Bobby Cox team featured such future major leaguers as Ron Guidry, Mickey Klutts, Terry Whitfield and Juan Bernhardt. Overall, Cox had a highly successful six-year tenure as a minor league manager, compiling a record of 459 wins and 387 defeats (.543) with two league championships. He then spent the 1977 season as the first base coach on Billy Martin's staff with the World Series–winning Yankees before beginning his MLB managerial career. Cox replaced Dave Bristol as the manager of the Atlanta Braves prior to the 1978 season, inheriting a team that had finished last in the league during the previous two seasons
J. B. Cox pitching hand in a bar fight in December 2006. He had elbow surgery and missed the entire 2007 season. After a bad game in June 2009, Cox left the Thunder without permission. He returned to Texas to complete his college degree. Noticing that his arm was beginning to feel better, he returned to professional baseball in 2010. In September 2010, he got into an altercation with Thunder manager Tony Franklin after Franklin removed him from a game. He retired after the season. Cox was hired as a volunteer student assistant for the Texas Longhorns after retiring from playing. J. B.