Five clips that show why Bobby Cox is MLB's all-time ejection king
The baseball world spent most of 2007 preoccupied by Barry Bonds and his chase for the career home run record. But 756 wasn't the only bit of baseball history to be made that summer: On Aug. 14 against the Giants, Braves manager Bobby Cox strode out of the dugout to argue a strike call against Chipper Jones ... and left as baseball's all-time ejection leader.
In honor of ejection No. 132 -- which moved him past former Giants manager and "Little Napoleon" John McGraw -- let's count down the five most entertaining ejections of Cox's career.
5. His final one
Cox had already announced that the 2010 postseason would be his last, and he was determined to get one last heave-ho in for old time's sake. Opportunity knocked in the second inning of NLDS Game 2 against the Giants, when Juan Uribe barely threw out Alex Gonzalez at first -- and Cox, 69 years young, chugged all the way out to show umpire Paul Emmel just how far Aubrey Huff's foot had come off the bag:
4. The time he was baited by Greg Maddux
Cox would be the first to tell you that he earned just about all of the 161 ejections he received over his career. For at least one of them, though, he got a little nudge from Maddux, who -- while looking over some video prior to his start -- intentionally wound Cox up by telling them that a particular home-plate umpire had a reputation for a wide strike zone.
As Tom Glavine recalled, Cox handled the rest:
A classic Bobby Cox story. #Braves pic.twitter.com/rCCEpFfiVG
— FOX Sports: Braves (@FOXSportsBraves) September 6, 2017
3. The record-setter
Well into his 60s by this point, Cox's peak tantrum-throwing days were behind him. But while it took him a little longer to get in an umpire's face -- and he probably couldn't throw as many things as he used to -- he could still argue with the best of them.
The ejection that vaulted Cox into first place on the all-time list wasn't particularly flashy, but it was vintage Cox: thorough, irascible and involving a whole lot of hand gestures.
2. The 1996 World Series
Cox wasn't bashful under the bright lights of the World Series, either. Watch here as he managed to simultaneously 1) give umpire Terry Tata a piece of his mind and 2) fend off a very athletic and very riled up Marquis Grissom after Grissom had just been called out at second base:
That's the kind of heady leadership one would expect from a Hall of Fame skipper.
1. The helmet toss
Of course, that was hardly the first time Cox had been ejected on baseball's biggest stage. With the score tied in the ninth inning of Game 3 of the 1992 World Series, the Braves ran themselves into a strike-em-out, throw-em-out double play, and not even the batting helmets were safe:
