Top Blue Jays Manager #3: Bobby Cox
Years Managed: 4
(1982-85)
Win/Loss Record: 355-292
Division Titles: 1
(1985)
Best Season: 1985
(99-62, Won A.L. East)
Awards: A.L.
Manager of the Year (1985)
Only 41 years old when he took
the helm of the Blue Jays in 1982, Bobby Cox already had four years of Major
League Managerial experience. He had led the Atlanta Braves from 1978 to 1981,
but finished no higher than fourth place.
He took over a Toronto team that
had never finished anywhere but the basement, but with Cox’s eye for talent and
his platoon system strategy, the Jays would put their young, talented players
to good use and their rise to the top of the division would only take a few
seasons.
In his first season, Toronto won
78 games and finished tied for sixth place in the American League East (with
seven teams in the division, they were still technically in last place at
season’s end). But with blossoming players like Jesse Barfield, Lloyd Moseby,
Alfredo Griffin and Damaso Garcia starting to come into their own as Big
Leaguers, combined with the ace of the pitching staff, Dave Stieb, the future
was very bright for Cox’s charges.
His second year as manager,
1983, saw the Blue Jays becoming a legitimate threat to the rest of the
division. The team led the division for almost the entire month of July. The
lack of a decent closer in the bullpen was Cox’s biggest Achilles heel. The
team blew too many late leads and extra inning games. They dropped out of first
place by the end of July, and even though they remained close throughout
August, they dropped like a brick in a pond in September, finishing in fourth
place behind Baltimore, nine games back.
However, the club finished with
the first winning record in team history and won 89 games. Everyone was looking
to take the next step in 1984. But no one could have foreseen that the Detroit
Tigers were going to win 104 games and easily take the division. Even though
Cox led the Jays to the same 89-73 record as the year before, and Toronto ended
in second place for the first time, they were 15 games behind the Tigers when
it was all said and done.
1985 would be the year that Cox
would make his mark in Toronto history. He led the team to its best ever
season: 99 wins and a division title, while earning American League Manager of
the Year accolades. An All-Star calibre lineup, a strong pitching staff
and—finally—a closer: Tom Henke. Even though the team suffered a heart-breaking
seven-game loss to the Kansas City Royals in the American League Championship
Series, the ground work—and expectations—was set for the following season.
Unfortunately, Cox would not be
around. He resigned as manager of the Blue Jays to take the General Manager’s
position for the Atlanta Braves. In 1991, he returned to the dugout and would
manage Atlanta for 21 years before retiring from managing after the 2010
season. While with the Braves, Cox would win an MLB-record 14 consecutive
division titles, five National League Pennants and one World Series (1995).
During one of those trips to the World Series, the Braves would lose to the
Blue Jays (1992).
Cox would win N.L. Manager of
the Year honours in 1991, 2004 and 2005. He retired with 2504 wins,
fourth-place all-time among big league managers. He also has the MLB record of
being ejected from a game 156 times. When one of his players, who had been
ejected, asked him what he was to do now, Cox responded, “Go have a couple cold
beers and get in the cold tub or something and relax. And then you’ll probably
have to write a $500 check. Or you can do what I do, write a $10,000 one and
tell them when it runs out, let me know.”
Cox didn’t have much of a
playing career. He played 220 games over the course of two seasons with the New
York Yankees. His career batting average was .225, he hit nine home runs, added
58 RBIs and scored 50 runs.
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