Major League Baseball lost another legend as longtime Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox passed away at the age of 84.
Cox led the Braves for parts of 25 seasons across two separate stints as their manager, leading the franchise to 14 division titles, five National League pennants, and a World Series championship in 1995.
Cox retired after the 2010 season, which was Freddie Freeman’s first in the big leagues. The nine-time All-Star only played 20 games under the Hall of Fame manager, but still feels his impact to this day.
Freddie Freeman recalls favorite Bobby Cox story
“Yeah, obviously, I woke up to it this morning,” Freeman said of Cox’s death before the Los Angeles Dodgers continued their series with the Braves on Saturday. “Eddie Perez actually was the first one to tell me this morning. Sad day for Braves country, all of baseball, just a good man.
“I’ve been thinking all morning about memories and interactions with him, and a lot of it is baseball, but I want to share my favorite memory of Bobby.
“It’s 2017 Spring Training, Charlie is six months old. And I think most people know the Braves used to be in Orlando, so we’re at Reunion (Resort). Most people here might know Reunion on the Braves side, and we’re at the golf clubhouse. Chelsea, Charlie and I were just eating a quick dinner, and Bobby, Pam and some of their family were in that clubhouse too.
“We walked in, and most of my interaction at that time with Bobby was all baseball, and to see Hall of Famer Bobby Cox, the joy on his face when he saw my six-month-old son. That’s stuff I will never forget. Him and Pam just loving on Charlie while he was in the stroller, and we’re just talking to Pam. Those are the fond memories I have.
“Obviously baseball. I mean, not many people get to be managed at all by a Hall of Fame manager, and I got to have my first one in the big leagues be a Hall of Fame manager. And a manager who relentlessly had our backs, mine as well. As a 19-year-old kid, my first big league Spring Training, he gave me 80 plate appearances in Spring Training. And over the course of the years, I don’t know how many writers and coaches have come up to me and told me what Bobby was saying behind closed doors about me and how much he cared about me and how much he believed in me.
“I have an autographed Bobby Cox jersey hanging in my house in Atlanta. It says, ‘To Freddie, keep on hitting.’ And those are just special things. It’s sad. I mean, he lived a great life. Everyone loves him in baseball, Braves country loves him. I just think about Pam so much right now. I know she’s probably getting overwhelmed with all the love and support, and also trying to grieve her husband…
“But me and Woody, Chris Woodward, there’s a lot of us. Stan Kasten’s here, Chris Woodward played for Bobby. There are so many people who have come across Bobby Cox in their careers and in their lives that touched us. Woody was talking to me about his impact he had on him in ’07 when Woody was struggling. This is Bobby Cox to the T. Woody was struggling, Martin Prado gets called up and Martin was starting that day.
“Woody was a little nervous because he was an older guy and not playing well. And it was two minutes out of the day where Woody got called into the office, and he said, believe me, ‘I got your back. I just want to see what Martin today, how he’s going to do today.’ And that’s what Woody was talking about, how those two minutes changed and impacted someone.
“It’s the genuine care for someone. I’ve always talked about managers, and a lot of how the game goes is already played out before the game. There’s meetings with the pitching coaches of who’s available, who’s down, but the managers that can connect with you as a person, that’s what makes a great manager, and that’s who Bobby was. He cared about a 19-year-old and a 40-year-old the exact same way, and that’s what’s special. That’s why everyone loved him.
“He was the first one there with his cleats on and his stirrups; those are the little things that were just his thing. And I think a lot of people have heavy hearts, but they’re also having a good time thinking about all the wonderful memories and impacts that Bobby had on their lives today. He obviously meant a lot to so many people.
“There’s so many people on that side over there, maybe not the players, but you got Walt (Weiss), you got Eddie Perez, you got the support staff. I saw Fred Stone over there, he’s been with the Braves for 50-plus years, and personal relationships that go on for a long time.
“So a lot of heavy hearts around baseball today, especially in this stadium, obviously in Georgia, and around the country that are going to miss Bobby. I know you got to come around a few times over the last four or five years to Truist, but we’re going to miss him.”
Message from Bobby Cox on MLB debut
Freeman went on to share how Cox helped him feel at ease when he joined the Braves for his MLB debut on Sept. 1, 2010.
“So I walked in September 1, and I saw my name in the lineup, hitting sixth, and I almost threw up that day,” Freeman recalled. “And I was walking in, I sat at my locker staring forward into my locker, nerves all over the place, and Bobby comes walking by. I’ll just say, gosh darn it, because he said a different word.
“But he says, ‘Gosh dang it, Free. What took you so long to get here to the big leagues?’ And he said some other choice words, but all the nerves immediately went away, just because how he went about it.
“It’s like the Woody story, it’s those one-two minutes throughout the course of the day where it’s just makes you relax. You know you have someone who has your back. I mean, I bet you, if I wanted to get tossed out that first game, he would have got tossed out with me. That’s just who he was.
“That first day, I’ll never forget it, and him walking by me and just asking me why it took so long. I was 20 years old, why it took so long to get to the big leagues, and that’s who Bobby was. I was telling Snit today. I was like, ‘I can’t wait to love on Bobby later when I talk about him.’ He goes, ‘That’s gonna be easy to do.’
“And I know all of us who have encountered Bobby Cox over the years, it’s a smile that goes across your face, because he was just a good, good man that meant a lot to so many people.”
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