Atlantans remember how Cox grew Braves as city prospered

During Cox's watch, Atlanta slowly shed its "Loserville" reputation. The Falcons went to the Super Bowl. Evander Holyfield won the world heavyweight boxing title four times. A dark horse group pulled off a bid to host the 1996 Olympics.

But while Atlanta was transforming how the world perceived it, Cox also was changing how Atlantans perceived themselves. Not just the baseball fans either. Students, families, even businessmen.

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“Atlanta, as much as it was a sports city before Ivan Allen helped build Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium and attracted the Braves from Milwaukee, it wasn’t a sophisticated sports town,” said Joel Koblentz, 61, senior partner at The Koblentz Group, which specializes in executive and board recruiting.

“It’s clear that in order to attract business to a city, having all the amenities is important, like professional sports teams, good roads and education, etc. The Braves were able to shine a light on Atlanta in a way that’s been sustainable for long periods of time unlike the Olympics, which was only short-term. Bobby Cox was very much a part of that.”

The Braves' early futility is almost unfathomable to new generations of fans. The franchise posted winning records in just eight of its first 25 seasons in Atlanta.

“Prior to Bobby Cox, watching the Braves was entertaining because a routine ball to third base could end up in an error-plagued triple,” said native Atlantan T.R. “Ted” Benning III, 55, who heads Benning Construction.

Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium was a desperate outpost, where visiting teams came to fatten their records and fans came for the diversion.

Brian Shaw, 55, of Richmond, fondly remembers the 1970s, when he could buy a ticket for $3 and, for the same price, a gallon of beer from street vendors.

“Everyone bought at least a gallon,” Shaw said. “The beer was pretty bad and it got warm fast. You can imagine the scene with college kids and young people drinking warm beer from plastic jugs, smoking cigars and having a great time cheering the Bravos. It was a blast.”

That rowdy crowds, however, made a different impression on the players.

“I remember a game in September of 1990,” said John McCosh, 52, public relations manager for the nonprofit CredAbility and a former newspaper reporter. “We sat in the outfield and, like most folks, we were a bit into our cups, yelling at the outfielders for the other team. After the game, [Braves second baseman] Jeff Blauser said he couldn’t wait for the season to end because there were just a bunch of drunks out there yelling obnoxious stuff.”

This was the era of Chief Noc-a-homa, who celebrated home runs with his dance beside his teepee in the outfield bleachers. Former Lt. Gov. Mark Taylor recalls “challenging Noc-A-Homa to a hollering contest during my days at Emory, when the crowds were small and you sat where you liked. Nobody could out-holler the Chief.”

At the new field or the old one, however, Cox’s easygoing nature and encouraging words for his players struck a chord with many fans.

“Bobby Cox was a great teacher for those of us in the public eye or in leadership positions in business or politics,” said Taylor, 53, CEO of the Fred Taylor Company, a trucking and warehousing company based in Albany said. “During politics and after, I was amazed at how Bobby managed the press. Never, ever publicly criticizing one of his players in the media. Always finding a positive even in the darkest time. This caused his teams to respect him and sent the message that no one was going to be thrown under the bus. The focus on the positive and hope for the next game gave the fans reasons to keep coming back.”

Chad Corley, a 36-year-old who works for public relations firm Fleishman Hillard said, “I love how you can literally hear Bobby encouraging every player during an at bat, from the superstars like Chipper Jones to the kid just called up from AAA Gwinnett.”

Just as Atlanta has its detractors -- the traffic, the sprawl, not enough for tourists to do -- Cox has withstood years of criticism after his teams regularly came up short in the playoffs. To this day, he remains a bloggers' lightning rod.

“I stopped listening to sports talk radio in the post-season because it became such a cliché that Cox didn’t know what he was doing in October,” said McCosh.

But for every detractor, Cox maintains a host of admirers.

“As a little kid growing up in Tampa Bay, I went to sleep every night listening to the Bobby Cox-managed Atlanta Braves on the radio,” said Mark Dvorak, 43, of Vinings, a public relations executive at GolinHarris. “To this day, I still tell people the reason I moved to Atlanta in 1992 was because of the Braves. Even though a lot of great things have happened to me during my life and career here, the Braves and Bobby Cox will always be special. We've been blessed to have a manager who's one of the all-time good guys.”

Businessmen have studied his dugout demeanor.

“His management style tended to be hands-off,” said Harold Shumacher, 62, a restaurant broker with The Shumacher Group and an 18-year season-ticket holder. “He treated his players as professionals that he expected to do their jobs day to day. Kind of like Atlantans’ can-do attitude.”

For many, there will never be another thrill like 1991 and the first run into October.

“Those early nineties were the most fun,” said BA Albert, 57, an advertising executive with Big Table Agency. “I remember the night we won the first division championship. People were riding through Buckhead, blowing their horns and yelling. I was driving my old convertible [a 1950 Chevy Styleline Deluxe] on West Paces Ferry Road when a college kid flew horizontally through the air and landed in my back seat. People were crazy happy.”

Ben Raney, 52, president of Raney Real Estate, remembers that too.

“After 30 years of being called Loserville, the fans were coming out doing the chop," he said. "Nobody had ever seen it before so it was a whole different attitude. There is some nostalgia for that. It changed how the world looked at Atlanta and the Braves.”