The Atlanta Braves have confirmed the sad news that longtime skipper Bobby Cox has passed away at the age of 84.
“We are overcome with emotion on the passing of Bobby Cox, our treasured skipper. Bobby was the best manager to ever wear a Braves uniform. He led our team to 14 straight division titles, five National League pennants, and the unforgettable World Series title in 1995. His Braves managerial legacy will never be matched,” the Braves said in a statement posted to their social media.
pic.twitter.com/t9f5yd0Inl
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) May 9, 2026
Cox, born in Oklahoma in May 1941, played for four teams (including the Braves) over 11 seasons as a pro, his only MLB action coming in 1968 and 1969 with the Yankees – where he was teammates with Mickey Mantle as a rookie, a feat he once said was his ‘only claim to fame’ as a player.
He started his coaching career immediately after retiring, skippering the Yankees’ then Class-A affiliate in Fort Lauderdale in 1971 – the same year he played his final four career games for that squad. He managed in the Yankees’ system from 1971-76 and spent 1977 as Billy Martin’s bench coach in the Bronx before getting his first MLB managerial gig in Atlanta, going 266-xxx in four seasons before being fired following the 1981 campaign.
He spent the next four seasons in Toronto, leading the Jays to the AL East Title in 1985, before returning to Atlanta as GM, and serving in that role for four-plus years before naming himself manager in mid-1990 after firing Russ Nixon.
From there, the rest is history, as Cox turned the Braves around immediately, Atlanta going from worst to first in 1991 and winning their first of three straight and 13 out of 14 division crowns from 1991-2005. The Braves won five NL pennants and the 1995 World Series in that span, and Cox would lead them for five more seasons after that, making his final playoff appearance in his final season of 2010 by winning the NL Wild Card and falling to eventual World Champion San Francisco in the Divisional Round.
All told, Cox won 2,149 regular season games and 64 playoff games in 25 seasons as Braves skipper, with those five NL pennants and one World Series title, and his 2,504 total wins ranks fourth all-time in managerial victories in MLB.
The Braves retired his No. 6 in 2011, and three years later, he got the ultimate honor of being inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame, in the same class as two of his former aces in Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine.
