Cox becomes first to earn manager of the year honors in both leagues
Bobby Cox was a master at guiding young ballclubs down a championship path.
He produced what may have been his finest effort in 1991.
In his first full season in his second stint as Braves manager, Cox led Atlanta from worst-to-first that season. The Braves won the National League West title, defeated the Pirates in seven games to win the NLCS and then played an epic World Series against the Twins, falling in seven games.
Cox was honored on Oct. 29 by being named the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s National League Manager of the Year, becoming the first skipper to win the BBWAA’s top award for managers in both leagues.
“It was just a great year to manage with this ballclub,” Cox told the Associated Press. “I’m a very lucky guy.”
Cox won his first manager of the year award in 1985 after leading the Toronto Blue Jays to the American League East crown. He took over the Blue Jays in 1982, with the club never having posted a winning season to that point. In 1983, Cox led Toronto to 89 wins before repeating that total in 1984 and then winning 99 games in 1985.
Following that season, Cox – who had managed the Braves from 1978-81 – returned to Atlanta to become the team’s general manager. He then took over as manager during the 1990 season, going 40-57 in a year the Braves finished in last place.
But behind young starting pitchers Steve Avery, John Smoltz and Tom Glavine, the Braves defied the prognosticators to come within one game of a World Series title in 1991.
“I don’t take this honor lightly,” Cox told the AP about being named NL Manager of the Year. “You also don’t get to achieve something like this without good players and staff.
“It was fun to manage a team like this.”
The players and staff that Cox assembled as Braves general manager – he turned the GM reins over to another future Hall of Famer, John Schuerholz, after the 1990 season – would produce a dynasty that resulted in 14 straight completed-season playoff berths for Atlanta. Cox would be named NL Manager of the Year two more times in 2004 and 2005, giving him four total.
Only Tony La Russa and Buck Showalter have as many.
Cox finished his 29-year big league managerial career following the 2010 season with a 2,504-2,001 record, 16 postseason appearances, five pennants and the 1995 World Series title.
He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014.
“I feel great about this,” Cox said following the Manager of the Year honor in 1991. “But going into a season, as well as going out, these are things you really don’t think about until it happens.”
Craig Muder is the director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
