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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s awesome, because Bobby\u2019s special, as everybody knows,\u201d said Hall of Famer Fred McGriff, first baseman on the 1995 team. \u201cI 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\u2019t need nobody to put no \u2018C\u2019 on their jersey to say they\u2019re the captain, because a manager\u2019s job is to manage the team.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Bobby was the man. If we had issues, Bobby was gonna take care of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Reuniting with almost all members of the championship team was a thrill for the players and coaches, but having Bobby Cox there made it unforgettable.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Members of the 1995 team \u2014 the first Braves team to win a championship since the franchise relocated to Atlanta in 1966 \u2014 were lined up on the infield after being introduced before Friday\u2019s series opener against the New York Mets.<\/p>\n
When they heard Cox\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s very special, because Bobby was our leader,\u201d said David Justice, whose sixth-inning home run accounted for the only run in the Braves\u2019 World Series-clinching Game 6 win against the Cleveland Indians. \u201cAnd having (former general manager John) Schuerholz here, too. That was the leadership group. And to see Bobby here \u2014 especially to all of us, because we all love Bobby.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all would run through a wall for Bobby. So I\u2019m glad. I hate to see Bobby in a wheelchair, but it was great to see him.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019t know Cox would be at the event.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
However, he doesn\u2019t get out of the house much and wasn\u2019t able to make it to the All-Star Game last month, which made Friday\u2019s appearance that much more special.<\/p>\n
\u201cCool as heck, man,\u201d Grissom said. \u201cI rode through that tunnel, and I saw him. I kind of glanced when the truck rolled by, and I was like, \u2018Hey, what\u2019s up, Bobby!\u2019 I don\u2019t know if he heard me or not, but man, he\u2019s the skipper. You know what I\u2019m saying? He\u2019s the manager, one of my favorite managers of all time, and the love and respect that he has from our teammates \u2026 I just wish him nothing but the best. All the guys. It was a total team effort to do what we did in \u201995.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was put into the perfect situation coming in,\u201d 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\u2019t want to play for the Braves.<\/p>\n
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 \u2014 behind 26-year-old Japanese pitcher Hideo Nomo \u2014 and a World Series champion in his first season. It\u2019s a scenario that Jones said Cox couldn\u2019t have made any better for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cBobby gave me the best opportunity to be successful, and I just tried to run with it,\u201d Jones said. \u201cTried to be one-ninth of the equation that won some ball games every night. It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cVery fortunate, very lucky. Because it could have gone very differently in the draft in 1990.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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: \u201cCome on, boys, just get me one f\u2014ing run, because they\u2019re not getting any.\u201d<\/p>\n
Justice didn\u2019t hear that because he was leading off the sixth inning.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was already walking to the on-deck circle,\u201d he said, smiling at the memory. \u201cBut you know, the telepathy, you know what I mean? Something might have just (told me), we need it now.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2019s been three decades, but the memory is fresh for Justice.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can still see the pitch,\u201d he said. \u201cI 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\u2019s) ninth inning, Kenny Lofton leading off. And I remember thinking, God, please, Lord, don\u2019t 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\u2019t take that, Lord.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Kenny popped up to Raffy, I was like, oh my God, we\u2019re gonna win the World Series,\u201d Justice said. \u201cWe\u2019re 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).<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it was just pandemonium, brother. Pandemonium in the stadium. It was great.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a good team, man,\u201d said McGriff, who played 4 1\/2 seasons with the Braves after being traded to Atlanta in July 1993. \u201cSometimes, when I\u2019m watching Netflix or something like that, and they\u2019ll talk about the Yankees or they\u2019ll talk about other teams \u2014 if we had won in \u201996, they\u2019d have us on Netflix and they\u2019d be saying, \u2018That \u201995-\u201996 Braves team is one of the best teams in the history of baseball.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked if being back with most of his teammates made him think about that 1995 World Series win, McGriff laughed.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, because you think about it all the time,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re at home, when you\u2019re driving down the street, or you\u2019ll 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\u2019m like, \u2018I love y\u2019all, man. I love Cleveland.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cSo 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cMan, this s\u2014 is unbelievable,\u201d Grissom said. \u201cI\u2019m like a little kid again. Being able to see all the guys that we went to war with for those two years, \u201995 and \u201996. Just to see everybody in shape, looking good. The friendship over all these years \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd then to see Leo, and Bobby\u2019s here, Schuerholz, the guys that put it all together. Man, it don\u2019t get any better.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Photos: John David Mercer \/ Getty Images)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cox wasn\u2019t able to make it to the All-Star Game, which made Friday\u2019s appearance that much more special.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":82121,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[71],"class_list":["post-82117","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb","tag-atlanta-braves"],"yoast_head":"\n