Former Braves Skipper Bobby Cox, Who Won 14 Straight Divisional Titles, Dies at 84

Hall of Famer Bobby Cox was well respected in the game of baseball, to which he dedicated his life.

Cox, 84, who managed the Atlanta Braves for 25 seasons (1978–1981, 1990–2010) and four as the Toronto Blue Jays skipper in the early 1980s, died on Friday after a long battle with congestive heart failure and a 2019 stroke.

One of the best managers in MLB history, Cox led his Braves’ teams to 14 straight divisional title, five National League pennants, and a World Series championship in 1995. He was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown as a member of the Class of 2014, cementing his legacy as arguably the most beloved Braves nonplayer in the organization’s history. Statistics aside, the friendships he made, the mentorships he offered, and the kindness he showed to baseball people outside the public eye were the lasting memories of many in the game as they reflected on their friend.

Longtime Braves’ pitching coach Leo Mazzone served under Cox for 15 full seasons beginning in 1991. Given the freedom to mold his pitchers, who were among the best in MLB’s modern era, Mazzone tutored three future Hall of Famers who from 1991 to 1998 collectively earned seven Cy Young Awards. Out of the game since 2006, Mazzone never forgot the pal who gave him his break as a Braves coach. Since Cox’s stroke, Mazzone has faithfully, every two weeks, made the two-hour drive from his home in Anderson, South Carolina, to suburban Georgia to offer smiles and rehash stories with the former Braves manager.

“[Cox’s wife Pam] called the day before he passed. She didn’t think that he would make it through the weekend,” Mazzone told The Epoch Times on Sunday. “Twice a month I would drive up to see Bobby on a Saturday or a Sunday. With no traffic on weekends, it was an easy trip.”

Mazzone tells of staying a couple of hours each visit, usually in the afternoon, and telling stories to make Cox laugh. “This was great therapy for both of us,” he said, and the least he could do for the former boss who significantly influenced his life.

“I was so fortunate. The 15 years I spent with Bobby in the dugout were the best years of my life. He made you feel important. Bobby would say ‘Here are your pitchers, go take care of them.’ I was in the minors coaching until Bobby took over the Braves as general manager. He liked that our pitchers didn’t get sore arms, so he brought me up in June 1990.”

During their last visit two weeks ago, Mazzone tells of Cox being mentally fine, as they mainly communicated through hand gestures and smiles.

Like Cox, Gene Lamont was a baseball lifer. He coached on the MLB level for three decades, with eight years managing the Chicago White Sox and Pittsburgh Pirates. In the times their paths crossed, both as Triple-A players in 1970, and later from opposite dugouts, Lamont remembers Cox as among the most well-prepared managers he had come across.

“You knew in a game, Bobby’s players were always prepared, especially in fundamentals,” Lamont said by phone from his home in southwest Florida. “Bobby didn’t talk a lot, but he succeeded in part because he kept up with the changes in the game over time. He wasn’t afraid to change with the times.”

Lamont marveled at how Cox seemed to always know the right spot to put his players in. He was as good as anybody at blending them in, the former manager said. Lamont rattled off many 1990s Atlanta players, such as Chipper Jones, David Justice, and Terry Pendelton, whom Cox developed into stars with long, productive careers.

John Simone never played an inning of pro baseball but spent a good amount of his youth in Cox’s shadows in Central New York.

Anthony “Tex” Simone, John’s late father, oversaw the Syracuse Chiefs Triple-A club for more than 40 years. Included in his tenure were the four seasons (1973–1976) that Cox managed the club, then part of the New York Yankees’ system, and the 1970 season that was his last full-time run as a minor league player. In speaking with The Epoch Times on Sunday, John Simone remembers Cox as an unassuming, incredibly generous and caring person.

“When I was 9 or 10, I would come to the ballpark and Bobby would let me use his glove to shag balls in the outfield, and play catch with the players. Then, when I was 14 or 15, Bobby let me keep it. He said I was using it more than him.”

Simone recalls how concerned Cox was when the elder Simone took ill in 2015.

“Bobby called my dad in the hospital every day. I called him when dad passed, and we both cried.”

The sincerity displayed by the Simone family in securing a place for Cox to live and a car to use while in Syracuse was never forgotten by the Hall of Famer. Simone said Cox treated all the nonplayers—bat boys, clubhouse attendants, front office workers—the same as those in uniform on the field. Cox saw a little bit of himself in all those helping to make the club successful, Simone said.

Cox was the quintessential ambassador for baseball. His statistics brought him to a permanent place in Cooperstown, but his grace and humility found him a place in the hearts of fans.