Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox has a lot of records, awards and memorabilia hanging on the walls at home.
One of them is not this photo after being ejected during a game in 1981.
Managing 29 years in the major leagues, Cox broke the record for the most ejections in major-league history on Aug. 13, 2007, in a game against San Francisco at Turner Field.
He broke the previous mark, held by another manager enshrined in Cooperstown, John McGraw, who had 131 ejections including 14 during his playing career. Cox finished with 161 ejections, all as a manager, a record is likely to stay with him for a long time. The closest active manager is Giants manager Bruce Bochy with 60.
At the time of breaking the ejection mark, which came on a third-strike call against Chipper Jones by plate umpire Ted Barrett, Cox told reporters, “It’s absolutely no factor. It means nothing. It just means I’ve been around for a long time. That’s all.’’
Cox, who began his managing career in 1978 with two stops in Atlanta and four seasons in Toronto, won 2,504 games, putting him fourth on the career list. While he would never admit it, the ejection mark is more about the type of manager he was and usually had little to do with the call on the field.
Veteran umpire Dale Scott, who began his career in 1985 and is still working, once told MLB.com, “One thing about Bobby is he protects his players. He goes out there and makes sure his players don’t get run. He does his job. It’s not because umpires are looking to get him. It’s because he steps up and has guys’ backs. Some managers kind of let the guys go. He doesn’t. I think that’s why he has a lot of ejections. That’s a good attribute for him.’’
Pitcher Alejandro Pena, who played for played for Cox twice in Atlanta as well as nine years under Tommy Lasorda (43 ejections), said: “Bobby and Tommy are very much like each other as far as how they manage but when there was a problem on the field, Bobby was always out there for us. Tommy would get thrown out to fire up the team. Bobby was just a players’ manager. He was always there for us and I think you could ask any player that played for him and they would tell you the same thing.’’
I.J. Rosenberg
