just like kids who move away from home for the 1st time, will soon realize just how good we had it. Those of us who followed the Braves since 1966 say welcome back to the days of managers like Eddie Mathews, Clyde King, Dave Bristol, Eddie Haas, Chuck Tanner, and Russ Nixon. Welcome back to 16 game losing streaks, 90 – 100 loss seasons, empty stands, and Atlanta being considered baseball’s hades. Soon you will all long for the days of Bobby Cox.
stendek
October 12th, 2010
9:34 am
Managerial greatness is measured by championships. In the case of Bobby Cox World Series championships. Above average? Definitely! In realm of legend? With one championship? ONE? No way in Hell. Sorry delusional ones. Vince Lombardi was not greatest football coach in world but he is in legendary status because he pushed his players beyond themselves. To championships. Cox NEVER did! Excuse me. Once. Long ago. I know truth hurts but…STENDEK
Sid
October 12th, 2010
9:35 am
1 out of 15 ……..
October 11th, 2010
11:11 pm
**********************************************************
Your entitled to your opionion but you are such an idiot that you don’t even realize how friggin stupid your comment was.
lombardi
October 12th, 2010
9:35 am
It was a wild and pretty enjoyable run this year. I never expected the team to do as well as it did (even before the injuries), so some credit has to go to Bobby. Overall do I think he was a great manager? At times, mostly in the ’90s, he definitely was. Will he be in Cooperstown? I certainly hope so. Did he ’stay to long at the fair’? No doubt – but Cox is one of those last links we have to a game that was played for the love of it, not the love of the buck. For that, I’ll miss him – and wish him nothing but the best.
P Rose
October 12th, 2010
9:35 am
Those who claim Bobby Cox was a good regular-season manager but a bad post-season manager simply do not understand Major League Baseball. Getting to the post-season is the trick. Throughout a 162-game regular season, players who are not managed properly will ultimately fail. Once in the post-season, it is up to the players to execute; the manager can do little more than to fill out lineup cards and make switches. If a manager changes pitchers and the new pitcher fails, that is not the manager’s fault. That pitcher is paid to do his job, and the manager must expect him to do so. Bobby Cox is the greatest manager of our time because he got 15 different teams to the post-season. It is not his fault that Lonnie Smith failed to round second, that Mark Wohlers hung a slider, or that Tom Glavine melted down in game 5 against the Giants in 2002. He will win Manager of the Year (again) for taking this limping, ragtag bunch to the post-season. Thanks, Bobby. See you in the Hall Of Fame.
Michael Hamburger
October 12th, 2010
9:37 am
RESPECT. Bobby Cox you are an amazing manager! Thank you for your leadership style, your class and your perseverance. Thank you for all the good times and all the bad. Thank you for turning our ball club around. Thank you for the wins and the losses. Thank you for every race, every divisional win, every series win, the trips to the World Series and our win! Thank you for giving us something the CHOP for! Thank you for transforming “Loserville” into “America’s Team”. Thank you for contributing so much to the biggest little city in America. Thank you for making Braves games so fun to watch at AFC stadium, the “Ted” and of course on TBS! You are a true Atlanta hero!!!
FRANKIE
October 12th, 2010
9:37 am
Bobby, you are Mr. Baseball. You reflect all the good things about the sport I grew up loving. Thank you for everything. God bless you and your family!
The Chrome Gouda
October 12th, 2010
9:39 am
Great column, Mr. Bradley.
It’s perfectly fine for some of these posters to say that they don’t mind that the Braves will be under new leadership next year, but some of these comments are so hateful… folks, show some dignity, please. If you can’t appreciate how valuable Bobby Cox was to the Braves organization, than I’m sorry, but you just don’t understand baseball.
stendek
October 12th, 2010
9:40 am
MikeR I have followed professional sports in Atlanta since early 1960s. I have seen it all! Good and bad. Mostly bad! Your sunshine and lollipops attitude truly irks me. Space cadets like you are reason professional teams in state get passes for choke jobs like recent one engineered by Braves. Team does not have to trot out tiresome excuses. Misguided fans like you do it for them! That hurts teams when fans demand no accountability for pathetic performances. Sigh. STENDEK
CSpin
October 12th, 2010
9:40 am
I gots the Tuesday blues.
If you love this team you have to love Bobby because the players on this team LOVED playing for him, that simple. He will be missed greatly.
Lobosolo
October 12th, 2010
9:41 am
Stendek, you could win the World Series of Ignorance every year, hands down… What a MAROON!!!!! Go getcha an idiot’s guide to baseball… I doubt you’d appreciate the game on any level, though… So glad I’m not you… Life from the cheap seats must be miserable for you… Put your money where your mouth is, Awipe… dust off that considerable resume of yours, march down to the Braves’ offices, and show ‘em how it’s supposed to be done…
I’ll bet you couldn’t manage a freakin’ weekend softball team, Putz-ola…
Dawg Gummit
October 12th, 2010
9:42 am
Stendek and all you other haters, BC did not freeze and get duped in the 91 series, that was Lonnie Smith. He also did not throw the gopher ball that changed the 96 World Series, that was closer Mark Wohlers. Would two more world championships validate that Bobby Cox was a great manager. The Braves did not lay down for the Giants,they are a better team at this time. Any team that has lost two starting infielders, two starting pitchers, and lost their closer in the 2nd game of the series would have no chance. Great job Braves and #6, you allowed me to teach my son that character and never giving up until the last out of the season no matter what happens.
Braves Fan in N Fla
October 12th, 2010
9:45 am
Thank you Bobby..Best ever!
Coach (2011 or Bust)
October 12th, 2010
9:46 am
And since nobody seems to have noticed Johnny Bench behind the plate in a Braves uniform, he was.
That’s right folks, Brian McCann played defense on a level I haven’t seen since the aforementioned Hall of Fame back stop played in Cincinnati. Every throw was dead on the mark at second and third like a bullet. He blocked every ball in the dirt, nailed the runner at home and hit .429 for the series. Yea…. FOUR – TWENTY- NINE.
Dude was simply awesome! Way to go B-Mac, you are the best.
charles
October 12th, 2010
9:46 am
Thanks Bobby. You taught a lot of people in and out of baseball how to deal with people in prosperity and in times of hurt. We all should learn from the way you were positive and the way yo seemed to get the best out of those around you. Enjoy retirement and make reservations for the Hall of Fame!
Phil
October 12th, 2010
9:47 am
P Rose,
Based on your thought process, Marv Levy should be considered one of the Greatest Coaches of all time in the NFL. After all, he did take his team to 4 straight Super Bowls(and lost all 4).
It’s all about the Championships. Yes Cox did win 1. But out of so MANY chances, you would think the “Greatest Manager of all time” could do better than just 1.
Good manager? OK, I will give you that. Great Manager? No way.
stendek
October 12th, 2010
9:47 am
More wait till next year bullshet refrain right guys and gals? Next year will never come! Sigh. Only Falcons have reasonable shot at success in 2010. Maybe Hawks. Braves are nifty notebook paper. Thrashers are clueless but had sense to ship Makuillya Kovalchoke and Sori Letemin. Those are just PROFESSIONAL, so to speak as term used laughingly, teams. STENDEK