Coras' bond goes beyond brotherhood

As we celebrate Father’s Day, it’s worth noting that sometimes the father figure in a person’s life is not the actual father, but someone who stepped into the role and made a difference when it mattered most. Such was the case for Red Sox manager Alex Cora.

As a young kid, Cora didn’t have to look far to find that someone -- the hero was in his own household. It was his older brother, Joey Cora, now the Mets’ third-base coach, who has 11 years on Alex.

“He does everything right,” Alex said of Joey. “I know we have heroes and most of them live outside your house. But my hero was right there. He was eating rice and beans just like me. He did everything. He went to college. He was a big leaguer, he was a coach. Just follow his lead and you are going to be OK, and so far I’ve been doing OK.”

Joey set the foundation on how his little brother was going to live his life. In Alex’s words, he considers Joey “my brother, best friend, favorite player and my dad.”

It was a responsibility passed down from father -- Jose Manuel Cora, who passed away from cancer in 1989 -- to his eldest son Joey. Jose had been respected sports journalist and Little League coach in Puerto Rico. As a demanding father, he stressed education and promptness -- being late was unacceptable -- to his four children.

At the time of Jose’s passing, Joey was 24 and playing pro ball in the Padres Minor League system. He had no idea that Jose was even fighting cancer. But for years, Jose had been giving his eldest son lessons on how to support his mother and siblings, which also includes sisters Iris and Lydia.

“He was teaching me lessons to get ready for that moment [once Jose passed away]. Even though I didn’t know [he was dying]. He was very tough on me,” Joey said. “[My father said,] ‘When I’m out, this is your time. I need you to be ready.’ Looking back, I go, ‘That’s why he was telling me this or making me do this.’ He was preparing me for that moment when he was gone. I took it as a challenge, to make him proud. It was time for me to step up.”

He did just that. Alex was just 13 when Jose passed away and, like his older brother, Alex wanted to be in professional baseball. Joey knew right away what Alex needed.

“It was my responsibility to help him grow up the right way. It was on me,” Joey said. “After my dad passed away, I took that responsibility to help him grow up the right way. If I die, Alex appreciates that part. It’s good because there were tough times like any father and son, even though we are just brothers.

“When you are a kid, you think you are a man. … At times I had to be tough, but the fact that he is doing well, I feel more proud of that fact that other people believe that he is a great man and great person.”

Education was top priority in the Cora household. Baseball was secondary. That’s what Jose always expressed. Joey becoming a successful player -- mostly with the Mariners -- and coach in Major League Baseball were just half of Joey’s accomplishments. Joey played college baseball for three seasons at Vanderbilt University, where he was a math major. Joey was not only a two-time All-American, he also was a two-time academic All-American.

“Not many people believe I went to Vanderbilt,” Joey said recently.

Joey made sure Alex also went to college, and he did, attending the University of Miami in the early 1990s. But the move away from home provided Joey with another opportunity to mentor Alex, who was homesick and wanted to go back to Puerto Rico.

“He was going to stay in school,” Joey insisted. “But I understood where he was coming from -- missing the family, first time out [of the house]. The thing that helped was that I went through it first. I knew what he was going through. I knew the best thing for him was to stay in school. There was no doubt about it. Thank God he did, and it worked out.”

In Alex’s three years in college, the Hurricanes went to the College World Series all three years. He also had a successful career with six big league teams, mostly with the Dodgers, before becoming a successful manager with Boston, where he led the Red Sox to a World Series title in 2018.

“Like I tell people, I want Alex and my sisters to be better than me,” Joey said. “I want my kids to be better than me. I think that is part of life. [I] want [my] legacy to be my kids. I want my brother, my sisters, to do better than I did.”

What would Jose think of the job Joey did as far as taking care of his family, especially Alex? Joey believes his father would be tough on him.

“He would find a way to let me know to do things better, every day. You have to do better,” Joey said.

Pay it forward

It was Dec. 18, 2021. Alex had just learned that Buck Showalter was named manager of the Mets. It was the perfect opportunity for Cora to pay it forward and look out for his oldest brother, who had been relieved of his duties a couple of months earlier as the Pirates’ third-base coach.

So Alex spoke to Showalter and recommended that he hire Joey as a coach. Showalter wondered out loud, if Joey is so good, how come Alex didn’t hire him for the Red Sox coaching staff? Alex joked, according to Showalter, “because we will kill each other.”

After talking to other people around the game of baseball, Showalter hired Joey as his third-base coach and doesn’t regret that decision.

“You never have to push Joey forward. He is engaged,” Showalter said. “I watch him sometimes in the dugout when [Francisco] Lindor or somebody jumps for a line drive. Joey jumps with them.

“[Joey] is the only guy I ever had that goes and practices coaching third base during [batting practice]. He takes so much pride in his work. The players are willing to do a lot of things for him because he is so driven.”

Alex was ecstatic that Joey landed with the Mets and has been contributing to the team’s stellar start. It’s not hard to envision the smile on his face when he talks about him.

“To see him working now for an organization like the Mets, it means the world to me,” Alex said.