ATLANTA — There is a bronze statue of Bobby Cox outside the first-base gate at Truist Park, and a plaque at Cooperstown bearing his likeness in an Atlanta Braves cap with a rundown of the accomplishments of Hall of Famer Robert Joe Cox, one of the great managers in baseball history and an Atlanta sports icon.

But all of that paled next to seeing him in person Friday, when Cox stood from his wheelchair and waved from a private suite to a standing ovation from Braves fans and members of his 1995 World Series championship team, who were standing on the infield after being introduced before him.

It was only the third time Cox had made it to Truist Park since suffering a massive stroke in April 2019, which left him paralyzed on the right side and barely able to speak.

“Beyond belief. Truly amazing, and will be the best part of the day,” said John Smoltz, one of three Hall of Fame pitchers on the 1995 Braves, in a text earlier in the day to The Athletic after hearing that Cox would be in attendance for the ceremony honoring the title team.

Teammates and others agreed. Reuniting with almost all members of the championship team was a thrill for the players and coaches, but having Cox there to share the moment made it unforgettable for them, much like the World Series itself. There were some tears shed.

“It’s awesome, because Bobby’s special, as everybody knows,” said Hall of Famer Fred McGriff, first baseman on the 1995 team. “I always tell people, you never hear one bad word or anything about Bobby. And that tells you how special he was. And just a great leader. I tell people, we didn’t need nobody to put no ‘C’ on their jersey to say they’re the captain, because a manager’s job is to manage the team.

“And Bobby was the man. If we had issues, Bobby was gonna take care of it.”

Members of the 1995 team — the first Braves team to win a championship since the franchise relocated to Atlanta in 1966 — were lined up on the infield after being introduced before Friday’s series opener against the New York Mets.

When they heard Cox’s introduction, the players turned to the stadium videoboard, which showed a live shot of Cox standing next to his daughter, Skyla, and between two of his grandchildren, smiling as he acknowledged the crowd with a raised left hand.

“It’s very special, because Bobby was our leader,” said David Justice, whose sixth-inning home run accounted for the only run in the Braves’ World Series-clinching Game 6 win against the Cleveland Indians. “And having (former general manager John) Schuerholz here, too. That was the leadership group. And to see Bobby here — especially to all of us, because we all love Bobby.

“We all would run through a wall for Bobby. So I’m glad. I hate to see Bobby in a wheelchair, but it was great to see him.”

Marquis Grissom, center fielder and leadoff hitter on that World Series championship team, saw Cox as he arrived at the stadium Friday. Grissom, who lives in Atlanta, didn’t know Cox would be at the event.

Cox and his wife, Pam, live about 15 minutes from Truist Park and get frequent visits from Braves manager Brian Snitker; some of his former Braves coaches, including Ned Yost and Leo Mazzone; and former players, including Mark Lemke and Dale Murphy.

However, he doesn’t get out of the house much and wasn’t able to make it to the All-Star Game last month, which made Friday’s appearance that much more special.

“Cool as heck, man,” Grissom said. “I rode through that tunnel, and I saw him. I kind of glanced when the truck rolled by, and I was like, ‘Hey, what’s up, Bobby!’ I don’t know if he heard me or not, but man, he’s the skipper. You know what I’m saying? He’s the manager, one of my favorite managers of all time, and the love and respect that he has from our teammates … I just wish him nothing but the best. All the guys. It was a total team effort to do what we did in ’95.”

Hall of Famer Chipper Jones was a 23-year-old rookie on the 1995 team, playing third base and batting third, with McGriff batting cleanup and Justice batting fifth. Jones hit .364 with five doubles, three homers and a 1.064 OPS in 14 postseason games that year, including 2-for-3 with a walk in World Series Game 6.

“I was put into the perfect situation coming in,” said Jones, the first pick of the 1990 draft out of Jacksonville (Fla.) Bolles High School, after potential first pick Todd Van Poppel made it known he didn’t want to play for the Braves.

Jones missed his entire would-be 1994 rookie season after tearing an ACL at spring training, then was an NL Rookie of the Year runner-up — behind 26-year-old Japanese pitcher Hideo Nomo — and a World Series champion in his first season. It’s a scenario that Jones said Cox couldn’t have made any better for him.

“Bobby gave me the best opportunity to be successful, and I just tried to run with it,” Jones said. “Tried to be one-ninth of the equation that won some ball games every night. It’s not that difficult when you got the Big Three (Hall of Fame pitchers Smoltz, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine) and Skipper in the dugout and whatnot.

“Very fortunate, very lucky. Because it could have gone very differently in the draft in 1990.”

The 1995 Braves won an NL-best 90 games in the 144-game season, finishing 21 games ahead of the second-place Mets in the NL East. They rolled past the Colorado Rockies 3-1 in the division series and swept the Cincinnati Reds in the NLCS before facing a powerhouse Cleveland team that went 100-44 in the regular season.

The first three World Series games were each decided by one run before the Braves won 5-2 in Game 4 at Cleveland to take a 3-1 lead, but Cleveland won 5-4 in Game 5 to move the series back to Atlanta.

In Game 6, Glavine pitched one of the great games of his career, allowing one hit in eight scoreless innings. And what he said in the dugout after the top of the sixth inning earned a place in Braves lore: “Come on, boys, just get me one f—ing run, because they’re not getting any.”

Justice didn’t hear that because he was leading off the sixth inning.

“I was already walking to the on-deck circle,” he said, smiling at the memory. “But you know, the telepathy, you know what I mean? Something might have just (told me), we need it now.”

On the third pitch he saw from left-handed reliever Jim Poole, the left-handed Justice swung and connected flush, driving it over the right-field fence. With one swing, he gave the Braves a lead and turned boos to cheers at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, after Justice had drawn the ire of fans by criticizing them for being less than enthusiastic earlier in the series.

There was no lack of energy now, as a crowd of nearly 52,000 roared approval while Justice circled the bases and teammates shouted to him from the dugout. It’s been three decades, but the memory is fresh for Justice.

“I can still see the pitch,” he said. “I can still see it when it left the bat, absolutely. I hope I have that memory for the rest of my life. But, yeah, I still remember the whole moment. The game. I remember (Cleveland’s) ninth inning, Kenny Lofton leading off. And I remember thinking, God, please, Lord, don’t let him get on. Because if Kenny Loften gets on, he might steal second and third, then ground ball, we got a tie ball game. My heart can’t take that, Lord.”

Glavine allowed only a walk over the seventh and eighth innings, and Mark Wohlers retired the Indians in order in the ninth, beginning with a Lofton pop foul caught by shortstop Rafael Belliard.

“When Kenny popped up to Raffy, I was like, oh my God, we’re gonna win the World Series,” Justice said. “We’re going to win it. And then when (Carlos) Baerga hit that ball to left-center field (with two out), at first I thought he got him, I thought it was gone. And I leaned back in right field a little bit, and then when I saw Marquis round it off (and catch it).

“And it was just pandemonium, brother. Pandemonium in the stadium. It was great.”

The Braves seemed poised to win back-to-back titles in 1996 when they swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in the division series, beat the St. Louis Cardinals in a seven-game NLCS and won the first two games of the World Series in New York before the Yankees stormed back to sweep the next four.

“We had a good team, man,” said McGriff, who played 4 1/2 seasons with the Braves after being traded to Atlanta in July 1993. “Sometimes, when I’m watching Netflix or something like that, and they’ll talk about the Yankees or they’ll talk about other teams — if we had won in ’96, they’d have us on Netflix and they’d be saying, ‘That ’95-’96 Braves team is one of the best teams in the history of baseball.’”

Asked if being back with most of his teammates made him think about that 1995 World Series win, McGriff laughed.

“No, because you think about it all the time,” he said. “When you’re at home, when you’re driving down the street, or you’ll be watching a game at night, watching baseball, and somebody will say something, and then you think about (it). Or I run into a Cleveland fan. I’m like, ‘I love y’all, man. I love Cleveland.’

“So you think about Justice and his huge home run, and Glavine pitching that Game 6, how awesome he was. But Justice was an awesome player, and to hit that home run off Jim Poole was special. So you think about it all the time.”

Before the Braves walked to the red carpet to be introduced Friday, Grissom went up to player after player to take selfies with them, smiling and joking as he held out his phone to take each shot.

“Man, this s— is unbelievable,” Grissom said. “I’m like a little kid again. Being able to see all the guys that we went to war with for those two years, ’95 and ’96. Just to see everybody in shape, looking good. The friendship over all these years — nothing can replace or erase the memories that we had as a group. And I think we all kind of feel a certain way about each other and what we endured, and how special it is to win a world championship.

“And then to see Leo, and Bobby’s here, Schuerholz, the guys that put it all together. Man, it don’t get any better.”

(Photos: John David Mercer / Getty Images)