Background and career
Robert Joe Cox (May 21, 1941 – May 9, 2026) was an American professional baseball player and manager. He played as a third baseman in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the New York Yankees and managed for the Atlanta Braves and Toronto Blue Jays. He is a member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. He recorded a 100-win season six times, a record matched only by Joe McCarthy. Cox first managed the Braves from 1978 to 1981, and then managed the Blue Jays from 1982 to 1985. He rejoined the Braves in 1986 as a general manager. He moved back to the manager's role during the 1990 season and stayed there until his retirement following the 2010 season. Cox led the Atlanta Braves to 14 consecutive division championships from 1991 to 2005, (interrupted in 1994 when the Montreal Expos were leading the division by 6 games when a strike ended the season), which included a World Series title in 1995. The Braves retired No. 6 in his honor. Cox holds the all-time record for ejections in MLB with 162, a record previously held by John McGraw. He also is the all-time leader among MLB managers in playoff seasons with 16, and he was the first manager since Casey Stengel to have qualified for the postseason 10 times (four managers have since followed him).
Cox originally signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1959, and bounced around the Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, and Braves minor league systems for seven seasons. The Braves traded Cox to the New York Yankees for Bob Tillman and Dale Roberts on December 7, 1967. Cox finally made it to the majors in 1968, batting .229 with 7 home runs and 41 RBIs in 135 games at third base for the Yankees. Knee injuries limited Cox to 85 games for the Yankess in 1969. The Yankees assigned Cox to the Triple-A Syracuse Chiefs for the 1970 season, ending his time in the Majors. Cox also played from 1967 to 1970 for the Cardenales de Lara and Leones del Caracas of the Venezuelan Winter League.
Cox began his managerial career in the Yankees farm system in 1971 with the Class-A Fort Lauderdale Yankees. He was promoted to the AA West Haven Yankees in 1972 and to AAA Syracuse in 1973. In 1976, he led Chiefs to the International League championship. Cox also managed his former Winter Leagure former club, Cardenales in the Venezuelan Winter League, from 1974 to 1977. He then spent the 1977 season as the first base coach on Billy Martin's staff with the World Series–winning Yankees.
Cox replaced Dave Bristol as the manager of the Atlanta Braves prior to the 1978 season, inheriting a team that had finished last in the National League West during the previous two seasons and, in 1977, compiled a worse record than the first-year Seattle Mariners of the American League. Building from the ground up, the Braves finished last in both 1978 and 1979. Entering 1980, Cox made one of the unusual moves for which he is known, moving power-hitting first baseman–catcher Dale Murphy, who had developed a throwing block as a catcher that hindered his ability to play, to center field. Murphy later won two National League Most Valuable Player Awards and five Gold Gloves, and became one of the premier players of the 1980s. In 1980, the Braves finished fourth with their first record above .500 (81–80) since 1974. During the 1981 season, which was shortened by a strike, the Braves finished in fourth place during the first half and in fifth in the second. After the season, Atlanta owner Ted Turner fired him. Asked at a press conference who was on his short list for manager, Turner replied, "It would be Bobby Cox if I hadn't just fired him. We need someone like him around here." Under Cox's successor, future Hall-of-Fame manager Joe Torre, the Braves won the National League West division title in 1982 and finished second in both 1983 and 1984. Cox finished his first tenure with the Braves with a 266–323 record.
The Toronto Blue Jays hired Cox as their manager in 1982, and they steadily improved over the four years of his management. In 1983, Cox led the Blue Jays to the first winning record in franchise history. In 1984, he led the team to an 89–73–1 record and second-place finish in the AL East. In 1985, Cox's fourth season with the club, the Blue Jays finished in first place in the American League East, the franchise's first division title. That season, the American League Championship Series was expanded to a best-of-seven format after 16 seasons of a best-of-five format. This change ultimately made the difference, as the Blue Jays leading three games to one to the Kansas City Royals, lost three straight games to drop the series. The decision by Kansas City manager Dick Howser to counter Cox's platooning by starting a right-handed pitcher before going with left-handed relievers in the middle innings proving key. After the 1985 season, the Braves asked for permission to interview Cox for their general manager position. On October 22, 1985, Cox left Toronto to return to Atlanta as general manager; he stated that a key reason was to be closer to his family, who had continued to live in suburban Marietta, Georgia. Cox and incoming manager Chuck Tanner both received five-year contracts from Turner. Cox finished his stint as Jays manager with a 355–292 record.
After going through two managers over the course of less than five years with disastrous results in attendance and performance, Cox fired Russ Nixon in June 1990 and named himself field manager. Cox had spent the prior four seasons accumulating talented players, including Tom Glavine, Steve Avery, John Smoltz, Ron Gant, and David Justice. He was also responsible for drafting Chipper Jones with the first overall pick in the 1990 draft. After the 1990 season, Cox handed the general manager's post to Kansas City Royals general manager John Schuerholz.
