Looking Back on Braves Manager Bobby Cox's Career on His Birthday

The Atlanta Braves legendary manager literally built the team into what we know today

The Braves legend literally built the team in his image for success | John David Mercer-Imagn Images

Very few in Major League Baseball had the long and successful career that legendary Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox had. In honor of his birthday, he turned 84 on Wednesday, we’re going to look back at his otherworldly accomplishments. 

The Hall of Famer manager is tied for the most Manager of the Year Awards (4) and was the first to win it in back-to-back years (2004 and 2005). Sporting News gave him the honor a whopping eight times during his career. He has the fourth most wins by a manager in baseball history (2,504) and won 2,149 of those games leading the Braves. 

The Braves won the 1995 World Series, five total National League Pennants and 14 consecutive division titles from 1991 to 2005 - no division title was awarded in 1994 due to the player’s strike. 

Cox first joined the Braves as their manager in 1978. The year before, he was Billy Martin’s first base coach when the Yankees won the World Series. This first stint didn’t go too well. He had one winning season where the Braves finished 81-80. Ted Turner fired him after the bizarre 1981 season split up by a strike midway through. 

The Toronto Blue Jays hired him immediately and the team started to turn around. His tenure north of the border culminated in the Blue Jays winning the American League East for the first time in 1985 - in turn, it was their first time reaching the postseason. Cox won his first Manager of the Year Award. 

After the run in 1985, he returned to the Braves as their general manager to finish the decade. During that time, he was responsible for Tom Glavine, Steve Avery, John Smoltz, Chipper Jones and Ron Gant. 

In 1990, unhappy with how the two Braves managers during his GM tenure panned out, he took matters into his own hands and assumed the role for the following 20 years. 

The Braves as we know it aren’t the franchise we know without Cox. He led the team in the dugout and quite literally built the team he went on to manage. He might be the only man besides Connie Mack who can say that. 

It’s crazy that he stuck around as long as did and he’s only 84. Talk about doing a lot in the time he had.