Richard Justice

Tony, they finished first 14 years in a row.

You're not going to see that anymore.

Now, they only won the World Series once.

And it got to the point where John Sherrills was having to have a toast every spring to remind the employees, what you've done is historic and will be remembered in this game for a long time.

One of the most important and beloved figures in the history of the game.

Really?

You know, those four—

One was Bobby.

There are two sides to Bobby Cox, both genius.

One was the general manager, the evaluator.

He's the one that took Chipper Jones in 1980 with the first pick in the draft when the whole world told him to take a Texas high school pitcher.

And he takes Paul Snyder, the scouting director, down to Jacksonville, Florida to see a high school game with Chipper.

And he tells Paul, don't tell me which one is Chipper Jones.

I want to figure it out for myself.

Well,

There was a skinny kid in the game who hit a home run right-handed and hit a home run left-handed, and Bobby figured it out.

This is the guy that traded for John Smoltz.

This is the guy that refused to trade a young lefty named Tom Glavin when the whole world said, you've got a terrible team, you're on your way to 97 losses, you can get a bucket of prospects.

And Bobby said, when I was in Atlanta – when I was in Toronto –

The Phillies offered us 10 players for Dave Steve one time, and I just decided, you don't trade guys that can get you to a certain place.