The Bobby Cox farewell tour has netted the longtime Braves manager some pretty cool gifts.
Cox is retiring at the end of this season, his 29th, and at just about every stop he's received tokens of appreciation.
The Twins and Pirates donated $5,000 to his favorite charity. The Cardinals gave him a Stan Musial print. He's gotten wine, fishing trips and video tributes and all of it, he said, is just a little too much. What would be the perfect gift from the Phillies?
"How about a handshake?" he said, laughing.
"It's kind of awkward, but it's really nice of the organizations to think of doing that. They are really nice gestures."
The Phillies will have an unspecified tribute tonight to mark Cox' final regular-season appearance in Philadelphia. The Braves and Phillies could meet in the National League Championship Series.
Cox called this year's club the hardest-working team he's ever had, though he hasn't considered postponing his retirement.
"That's why I made the decision early, he said. "I want to second-guess the writers."
Cox, 69, is 2,499-1,996 after last night's loss. Only Connie Mack (3,731), John McGraw (2,763) and Tony La Russa (2,629) have more wins.
Before the Braves took the field last night, a member of the Phillies' grounds crew popped into Cox' office and gave him a humidor filled with cigars. Cox examined the contents, shut the box and smiled.
"They tell me this used to belong to Harry Kalas," he said wistfully. "That's pretty neat."
The Braves are now five games back in the division race with 10 games remaining. It would take a historic collapse by the Phillies to give Cox his 15th division title as Atlanta's manager. For perspective, the 1964 Cardinals (if you don't know the connection, ask a grandparent) trailed the Phillies by four games with 10 to go. Atlanta's lead in the National League wild-card race was 1 1/2 games over San Diego heading into the late Padres game late last night.
"We're thinking about [tonight] and then the series in Washington," Cox said. "We're focused on winning a game. We just won three in a row before we came in here."
Rookie Freddie Freeman hit a pinch-hit home run in the seventh, the first bomb of his career.
"Pennant race, Roy Halladay, you can't really ask for much more for a first home run," the 21-year-old first baseman said. Coming around the bases, "I was in a cloud. I was just trying not to fall."
