Joe Posnanski recently decided to rank the "playing talents" of all of the current managers in Major League Baseball (thanks to SB Nation Boston for the tip) and realized that the old adage, "those who can't do, teach," is very true in the world of baseball. Posnanski included all of the current managers as well as a couple of ex-managers (Juan Samuel and Lou Piniella) and ranked them 1 to 32.
So, where did Bobby Cox land on the list?
The Braves leader fell right in the middle of the pack, coming in at number 15 out of 32. Posnanski noted that:
Cox wasn't an especially good player, as his lifetime 87 OPS+ suggests, but he is probably where the line is drawn between 'fairly useful major league players' and 'the rest.' Cox was a pretty decent minor league hitter who just couldn't get a chance in the Dodgers system. He finally got the call to play for the fading Yankees. He played a lot of third base for the Yankees in 1968, Mickey Mantle's last year.
During his two seasons in the Majors, Cox hit .225/.310/.309 with 9 home runs in 628 at bats.
Joe Torre was determined to be the best player among the bunch and Posnanski comments that Torre is "the only manager going who has a legitimate Hall of Fame case [as] a player."
Former Atlanta Braves bullpen and third base coach, Ned Yost, came in twentieth on the list.
Tampa Bay's Joe Maddon rounded out the list, but Posnanski attempts to take the sting out of placing last, by noting Maddon was "a good player at Lafeyette College."