Bobby Cox, legendary Atlanta Braves manager, dies at 84

In 1995, the Braves won Cox’s only World Series championship, beating the Cleveland Indians at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

“Tom Glavine, Dave Justice, those two -- yeah, those two (laughing). Tommy almost pitched a no-hitter. He pitched a two-hitter and Dave got one out of the ballpark, and that’s all we needed, I remember,” Cox said.

Cox was considered the ultimate players’ manager. He rooted hard for his men from the dugout, and they played hard for him on the field.

“If they’re giving 100 percent, they were always going to be backed by me. If they weren’t, it was going to be a different story and that’s all I asked them to do, was entertain the fans, give 100 percent all the time. Let’s try to win, and when you’re trying it was awfully hard for me to get mad at somebody,” Cox said.

One way Cox supported his players -- getting ejected from the game 132 times, including two World Series games.

At Cox’s 65th birthday party in 2006, Bill Acree -- the Braves’ longtime traveling secretary and one of Cox’s close friends -- offered this toast: “To work for him is to love him.”

When Cox won his 2,000th game on Sept. 29, 2004, he typically tried to deflect the spotlight.

“We’ve had a lot of luck,” he said. “A lot of balls have bounced our way.”

But the longer he managed, the more the belief around baseball grew that he was the one manager capable of taking almost any sort of team and winning a division title with it.

Cox retired from the Braves in 2010. The next year, the Braves retired Cox’s No. 6.

In 2014, Cox received baseball’s highest award. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, along with two of his big three starting pitchers, Greg Maddux and Tommy Glavine.

“Tommy Lasorda said it best, he said, ‘Bobby -- you, Tony and Joe have reached the top of the mountain,’ and it’s starting to sink in a little bit ‘cause that’s the highest award you can have,” Cox said.

Shortly following Brave opening day at then-SunTrust Park in 2019, Cox suffered a stroke, which left him with partial paralysis at the time sending him to rehab for months.

About five months following his stroke, Cox made his first public appearance, walking out onto the field following the first inning of a Braves game to thunderous applause.

“I was excited that he was coming,” Braves manager and long-time friend Brian Snitker said. “I think he had his hot dog and had a great time. Hopefully, that’s just the beginning of many visits”

Cox remained until the sixth inning.

The last time Cox saw the Braves play was in August 2025 when the organization honored the 1995 World Series team. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution contributed to this article.

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