Special bond big for Braves
The ranch-style house is maybe 15 minutes from the ballpark. During almost every homestand these days, Brian Snitker, the Braves manager, makes a detour to visit.
He’s there to talk to Bobby Cox. Sometimes, Cox says something back.
Cox is 80 now, 11 years removed from a managerial career that earned him a place in the Hall of Fame, and more than two years into recovery from a devastating stroke. The man who spent decades coaxing players and chirping at umpires and clacking in his cleats in dugouts is unable to make it to the ballpark these days.
So Snitker goes to him.
It’s a balm for Cox, who won more games than all but three managers. But it’s also a steadying ritual for Snitker, one that players, coaches and executives believe shapes his approach to the club that Cox led for 25 seasons.
In nine of those years, Cox steered the Braves to the National League Championship Series, where Snitker now has the franchise for a second straight year.
The Braves led the best-of-seven series 2-1 after a stunning loss to the Dodgers on Tuesday. Game 4 was Wednesday in Los Angeles, but ended too late for this edition.
Much of the Braves’ architecture — starting with Snitker’s hiring in 2016 and extending to the composition of his staff and the clubhouse atmosphere — can be traced to their manager’s relationship with Cox.
“Everything he knows is from Bobby,” said Eddie Pérez, who was a catcher for
Cox and coached under both Cox and Snitker. “He spent so many years in the minor leagues, and guess who was in the big league? Bobby Cox, teaching everybody how to do everything.”
Snitker, 66, began watching Cox closely about 40 years ago, when Cox was first managing the Braves and Snitker was starting to construct a coaching career in the franchise’s farm system. At the time, Snitker recalled, he was taken less by Cox’s baseball savvy than his welcoming demeanor around the lowest-profile people in the sprawling Braves organization.
Cox appeared at Truist Park in April 2019, dressed in a jersey, and called, “Play ball!” to start the season. He had his stroke the next day. Snitker headed to the hospital, he said, “because I didn’t want to be anywhere else.”
It was soon clear that the Cox whom Snitker had known for decades was gone. His speech largely vanished, and his right arm was paralyzed.
Snitker’s visits to Cox’s home have became regular events, leading Cox to erupt with delight.
There’s a sense around the Braves that the club is in its present position because of Cox’s sustained influence. Pérez, the hero of the 1999 NLCS, the last time the Braves won the pennant, and Jesse Chavez, who pitched under Cox for part of 2010 and returned to the Braves bullpen this year, said they believed Cox’s style surfaces daily in Snitker’s managing.
“I see a lot of similarities as far as watching the game, letting the game control itself until they have to make a decision,” Chavez said. Pérez added that Snitker’s faith in his players mirrored Cox’s.