http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/nl...ejections_N.htm
Atlanta Braves manager Bobby Cox is approaching a record that has lasted three-quarters of a century. He wants to forget about it.
One problem: Reporters won't let him. "They want to make a big deal out of it in Atlanta. It's a silly stat," he says.
Cox, in his 26th season as a manager, including 22 with the Braves, has won a World Series and is fourth all-time in wins with 2,200 (behind Connie Mack, John McGraw and Tony La Russa).
He also has been ejected from 130 games, including five this season. Two more and Cox becomes the all-time overall leader, passing John McGraw, known as "Mugsy" and "Little Napoleon," who managed the New York Giants from 1902-32 and whose ejections include 14 as a player.
(According to Elias Sports Bureau, the official statistician for Major League Baseball, it's impossible to be certain of the ejections mark because of the quality of record-keeping in the game's early years. The figures here are from the Society for American Baseball Research.)
Cox has 33 more than feisty former Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver, 35 more than controversial Leo "The Lip" Durocher as manager, 72 more than animated Lou Piniella as manager and 85 more as manager than combative Billy Martin, who once punched a marshmallow salesman in a bar fight.
Cox, who turned 66 on May 21, isn't one for theatrics or dramatics when he gives an umpire a piece of his mind. He has been booted for arguing balks, brushbacks, check swings, interference, even an umpire's decision to resume a game after a rainstorm.
His first ejection came a month into his rookie season, in 1978, in his first stint with Atlanta when umpire Nick Colosi got him for bench jockeying: taunting. In 1979, '85, '92 and 2005 Cox was booted only twice and in 1994 once.
Ejections, he says, are "a little embarrassing." He won't talk in detail about any.
But players, managers and umpires say Cox has no reason to be ashamed. They say arguments are part of the game, that a good manager gets ejected to protect his players and, sometimes, to fire up the team.
Ask Weaver, the gray-haired powder keg who would flail his arms, turn his cap backward and kick up clouds of dirt at the slightest irritation. He managed the Orioles to four American League pennants and a World Series title before his retirement in 1986.
Ejections, he says, come with the territory, even though he hates watching TV clips of himself acting like a ninny. He wishes he could have argued less.
"It's tough on your heart, tough on your throat, and everything is embarrassing," Weaver says. "I was embarrassed by the way I acted. But being ejected is part of the game."
Cox, like many managers, typically goes to his office in the clubhouse after an ejection and sometimes will relay orders to the acting manager.
Weaver says he mainly argued with umpires to keep his players on the field.
"Sometimes you get ejected because you want to save a player who looks like he's going to get ejected. So a manager stands between him and the umpire," Weaver says.
"A manager can always do his duties from the runway or the clubhouse, but you might need the player to get a big hit in the ninth inning. The players were always more important than the manager."
Piniella, now the Chicago Cubs manager, is known for his wild tirades, such as picking up a base and heaving it like a shot. Once, when he was with the Seattle Mariners, he slammed his cap into the dirt, tried to kick it and missed, almost falling over. Both dugouts were laughing.
The tirades get played regularly on ESPN, something Piniella says skews his reputation: "If you asked six fans in a bar who has been kicked out the most, I'd probably win hands-down unless they are really knowledgeable baseball fans."
Piniella jokes that Cox's bench coaches get extra managing experience, but he adds: "Bobby has been managing a long time. He protects his players and his club. Evidently, he has it down what to tell an umpire to get ejected. But how can anyone argue with what Bobby has done? If you have that win total, you will have more ejections."
Respect from umpires
Milwaukee Brewers manager Ned Yost is a former bench coach under Cox. He says the last thing anyone wants to do is mess with Cox when he's mad.
"There were some days you could see by his mood that there was a good chance it was going to happen," Yost says. "There's still a huge respect thing that goes with it. He's earned that because he's won 2,000 and some games. You don't carry over to the next day. That's a valuable lesson I learned from Bobby."
Major League Baseball would not allow active umpires to comment on Cox's ejections. But umpire Ron Kulpa talked to MLB.com after he ran Cox in Saturday's game against the Philadelphia Phillies — ejection No. 130 — for disputing a call at first base.
"I've never had a problem with Bobby," Kulpa said. "This is my ninth year, and this is the first time that I've ever ejected him. I don't think any umpire is out there looking to get Bobby. Bobby respects us, and we have a lot of respect for him."
Former umpire Jim McKeon, now a supervisor, says Cox is a class guy.
"He's one of my favorite guys," McKeon says. "I have tremendous respect for Bobby Cox. You can eject him on Tuesday, and he comes back Wednesday and everything is forgotten. There are no grudges."
Cox says he has respect for the umpires and the anger of his arguments is gone immediately. He says there are times when he has argued a call, realized he was wrong and apologized the next day.
McKeon admires that Cox hasn't changed since his first season.
"The rest of us, we've mellowed. But he's still feisty. He hasn't changed a lick. I give him credit for that," McKeon says.
"He still has tremendous passion for what he does. If he thinks he's right, he can get thrown out on the first pitch of a game or the last pitch. As an umpire, Bobby Cox makes every day a new day. That's all an umpire can ask."
McKeon gets no argument from former umpire John Shulock on Cox not mellowing. Shulock was an AL umpire when Cox was managing the Toronto Blue Jays from 1982-85. When umpires merged under the MLB umbrella in 2000, Shulock was assigned Braves games in Atlanta.
On the day of his first game in Atlanta, Shulock by chance met Braves general manager John Schuerholz in the airport. Schuerholz told Shulock that Cox had mellowed.
Bottom of the first inning, Cox argued at the second pitch that Shulock's strike zone was too high. Shulock explained he didn't like the new strike zone but he had to follow the rules.
According to Shulock, the conversation went like this:
Shulock: "One more word, and you're out of here."
Cox: "Oh yeah, one more word."
"He was trying to be cute," Shulock says, "so I ran him."
Appreciation from players
Atlanta players say they appreciate Cox's ability to argue.
Outfielder Jeff Francoeur says the team should plan to honor Cox. Pitcher John Smoltz says the game should be stopped to recognize the record-setting ejection.
The Braves, though, are not planning anything.
"The record should be celebrated," Smoltz says. "It's total support for the team, and the players like it. He might be known for that, but players will always understand what they mean to the team."
Braves pitcher Tim Hudson agrees. "There's nothing worse as a player than when your team is getting pushed around and a manager doesn't do anything about it. … You don't want a knot on a log for a manager. You want someone there supporting you," Hudson says. "Bobby does that. He's old-school."
Braves shortstop Edgar Renteria says he doesn't want to argue a play: "It's the manager's responsibility to do that, and Bobby is the man."
Cox doesn't relish the impending record, but he will not shy from protecting his players.
"There's been so many years of managing," Cox says. "The more you manage, the more you are going to get ejected. Generally, that's how things happen. Arguments are a part of baseball. They used to call them rhubarbs."
The ejections are "nothing to be proud of," he says. "But I'm into every pitch, every swing. Maybe I'm into it too much. But I like managing. Put it that way."
Cox gets no argument there.
here, too. I can't possibly imagine a manager you'd love to play for more than Bobby Cox. You can tell now -- and past players, too -- that they'd defend Cox to the end.
