My buddy Glenn likes gifs. He’s prolific at them, actually. He says he’ll soon graduate to flash video. I, for one, hope he doesn’t abandon the wonderful aesthetic and convenient medium of the GIF. Every one is a treasure worth discovering.

Anyway, upon hearing the news that one Bobby Cox would retire, Glenn decided to conceptualize the importance of this announcement in the form of an animated GIF.

This is the result.

As far as Cox’ legacy beyond the animated GIF, ie, baseball? Rob Neyer’s post puts it in good perspective.

Really, the only thing missing from Cox’s resumè is World Championships (plural). He’s won just one of them, fewer than non-Hall of Famers Danny Murtaugh, Billy Martin, Tom Kelly, Ralph Houk, and Cito Gaston.

Which won’t keep Cox out of the Hall of Fame. It’s a lot harder to win the World Series than it used to be, and winning just one World Series certainly didn’t keep Earl Weaver out of the Coop.

Today the AJC’s Mark Bradley takes us inside the Turner Field clubhouse, so we can see what Bobby Cox’s semi-secret office looks like.

Bradley says Cox “heads to the Batcave 3 1/2 hours before gametime, and he watches TV (two flatscreens) and checks the weather (three computer screens) and smokes a cigar and entertains visitors.”

The office is high-tech, and it’s got all the things a big league manager would want.

“We’ve got everything in here,” Cox says of his hideaway. “We’ve got popcorn, a refrigerator, TVs, the weather.” Then, looking up. “We’ve got a defibrillator.” (Indeed, there’s one mounted on the wall.) And there’s even a bathroom next door.

I don’t know about you, but if I get to work tomorrow and find my boss has installed a defibrillator in my cubicle, I’m going to do one of two things: look for a new job, or go on a diet. Probably both.

Every once in a while, a columnist writes something so silly and pointless that even newspaper website commenters recognize it as a waste of pixels.

Such was the case when AJC’s Terence Moore decided to delve into the issue of who should get credit for drafting Chipper Jones.

Moore, it seems, got a call from Hank Aaron, who wanted to bitch about Bobby Cox taking the credit for drafting Jones. Aaron recalls Cox wanted to draft Todd Van Poppel and Cox says…well, who freaking cares what Cox says? Why are we even talking about this? Does this matter at all?

Moore’s investigation into who wanted to draft Chipper was so random and unnecessary that even AJC.com’s readers recognized it as a giant waste of time. Here’s what some of the commenters had to say:

By Supes
September 23, 2008 5:04 PM
Ran out of ideas to write about there Terence? Time to give Romie a call, maybe he’ll get you back on the set!

By Kelly
September 23, 2008 5:08 PM
What does it matter!!!!!!!!!

By 1966 Braves fan
September 23, 2008 5:22 PM
terence,
Just not the kind of journalism I like to see.
Glad you got your story. Quite sure it made you feel better.

By jack
September 23, 2008 5:29 PM
You know Terrance, to pick at something like this is just baiting the public, which I have to say is THE ONE thing you are expecially good at. I know it`s been a tough year for the Braves but, you should be ashamed to toss this He said, They said, pile of krap fuel onto the fire.

By JBB
September 23, 2008 5:51 PM
Terrance — thanks for wasting space on the internet. You need to get a day job!!!

You see what you did Terence? You took a group of people who can never agree on anything and you brought them to common ground. These are people who spell crap with a ‘k’ — and yet even they could recognize that writing this piece was a bad idea.

What makes this column especially stupid is that Moore’s peg seems to be Jones’ pursuit of the batting title:

This is the same Jones who is closing in on a batting title to grace his resume, which already includes a National League MVP award, more home runs than any switch hitter not named Mickey Mantle or Eddie Murray, and a World Series ring.

Of course, when Moore says Jones is closing in, he means backing in. Jones has been relegated to pinch-hitting duty lately due to a sore shoulder. So it seems an odd time to celebrate Jones’ greatness. Moreover, this expose into the Aaron-Cox cat fight does nothing to laud Chipper and only serves to make Aaron look petty.

Even your commenters can see that, Terence.

I’ve been reading a lot of AJC Braves blogger David O’Brien lately. Today he interviews Braves reliever Will Ohman and he asks him if manager Bobby Cox should be blamed for the Braves struggles this season.

Here is Ohman’s predictable response:

“I think that blame is placed at the feet of the manager far too many times. He’s writing out the lineup card, but we’re the ones playing the game.

…

“Unfortunately, we haven’t gotten the timely hit, or the timely out, made the pitch — whatever the case may be, you can generally go to one play per game that really turns the tide, and unfortunately we just haven’t been able to put that together.”

It’s not often that players throw their manager under the bus, and few managers are more beloved than Cox. So Ohman’s response isn’t too surprising.

But I think Cox should get some of the blame because, as Ohman points out, he is filling out the lineup cards. And he’s doing a crappy job of it. Consider what O’Brien wrote in the comments section of another recent blog post:

By David O’Brien

Consider this stat: With the bases loaded, the Braves are third in the NL with a .282 average (29-for-103) and fourth in OBP (.307). But Francoeur is 3-for-22, twice as many at-bats with bases loaded as any other Braves player. Without his numbers, the rest of the team’s average with bases loaded is .321.

The NL leader, by the way, is the Dodgers at .308.

The Braves’ individual leaders are Chipper at .750 (3-for-4, one walk), Tex at .500 (5-for-10), Kelly at .500 (2-for-4) and McCann at .455 (5-for-11). Chipper has 17 fewer at-bats with bases loaded than Francoeur does, and that Tex and Mac combined have one fewer bases-loaded at-bat than Francoeur. Yes, continuing to bat him fifth or sixth has been a costly mistake.

Hey Dave, don’t forget that with runners in scoring position, Francoeur is hitting .193. Ugh.

The Braves’ biggest problem this year has been an inability to win close games. This, despite the fact that the Braves pitching staff has been the best in the league. If Cox hadn’t insisted on batting Francoeur fifth or sixth all year, how many more runs would the Braves have scored? And how many victories in one-run games would that have translated into?

The sporting world is currently a mess. ESPN is reporting that former NBA referee Tim Donaghy plans to plead guilty to betting on games that he officiated. Later this week, Michael Vick will most likely plead guilty to a brutally descriptive dogfighting indictment.

Thank goodness Bobby Cox has given us a feel-good story in the world of baseball. Wait, is this a feel-good story? Cox set the major league record for ejections Tuesday night, getting tossed for the 132nd time in his career after arguing a called third strike on Chipper Jones in the fifth inning of the Giants-Braves game at Turner Field. The record caught few people by surprise – we here at Umpbump have been tracking Cox’s progress for a few months now. But, despite all the time to contemplate the meaning of this “accomplishment”, it’s still difficult to pinpoint how fans should feel. Right?

On one hand, just a few weeks ago, Cox himself admitted that approaching the record was downright “embarrassing”. On the other hand, the record signifies that Cox is a true player’s manager, a man that stands up for his players and their emotions. It’s a managerial approach that has garnered respect with ballplayers throughout the league, hence Cox’s reputable standing as one of the game’s all-time greats. In a post-game show on FSN SportSouth following Tuesday’s game, Chipper Jones suggested that he was “honored” to have been the player for whom Cox broke the record.

Perhaps the most notable characteristic of Cox’s record-breaking performance was what followed after he was ejected. In their next turn at bat, the Braves rallied to erase a 3-0 deficit on their way to a 5-4 victory. Many will claim that Cox’s shenanigans provided the Braves with the emotional spark to tally an important victory, keeping the team within arm’s reach of both the Mets and Phillies in the NL East. In a world where all that matters are wins and losses, shouldn’t this be the one thing that fans remember from Tuesday night?

Atleast one thing’s for sure – that’s how Bobby would have it.

After the Marlins dismissed manager Joe Girardi at the end of last season, they offered his job to Braves hitting coach Terry Pendleton. When Pendleton passed, it was easy to guess why. Braves manager Bobby Cox is getting long in the tooth (whatever that means) and most everyone figured Pendleton had been promised Cox’s job. The safe bet was that Cox would step down at the end of the 2007 season and Pendleton would take over.

Then the Braves gave Cox an extension through 2008. Then they traded for stud 1B Mark Teixeira. Now there’s new life breathed into Turner Field. The Braves, after And one wouldn’t blame Cox if he decided to stick around another year. Or two. Or three.

Which leaves Pendleton…where exactly?

Of course, he could always continue waiting for Bobby to retire. But here’s a crazy idea about where Pendleton might end up — Kansas City.

Royals manager Buddy Bell announced just yesterday that he will step down at the end of the season, so KC GM Dayton Moore needs to find a new skipper. There are already names being bandied about. According to The Sports Network, bench coach Billy Doran is a top candidates, as well as former Royals players such as George Brett and Frank White. But what about Pendleton, who has a relationship with Moore dating back to the GM’s days as John Schuerholz’s protege?

The Royals have been a terrible team for a long while, but lately they’ve shown signs of improvement. Although the Royals remain at the bottom of the American League Central, they have notched wins in five of their last seven games heading into this weekend’s road series with the Yankees. And they’ve had a winning record in each of the last two months.

So there are less appealing organizations (see: Pirates, Nationals, Orioles). And if you’re Pendleton, you’ve got to be itching for the chance to manage. Sure, Atlanta might be your first choice, but the more you think about it, Kansas City sounds better and better.

As promised, we here at Umpbump are chronicling Braves manager Bobby Cox’ assault on the history books. Cox got thrown out of last night’s game against the Diamondbacks. He was ejected as soon as he stepped from the dugout, the 128th ejection of his career

Chipper Jones didn’t think the ejection was warranted. He criticized home plate ump Bob Davidson.

From the AJC:

“The second Bobby stepped out of the dugout, [Davidson] was gunning to throw him out,” Jones said. “Bob Davidson feels like the thousands of people in the park come to see him. He’s always been like that. It’s a joke among the players.”

Regardless of what Chipper thinks, Cox is now just three ejections behind all-time leader John McGraw. Here’s hoping he makes the record breaking ejection one worth remembering. Maybe he could even kick some dirt or throw his hat.

Bobby Cox is creeping up on a milestone. According to the AJC, Cox, who was ejected from Sunday’s game for the second time in a week and 127th time in his career, is only four ejections behind all-time leader Jon McGraw.

The Braves manager was thrown out by home-plate umpire Paul Emmel in the sixth inning after Cox came out of the dugout to complain about the strike zone following a walk to Shawn Green.

You’ve got to hand it to Cox. He’s had quite a career. A world Series championship, 15 straight NL East titles, and now this. Also, I think it says something about a guy that he can maintain a reputation as a “players’ manager” while simultaneously getting thrown out of a record number of games. That’s not easy to do. Short tempers and player relations don’t always go hand in hand (see: Larry Bowa).

Breaking the record for most ejections is a pretty big deal, so Umpbump will do its best to chronicle each of Cox’s next four ejections, leading up to the record breaker. Stay tuned.