Next season will be last for Braves skipper Cox

[September 24, 2009]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Bobby Cox spent the afternoon shaking hands, accepting congratulations and smiling enough to look almost comfortable as the center of all that attention.

Then, he took his favorite seat in the dugout and guided the Atlanta Braves to a fitting victory.

After 50 years in baseball, Cox revealed his plan Wednesday to retire as manager of the Braves following next season.

Now comes the hard part: sticking to it.

"It's the only way I think I'm ever going to walk away from the game, is to go ahead and say I'm going to, and then I've got to," Cox said. "There's no turning back now -- win, lose or draw. Whatever happens next year is going to be it."

The 68-year-old Cox, a four-time Manager of the Year, agreed to a one-year contract extension for 2010, the Braves announced before Wednesday night's 5-2 win over the New York Mets. He will start a five-year consulting agreement to advise the team in baseball operations after he steps down as manager.

"I'll believe it when I see it," Braves slugger Chipper Jones said.

During an illustrious tenure on the bench, Cox has guided Atlanta to 14 consecutive postseason appearances (1991-2005) and the 1995 World Series title.

A cigar-smoking baseball lifer, he managed the Braves from 1978-81, switched to manage the Toronto Blue Jays from 1982-85, then returned to Atlanta as general manager. He went back to the dugout in 1990, leading the Braves to five NL pennants and a record 14 straight division titles from 1991-2005.

"There is a little bit of relief once you come to grips with announcing it," Cox said. "I've never lost the love to manage, period. But you have to make a decision. At my age, you have to make a decision. Somebody a little younger can start up."

Cox has 2,409 regular-season wins as a manager, fourth behind Connie Mack (3,731), John McGraw (2,763) and Tony La Russa (2,550). Cox and Joe McCarthy are the only managers with six 100-win regular seasons.

"If you were going to make a Mount Rushmore of managers, Bobby's one of them," Los Angeles Angels skipper Mike Scioscia said. "You can see his passion for the game, and how he's done it really in generational terms. He's retooled that club probably, what, four or five times since he got there? And they were always contending. What he did I'm sure will be something that people will marvel at."

Braves general manager Frank Wren said he won't start thinking about a successor for Cox until an appropriate time next season. Both men said Cox will have input.

"He's been the one constant through the entire run that we've had over the last 20 years," said Jones, who has played for Cox his entire career. "It'll be a sad day, a sad day when he leaves."

This season, Cox's team is barreling down the stretch with a purpose. Atlanta (82-70) has won 11 of 13, moving within four games of Colorado for the NL wild card with 10 to play.

Still feisty, Cox has been ejected seven times, extending his major league record to 150.

"What you can always say about Bobby is that he always gets the best out of his players and that he's a class act," umpire Ed Rapuano said in Cleveland. "You could toss him, but the next day all was forgotten."

Jones said the Braves will have added incentive next season to send Cox out a winner. But the 37-year-old third baseman added that he's not sure he'll stay in the game long enough to play for a different manager.

"I'm just glad he'll be around for one more year," Jones said. "Something different could be culture shock."

Wren said the agreement was reached last weekend while the Braves were playing Philadelphia, but Cox didn't want an announcement to take the focus off that series. The team had decided to reveal the news when it returned home to Atlanta next week, but Wren said all the public speculation and false information about Cox's future persuaded the club to make an announcement Wednesday.

Cox's entire coaching staff will be retained next season, too.

"We know we're growing older. I know Bobby feels like he's still capable. His mind is as good today as it will be five years from now. But there's a demand of pressure and energy on his job. We all come to that point," Braves president John Schuerholz said at a Turner Field news conference in Atlanta.

"He's comfortable with this. It's his plan. He's at peace managing a team next season to a championship level," Schuerholz added. "He's handled the highs and lows better than any other manager in baseball I've ever seen."

Cox said the person he consulted most about the decision was his wife, Pam, and he acknowledged she was happy with it.

"She's been after me for quite awhile," Cox said with a smile.

His role as adviser likely will include visiting Braves farm clubs to offer advice, evaluations and perhaps even hands-on instruction. He said it's a job he's excited about.

Still, many in baseball have a hard time imagining anyone running the Braves besides ol' No. 6.

"He may change his mind," La Russa said in Houston before his Cardinals played the Astros. "Bobby loves the game. It's in his blood."

[Associated Press; By MIKE FITZPATRICK]

AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum in New York, AP Sports Writer Chris Duncan in Houston, Associated Press Writer Jonathan Landrum Jr. in Atlanta, and AP freelance writer Chuck Murr in Cleveland contributed to this report.

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