Why did Bobby Cox wear cleats? Three beloved Braves’ answers speak volumes

To the end of his career, Bobby Cox wore cleats as he managed the Braves. The outfitting decision was simultaneously unnecessary and endearing.

Why did he wear them?

“I don’t know, but it was the greatest thing,” Hall of Famer Tom Glavine told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Monday, two days after the death of the Hall of Fame manager at the age of 84. “For him to be down (in the dugout), I mean, listen, spikes are not comfortable to begin with, but here’s a guy that at one point had both his knees replaced and he’s still down there wearing his spikes.”

“Isn’t that interesting?” asked Braves legend Dale Murphy. “There had to be something to it, because it couldn’t have been comfortable. It’s like, ‘Got my spikes on, let’s go.’”

Glavine speculated that Cox had picked it up from a manager before him and decided he would do it if he got the chance to manage. Murphy, who was on Cox’s first team in his first stint with the Braves beginning in 1978, remembered that Cox pitched batting practice and took infielders’ throws at first base during pregame warmups.

“He loved to get out there and he’d kind of walk around and talk to guys,” Murphy said. “He was out there a lot. He loved the game, loved his guys and we loved playing for him.”

Another theory on Cox’s cleats, this from the catcher of the worst-to-first 1991 Braves.

“I honestly think he felt he was a player,” Greg Olson told the AJC Monday. “The way he rooted on and cheered for every player, clapped for them, yelled for them, protected them when there was any controversy — he had a pretty doggone good career himself — I think he goes, ‘You know what? As long as I’m managing, I’m going to put my cleats on and I’m going to act like I’m a player.’”

Murphy, Olson and Glavine played for Cox for a combined 19-plus seasons. All three were together with Cox for the “plus” season in 1990, when Cox came down from his position as general manager midseason to begin his run that extended through 2010 and earned his spot in Cooperstown. The memories, insights and love run deep.

Murphy credits Cox with nothing less than saving his career. Breaking in full time in the majors in 1978 — Cox’s first year with the Braves — Murphy had already faltered at catcher and then moved to first base, where he led all first basemen in the majors in errors. Cox stuck with him at first base in 1979 and then moved him to center field, where he blossomed into a two-time MVP and seven-time All-Star.

“He saw something in me that I didn’t see in myself,” Murphy said.

Cox’s loyalty and patience was rewarded.

“And that’s what happened his whole career,” Murphy said. “We learned that in the late ’70s and that manifested itself throughout his whole career. Guys love to play for Bobby.”

Also, Murphy remembered Cox — later to be thought of as grandfatherly — as feisty. He remembered one of his MLB-record 162 ejections in particular.

“He got into one in San Francisco with (umpire) Ed Montague and Bobby was dipping Copenhagen at the time,” Murphy said.

Murphy declined to add much more detail beyond “I felt so sorry for Ed Montague.”

That duality struck Murphy.

“It’s a really unique pairing of individual attributes — being feisty, being competitive, being intense and then being loyal and being patient,” Murphy said. “That’s tough to do. Bobby was able to achieve that and he understood that inherently.”

Olson recalled a message that Cox gave annually.

“He would say this every spring training: ‘Physical errors are OK. Mental errors are not acceptable,’” Olson said. “’Don’t miss signs, know how many outs there are, hit the cutoff (man). All the things that are mental — you cut down on the mental mistakes, you’ve got a good chance of winning the game.’”

Glavine recalls the big moments, certainly, like sharing a hug with his skipper after his dominating performance in the clincher to win the 1995 World Series.

But quieter, less public ones, too.

“It was always fun on the road, where we would go play golf somewhere in the morning, come to the ballpark and Bobby would be sitting there, right outside the door, smoking a cigar,” Glavine said, “and the first question he’d ask: ‘Where’d you guys play and who won the money?’”

It was an expression of Cox’s relentless support of his players, giving them leeway as long as they were ready to play. That included his well-known refusal to badmouth his players to media.

There were plenty of times, Glavine said, when he threw poorly, “and then see comments from Bobby the next day and think, ‘Gosh, was he watching the same game?’

“But that’s how he was. He was always trying to keep his guys positive and upbeat and find something positive in things and it was a big reason why guys loved playing for him.”

That was Cox, from his ball cap down to his cleated feet.