Bobby Cox announced yesterday that he will retire at the end of the 2010 season.  Cox has been the manager of the Atlanta Braves since 1990.  He had a stint with the organization from 1978-1981.  Sandwiched in between was a very successful stint as the manager of the Toronto Blue Jays from 1982-1985.  Cox has accumulated a 2408 wins and 1632 losses during all his tenures (.556 winning pct).   Obviously, Bobby had most of his success with the Braves, which included 14 straight division titles (the strike-shortened 1994 season is not recognized as a second place finish), 5 NL pennants, and 1 World Series title.  During this time, he won 3 of his 4 manager of the year awards.   He had the luxury of coaching 3 pitchers who combined for 6 Cy Young awards while under his watch.  Cox also has the distinguished honor of being thrown out of more games than any other manager. The biggest knock against Cox is that he did not win more World Series with his uber-talented Braves teams.  But even with that little stain on his resume, there is no denying that Bobby Cox is one of the best managers in the Majors over the last 30 years.  Who are his counterparts?  Let’s find out (in no particular order).

Joe Torre - One of the biggest reasons that Cox didn’t win more World Series.   The 1996 Braves probably were a more talented team overall, but the Torre’s calm demeanor helped the Yankees capture the first of 4 World Series under his command.  The Yankees would sweep the Braves in 1999 as well, stealing the team of the 90s moniker from the Braves.  Torre has a career record of 2242-1908.  However, he had a losing record prior to becoming the Yankees manager in 1996.  Leaving doubts in some peoples mind as how good Torre is as a manger of baseball.  However, no one has ever managed dealing with the NY press, spotlight and George Steinbrenner quite like Torre.  But many people still think the Yankees would have won with any halfway decent manager with those teams in the 90s.

Tony LaRussa - The current Cardinals manager is the only one listed that has won a World Series with 2 different organizations.  He also has a sparkling career record of 2250-2209.  But, like Cox, many LaRussa has had teams underachieve in the postseason.   He has won 10 Division titles, 5 Pennants to go along with those World Series titles.  When he was back managing the Oakland Athletics, his teams were heavily favored each year, but loss 2 of the 3 times out.  LaRussa’s biggest credit in his tenure with the Cardinals has been his ability to get the most out of his starting pitchers.  But one other ding against LaRussa is that many believe he turned a blind eye to the steroid use of Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire.

Jim Leyland – The only contemporary of the group that has a losing record.  However, Leyland has been saddled with less talent than any of them.  Even while with the Pirates and having Barry Bonds playing left field for him, the Pirates didn’t boast the overall talent in the National League like many others such as the Mets, Braves, Giants, and Cardinals did.  However, he led them to 3 consecutive NLCS appearances. Had Barry Bonds not had a noodle arm, he may have had a chance at winning a World Series with them.  Leyland would stick around for a few years after the exodus of Bonds and Bonilla happened, and the Pirates decided that they would never invest back  into their team and Leyland was left with no talent to manage.  Leyland did capture a World Series, managing his most star studded team in Florida.  The Marlins won their first championship in 1997 under Leyland.  However, that team was broken up, and the following season, Jim essentially managed a minor league team.  That season alone gives the losing record to chain-smoking manager.  Leyland had a one year stint in Colorado before taking a break until returning to manage the Detroit Tigers in 2006.  In his first season, he led the Tigers to a World Series appearance, where he would lose to LaRussa’s Cardinals.  If the Tigers hold on this last week, he will deliver the first division championship to the Motor City since 1987.

Just missing the list because they haven’t been around long enough, yet,  retired too soon or just weren’t good enough to make the list: Terry Francona, Sparky Anderson, Mike Scioscia, Lou Piniella.

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