 Bobby Cox, Tony La Russa, Joe Torre in Hall of Fame
Nederlands
 LAKE BUENA VISTA, Florida (USA) -
Bobby Cox, Tony La Russa and Joe Torre, three of the best and winningest managers in Major League Baseball, have been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
The election was held on Monday (December 9) by the Expansion Era Committee on the first day of the annual Winter Meetings, which are held this week in Lake Buena Vista, near Orlando.
The three former managers were all elected unanimously.
They will be officially inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 27 in Cooperstown.
The three will be joined by players who gain the necessary 75 percent of the votes during the annual Hall of Fame vote early next month.
Amongst the players considered for the first time are former pitchers Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine and also include returnees Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Mike Piazza, Craig Biggio, Don Mattingly, Mark McGwire, Curt Schilling and Jack Morris, to name a few.
In January of this year, no one was elected for the first time since 1996.
Cox, La Russa and Torre all played in the Major League, but became more famous after their playing career as very successful managers.
They are in third, fourth and fifth place on the all-time win-list for managers.
La Russa won 2728 games, Cox won 2504 and Torre won 2326.
They are only trailing legendary managers Connie Mack (3731 wins) and John McGraw (2763).
The 16-member Expansion Era Committee, which included eight Hall of Fame-players, considered candidates from the era 1973 to the present.
Also included on that list were players who weren't elected during their 15-year period on the regular Hall of Fame-ballot, such as Dave Concepcion, Steve Garvey and Tommy John.
Bobby Cox played two seasons as back-up third baseman for the New York Yankees (1968-1969).
In 1978, he made his debut as Manager of the Atlanta Braves, where he stayed until 1981.
Hereafter, Cox managed the Toronto Blue Jays (1982-1985).
Cox then returned to the Braves in 1990 and led the team for 21 seasons through 2010.
Cox led the Braves to 14 consecutive Division-titles and won the World Series in 1995.
Cox holds the all-time record for ejections with 158.
In 1996, Curaçao-born Andruw Jones made his Major League-debut under Cox with the Braves and played for him until 2007.
Tony La Russa was an infielder for Kansas City/Oakland Athletics, Atlanta Braves and Chicago Cubs in 1963; 1968-1971, 1973, but also became much more successful as a manager.
He made his managerial debut with the Chicago White Sox in 1979, his first of eight seasons with the club.
La Russa then managed the Oakland Athletics (1986-1995) and St. Louis Cardinals (1996-2011).
La Russa won the World Series with Oakland in 1989 and with St. Louis in 2006 and 2011.
Joe Torre was a third baseman with the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves in 1960-1968, then played for the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Mets from 1969-1977.
In 1977, Torre made his debut as manager and then was player-manager of the Mets, whom he also led after he retired as a player in 1978-1981.
Torre then managed the Atlanta Braves (1982-1984), St. Louis Cardinals (1990-1995), New York Yankees (1996-2007) and Los Angeles Dodgers (2008-2010).
Torre was very successful with the Yankees, with whom he won the World Series four times.
After the first win in 1996, the Yankees won three straight in 1998-2000.
(December 9)
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