Major League Baseball
On Sept. 1, 2010, Freddie Freeman spotted his name in the Braves lineup, batting sixth, and almost got sick. The 20-year-old was about to play his first Major League game, sitting at his locker, staring ahead, overwhelmed with nerves.
Bobby Cox, in the final season of his Hall of Fame managerial career spanning 29 years, walked by and shared a few words that eased the tension and calmed the rookie.
“He said, ‘Gosh dang it, Free, what took you so long to get to the big leagues?'” Freeman recalled Saturday before facing his former team, reflecting on the life of his first Major League manager. “He said some other choice words, but all the nerves immediately vanished, just because of how he handled it.”
Cox, who passed away Saturday at age 84, leaves behind a legacy as not only one of baseball’s most accomplished managers—he ranks fourth in MLB history in wins and led the Braves to 14 consecutive division titles—but also as a unifying force who always supported his players.
“He was one of the greatest leaders I’ve ever been around,” said Braves manager Walt Weiss, who played for Cox in the late 1990s. “He was the best I’ve ever seen at building loyalty within the group. It came down to how he treated people, how he encouraged everyone. Bobby always made you feel like you were performing better than you actually were.”
Weiss, an All-Star in his first season with the Braves in 1998, will never forget how Cox allowed him as much time as needed when his son was suddenly hospitalized with a life-threatening bacterial infection.
“Bobby told me to go be with my family and come back whenever I was ready,” Weiss shared from the Braves’ dugout. “There was never any pressure to return. I think I was away for about a week. Bobby always looked out for you. It always felt like he had your back.”
That remained true decades later. Weiss, in his first season as Braves manager, previously managed the Rockies from 2013 to 2016 before joining Atlanta as Brian Snitker’s bench coach in 2018.
It was Cox who recommended Weiss to Snitker.
“I’m forever grateful to Bobby,” Weiss said.
Cox’s devotion to his players is perhaps best illustrated by his 162 career ejections, the most in MLB history. Atlanta first baseman Matt Olson, who grew up in Georgia watching the Braves, remembers those moments well.
“As a kid at a baseball game, it energizes the crowd,” Olson, 32, said from the Braves’ clubhouse. “I’d always be rooting for him to go out there.”
Dodgers first-base coach Chris Woodward was on the field for one such incident. Woodward played only one season for the Braves in 2007, but even in that short time, he felt Cox’s unwavering support. He shared a story with Freeman about a time when he turned a double play, but the umpire called the runner safe at second. Cox ran onto the field and immediately asked Woodward if he touched second base.
“Woody said, ‘Yes, I did,'” Freeman recalled. “So we all knew what Bobby did next.”
After the news of Cox’s passing, tributes poured in from former players. Andruw Jones even referred to Cox as a second father.
Freeman reached out to Snitker, asking his former Braves manager to pass along his thoughts to Cox’s family. Freeman played only one season for Cox, but in the years that followed, he often heard from coaches and writers about how much Cox cared about him and believed in him. He saw it too, through the numerous at-bats Cox gave him during his first big-league spring training.
“He cared about a 19-year-old and a 40-year-old exactly the same way,” Freeman said. “That’s what makes it special, and that’s why everyone loved him.”
