I figured I'd get Bobby Cox Weekend started off a little early with some fun comparisons between Bobby and his most successful contemporaries. Below, I look at the six active managers other than Bobby (counting Lou Piniella as "active") with at least 1,000 wins, and see what they'd have to do to match Bobby's phenomenal record. Remember, these are some great managers--two surefire Hall of Famers and several borderline candidates. And Bobby blows them away, by and large.
You probably know that Bobby has 2,503 wins (4th-most all time). What you may not know is that he's sitting on 1,999 losses. Wouldn't it be great if the Braves won out and kept him from reaching the 2,000 mark? Bobby also has a great winning percentage of 0.556, which is better than all active full-season managers except for Joe Girardi (0.564).
Without further ado, here's how Bobby stacks up with Tony LaRussa, Joe Torre, Lou Piniella, Jim Leyland, Dusty Baker, and Bruce Bochy.
Bobby vs. Tony LaRussa (2634-2293, 0.535)
LaRussa needs to win 237 consecutive games to match Bobby's win% (about 1.5 seasons).
LaRussa does have 131 more wins than Bobby, but he also has 294 more losses.
Bobby vs. Joe Torre (2324-1996, 0.538)
Torre needs to win 175 consecutive games to match Bobby's win% (about 1.1 seasons).
To match Bobby's W-L record, Torre has to go 179-3 (a 0.984 win% for 1.1 seasons).
Bobby vs. Lou Piniella (1835-1713, 0.517)
Piniella would need to win 310 consecutive games to match Bobby's win% (about 1.9 seasons).
To match Bobby's W-L record, Piniella would have to go 668-286 (a 0.700 win% for 5.9 seasons).
Bobby vs. Jim Leyland (1492-1515, 0.496)
Leyland needs to win 405 consecutive games to match Bobby's win% (about 2.5 seasons).
To match Bobby's W-L record, Leyland has to go 1011-484 (a 0.676 win% for 9.2 seasons).
Bobby vs. Dusty Baker (1402-1283, 0.522)
Baker needs to win 204 consecutive games to match Bobby's win% (about 1.3 seasons).
To match Bobby's W-L record, Baker has to go 1101-716 (a 0.606 win% for 11.2 seasons).
Bobby vs. Bruce Bochy (1272-1298, 0.495)
Bochy needs to win 353 consecutive games to match Bobby's win% (about 2.2 seasons).
To match Bobby's W-L record, Bochy has to go 1231-701 (a 0.637 win% for 11.9 seasons).
I love that all these guys would have to win at least a season's worth of games in a row just to match Bobby's winning percentage. I've said it before and I'll say it again, but Bobby Cox is just a ridiculously good manager. I'm hoping to have at least one more post celebrating Bobby this weekend (this one with graphics).