This summer’s Bobby Cox to-do list reads quite unlike any from the past four decades.
● Cruise the Mediterranean. Discover that Rome is not just a Single-A affiliate.
● Visit Cooperstown for the Hall of Fame induction of former baseball exec and friend Pat Gillick. Plan a return trip in September when there is more time to wander the exhibits and get comfortable with the place.
● Play all the golf that a grouchy back will allow.
● Derive all the pleasure of hanging around the ballpark, enjoying the bonhomie of baseball men without the stress of trying to get Derek Lowe to the sixth inning.
● Shout anything in the direction of a plate umpire with impunity. A man can’t be ejected from his own easy chair.
● Have number retired, just like personal all-time favorite player, another rather renowned No. 6, Stan Musial.
Cox has given rave reviews to his first season out of uniform since, like, forever. “It’s really been terrific,” he said.
Friday night, even as he fidgets in the glare of unwanted attention, will be a high point of this transitional year. The Braves ceremoniously will retire the No. 6 he wore for the 25 seasons he managed them. As for the five years he served as general manager, no totems, neither the outline of a rumpled blazer nor well-chewed cigar, will be raised to the rafters to mark that period.
Special bond
The boss will join a choice few of his employees whose numbers preceded his in retirement. Such was the span of Cox’s career, broken up in two installments, that he was the man who both oversaw Dale Murphy’s move from catcher to the outfield in 1980 and stuck with a young Tom Glavine after he went 31-37 his first three big league seasons.
Add the other Cox-era player whose number was retired in 2009, Greg Maddux, with a couple others who soon enough will sample that honor, John Smoltz and Chipper Jones, and it becomes clear that there was a special player-manager dynamic going on the past quarter century.
It is appropriate they soon will all be up there together on the Turner Field façade, having stood on each other’s shoulders to get there.
“He’s so instrumental in us being up there and, at the same time, we’ve obviously had some influence on him being up there,” Glavine said. “What goes around comes around.”
“My number wouldn’t be up there without him, I know that for sure,” Murphy said.
As he made his farewell tour around major league baseball last season, Cox was treated to a series of tributes. All that was just a build-up to Friday’s crescendo, the ultimate honor for a long career spent taking some very good Braves players to 15 postseasons and one World Series title.
Pre-dating that run of meaningful Octobers, Murphy, who is planning to come in from Utah for the ceremony, has other reasons to offer thanks Friday.
His memories are of a much younger Cox, just finished with the second season of major league managing when he phoned with a proposal in the winter of 1979:
Murph, what do you think about the outfield?
Murphy, who had struggled defensively behind the plate and likewise at first, warmed quickly to the idea. By ’80, he was playing 154 games in the outfield; by ’82, he was winning the first of consecutive MVP awards.
“Showing that confidence in me — I wouldn’t be in the big leagues without [Cox] moving me to the outfield,” Murphy said.
“I was very fortunate to be there at Bobby’s beginning and that he could help me at my beginning. He was great to play for. I recognized that early on, the way he treats players. I’m one of those examples you hear about of guys he sticks with longer than a lot of people would.”
Glavine’s first experience was with Cox the GM, who kept assuring the young pitcher that he was not, despite the rumors, trade bait.
Cox the manager reaped the rewards for holding onto Glavine. His first full season at the controls (1991) coincided with Glavine’s first Cy Young-winning season.
When Glavine’s No. 47 was retired last year, Cox could have claimed a small portion of that tribute.
“I’ve said a lot that [Cox] was the single greatest influence on me as a player, in terms of teaching the game, respecting the game, carrying yourself the right way on and off the field. All that stuff was important. He was very much like a fatherly figure in that regard.”
Ill at ease with public accolades, Cox stumbles when trying to describe what Friday will mean. “I’m looking forward to the number going up. I don’t know, what do I say?
“I’m honored. I’m humbled. I’m looking forward to seeing the guys. If that’s what brings us together, that’s great.”
Glavine gives him an assist, sort of: “It will be a tremendous show of respect and affection for Bobby and you know what? If he’s uncomfortable with it, too bad. He deserves it.”
Life after the game
Cox hasn’t exactly forgotten his way to the ballpark in retirement. Splitting time between his homes in Adairsville and Marietta, he has made regular forays south to Turner Field. His idea of a the perfect Sunday brunch is to eat with new manager Fredi Gonzalez and the coaching staff before an afternoon home game. He’ll pop in hours before a game to catch up with the clubhouse chatter and pop out in time to get home to watch it in the peace of his own den. About the only games he has missed were those during his April cruise.
“If I didn’t go down there and say hello to everybody once in a while, I would go crazy, probably,” he said, on his method of dealing with managerial withdrawal.
Not being tied to the park has allowed Cox a few pleasing glimpses of life outside a dugout.
Some people actually spend an entire July 4 at home, he found out.
When he wanted to watch Smoltz and a former Braves batboy, now a college golfer, play in last week’s Georgia Open at Barnsley Gardens, he could leisurely stroll between groups without once hurrying off to fill out a lineup card.
Cox figures that it is about time, now that he has a granddaughter entering her freshman year at Georgia, that he goes to his first Bulldogs football game.
Hard to comprehend that, over all these years, he has maintained his Georgia residency without once visiting Sanford Stadium. Not once. Never. He believes he can scare up a couple tickets.
There are other unfulfilled chores on his retirement to-do list. Like spend a few days on the beach with family later this month. And go on another cruise this winter, this time to Curacao and Aruba.
But there is a notable gap in his planning around early October, just in case there are some postseason games nearby that might tickle his fancy.
What’s happening at Turner Field this week
Friday
11:30-1:30 p.m.: Braves Hall of Fame Luncheon, Omni Hotel.
5:30 p.m.: Braves alumni meet and greet/autograph session at Turner Field Fan Plaza.
7 p.m.: Bobby Cox tribute and number retirement.
7:35 p.m.: Braves vs. Cubs.
Saturday
5 p.m.: Braves legends game featuring 1991 Braves vs. other Braves alumni.
6:30 p.m.: 1991 Braves tribute.
7:10 p.m.: Braves vs. Cubs.
Sunday, Aug. 14
11:30 a.m.: Alumni meet and greet/autograph session in fan plaza.
1:30 p.m.: Braves vs. Cubs.
Monday, Aug. 15
10:30 a.m.: Atlanta Braves Foundation Golf Classic, featuring many former Braves. East Lake Golf Club. Profits benefit Atlanta Braves Foundation’s youth outreach.
