The world of baseball lost a good one today. As a former MLB player himself, Deion Sanders, the head coach of the Colorado Buffaloes, hopped onto X and paid tribute to the man who apparently helped shape his baseball career, the great Bobby Cox.

“A good man, a good manager, a more than fair person, a leader, and I respected the heck out of him. God bless the family, friends & loved ones of Bobby Cox. A legend,” Deion Sanders tweeted heartbreakingly just hours after the news of his passing.

The legendary Atlanta Braves manager and Hall of Fame Bobby Cox passed away on Saturday (May 9) at the age of 84. While we don’t have all the specific information on how he passed or what caused it, Bobby had been dealing with some tough health issues for a while. The Braves legend suffered a major stroke back in 2019 and was also battling congestive heart failure.

Despite all of it, Cox never failed to pour his heart into the people of Atlanta and the baseball team. Shortly after news of his death broke, fans had already started leaving flowers at his statue at Truist Park to give back all the love he poured out over the years. That should tell you what kind of human being he was, and why Deion Sanders admired him so much.

 

Bobby was one of the very few people that Deion Sanders respected the heck out of and admired even more. Their relationship goes all the way back to the 1990s when Deion was pulling double duty as an MLB player and NFL cornerback for the Atlanta Falcons.

He was one of the handful of people who backed Deion and treated him fairly while many old-school managers had problems with his personality and persona.

One of the coolest moments in their history together came during the 1992 postseason. When Deion famously tried to play a game for the Atlanta Falcons and then fly to Pittsburgh to play for the Braves on the same day, many people in baseball were furious. While the team’s GM was publicly upset, Cox took a more supportive and “political” stance, famously saying, “There’s never been a Deion Sanders, either,” to explain why he allowed the historic attempt.

Deion felt that loyalty personally, and even when things became tense between Deion and the Braves’ management over contracts or scheduling, he always made it a point to say that Bobby Cox was never the problem.

Under Bobby’s coaching, Deion actually had some of his best days on the diamond, including two World Series appearances in 1991 and 1992. Bobby deserves just as much credit for Deion’s historic feat of becoming the only person ever to play in both a Super Bowl and a World Series. It wouldn’t have been possible without Bobby’s love and compassion for Deion.

Cox’s career, legacy, and his love for football

Just like Deion in football and life, Cox is remembered as one of the most successful and respected figures in baseball history. He led the Braves to 14 straight division titles from 1991 to 2005, which is almost unheard of, especially in modern baseball. He also took them to the mountaintop in 1995 when they won the World Series after falling short a couple of times before that.

The Atlanta legend finished with 2,504 career wins and ranks fourth on the all-time Major League Baseball list for managerial victories. Four years after retiring in 2010, he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Bobby Cox also had a deep admiration for football and played the sport while attending Central Valley High School. In fact, he once admitted that one of his early life ambitions was to become a high school football coach if a career in Major League Baseball didn’t work out.

His final appearance at a Braves game came in August of last year during the 30th-anniversary celebration of the 1995 World Series team. During that emotional event, he rode in a convertible through a pregame parade and received a standing ovation from the crowd alongside former stars like Chipper Jones and Greg Maddux.

Looking back, it was one heck of a career and life for Bobby Cox. The city of Atlanta will mourn him for a long time. Rest easy, Skip.

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