Atlanta Braves Top Franchise Managers– #2 Bobby Cox

I Quit

Frank Wren was a micromanager who eventually drove many talented people out of the origination. The first to get fed up with him was Bobby Cox.

After suffering significant financial losses in 2003, Time Warner tightened the purse strings, preventing the Braves from retaining their best players and adding new talent.

The club slipped to a third-place finish in 2006, and despite a strong start in 2007, once again finished third. John Schuerholz stepped down, and Wren took over as GM; it didn’t take long for the relationship between the micromanaging Wren and Cox to deteriorate.

Cox had always consulted with Schuerholz, but Wren didn’t consult. Instead, he began inserting himself into every facet of the way the team was coached and managed.

Early in Spring Training 2008, Cox called Chipper Jones, Brian McCann, Tim Hudson, and Jeff Francoeur to his office to give them some news.

"I just wanted you guys to hear this from me before you hear it from someone else, I quit yesterday . . . I drove halfway (from Orlando) to Georgia, and Schuerholz called me and talked me back down. I can’t work with Frank Wren, Can’t do it.” Chipper Jones, Carroll Rogers Walton, Ballplayer. (Dutton, 2017) 303"

In 2009, Cox reflected on his relationship with Schuerholz. His words in this quote from his SABR bio give insight into that day in 2008.

"“It’s as good a relationship as there could possibly be in sports, . . . John runs everything by me. I’m involved in everything that John wants to do. Some GMs don’t operate that way anymore. I respect him a great deal. I think he respects my knowledge of what we should do: what trades, free agents, and my reasons for and against some of those.”"