Thank You, Bobby

What Bobby Cox taught me about leadership, loyalty, and coaching kids

More Than Baseball

I had already written Part 4 of my AI series for this week’s Five4Friday.

Then something happened last weekend that completely changed what I wanted to write about.

Longtime Braves manager Bobby Cox passed away.

Now, for some of you reading this, that probably does not mean much. And honestly, even saying I am a “big Braves fan” does not fully explain why this hit me the way it did.

Bobby Cox was my childhood.

I still remember 1991, the first Braves World Series I experienced in my lifetime. They lost Game 7 to the Twins, and I cried myself to sleep afterward. Through the entire 1990s, the Braves became a constant in my life, and Bobby Cox was at the center of it all.

Five World Series appearances. One championship. Fourteen straight division titles.

But none of those stats are really why he mattered to me.

The Kind of Leader Players Loved

Over the years, I have written many times on this blog about how much I love coaching baseball. I genuinely love being around the game. I love helping kids grow. I love trying to create the kind of environment where they feel supported, encouraged, and excited to play.

That was Bobby Cox’s superpower too.

As a kid, and later as a young adult, I had a front row seat to watching one of the greatest managers of all time. Not just because he won games, but because of the way his players talked about him. Every former player seemed to say the same thing. He always had their backs. He fought for them. He trusted them.

There is probably a reason he still holds the Major League Baseball record for most ejections by a manager, and it is a record that will likely never be broken. Bobby Cox was willing to get thrown out of a game if it meant standing up for his players.

That says something.

Number 6

I was fortunate enough to attend his final regular season game. Shout out to Mike Ewing for that incredible weekend.

My Picture from the stands of Bobby Cox walking off the field after his last regular season game, a win.

A few years later, I also went to Cooperstown for his Hall of Fame induction. That ceremony was especially meaningful because Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux were inducted the same day. If you know me well, you probably know my sons’ middle names are Maddux and Glavine, so there is a lot of personal history wrapped up in that era of Braves baseball for me.

When I heard the news Saturday, my first reaction surprised me a little.

I did not really know how I felt.

Bobby had been declining for a long time, so it was not entirely unexpected. But sometimes knowing something is coming does not make it hit any softer when it finally arrives.

Then I started thinking about something small that probably would not make sense to many people.

The number I wore throughout my high school baseball career was 6. My son still wears number 6 today. I do not even know if he fully realizes why. Maybe part of it is simply because it was my number first.

But it was my number because it was Bobby Cox’s number.

I am also probably one of the few people who proudly owns and regularly wears a Bobby Cox jersey instead of a player jersey. I wear it to a lot of the games I coach. The older I get, the more I realize my favorite person on those Braves teams was never actually one of the players.

It was the manager.

One Last Ejection

Last Thursday was the final game of my son’s 8U baseball season. The Black Hawks lost in the semifinals of the post season tournament, and by the last inning, if I am being honest, the game was already over.

But there was one play late in the game where the umpire absolutely blew the call.

I walked out onto the field to question it a little, mostly joking more than anything. The umpire, Terry, laughed and said something like, “Kyle, you wanna kick a little dirt on me, grab second base, and give everybody a real show? We can make it real exciting and I can throw you out if you want.”

I laughed too and told him there was no way I would ever do that, especially to him. I’m not as fiery as I used to be, and again, the game was already decided.

But afterward, thinking back on it, I realized something.

That was the final inning of a really special season for this group of kids.

And honestly?

A small part of me kind of wishes I had done it anyway.

Just for Bobby.