William “Ted” Cox (January 24, 1955 – March 11, 2020) was an American

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the scoring system us ...

who played

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

from through for the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...

(1977),

Cleveland Indians The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...

(1978–1979),

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The team joined the American League as an expansion team ...

(1980) and

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

(1981). He batted and threw right-handed.

Career

Cox was selected by the Red Sox with the seventeenth pick in the first round of the 1973 draft, ahead of

Fred Lynn Fredric Michael Lynn (born February 3, 1952) is an American former professional baseball player who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1974 through 1990 as a center fielder with the Boston Red Sox, California Angels, Baltimore Orioles, Det ...

. Listed at 6' 3", 195 lb., Cox played five years in the Boston minor league system, stepping up a class every year, that was hastened by a phenomenal season in 1977 with Triple-A

Pawtucket Red Sox The Pawtucket Red Sox, known colloquially as the PawSox, were a professional minor league baseball club based in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. From 1973 to 2020, the team was a member of the International League and served as the Triple-A affiliate ...

. In 95 games, he hit .334 with 14

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

s and 81 RBI, which was highlighted by an All-Star selection, helping Pawtucket to clinch the regular season championship. After the season, he won both the

Topps The Topps Company, Inc. is an American company that manufactures chewing gum, candy, and collectibles. Formerly based in New York City, Topps is best known as a leading producer of American football, baseball, basketball, ice hockey, soccer, a ...

Minor League Player of the Year and the International League MVP awards, and was recalled by Boston in September 1977. Cox debuted with the Red Sox on September 18, on Thanks Brooks Robinson Day at

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. Cox went 4 for 4 plus a walk in his first major league game, a 10–4 Boston victory over the Orioles. After the game, reporters told Cox he had tied the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

record for most hits in a first game.

Casey Stengel Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel (; July 30, 1890 – September 29, 1975) was an American Major League Baseball right fielder and manager, best known as the manager of the championship New York Yankees of the 1950s and later, the expansion New Y ...

Willie McCovey Willie Lee McCovey (January 10, 1938 – October 31, 2018), nicknamed "Stretch", "Mac" and "Willie Mac", was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a first baseman from 1959 to 1980, most notably as a mem ...

and Mack Jones also share the mark. Boston returned to

Fenway Park Fenway Park is a baseball stadium located in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, near Kenmore Square. Since 1912, it has been the home of the Boston Red Sox, the city's American League baseball team, and since 1953, its only Major League Bas ...

to face the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. They are one of ...

the next day. In his first at-bat against the Yankees, Cox hit a single to tie a record set in 1933 by Cecil Travis of the Washington Senators, of five consecutive hits at the start of a major league career. Then, in his second at-bat Cox singled off

Ed Figueroa Eduardo Figueroa Padilla (born October 14, 1948) is a former professional baseball player. Listed at 6' 1" , 190 lb. , Figueroa batted and threw right handed. He was born in Ciales, Puerto Rico. Figueroa is the only pitcher from Puerto Rico to w ...

, giving him a 6 for 6 hitting streak. Cox ended 1977 with a .362

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...

(21 for 58), and drew considerable attention to himself. Before the 1978 season he was traded by Boston along with

Bo Díaz Baudilio José Díaz Seijas (March 23, 1953 – November 23, 1990) was a Venezuelan professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher from to , most prominently with the Cleveland Indians where he rose to prominence ...

, Mike Paxton, and Rick Wise to the Cleveland Indians for

Dennis Eckersley Dennis Lee Eckersley (born October 3, 1954), nicknamed "Eck", is an American professional baseball pitcher and former color commentator. Between 1975 and 1998, he pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians, Boston Red Sox, ...

and

Fred Kendall Fred Lyn Kendall (born January 31, 1949) is an American former professional baseball player and coach who appeared in 877 games, primarily as a catcher, in Major League Baseball from to for the San Diego Padres, Cleveland Indians and Boston Red ...

. After two years in Cleveland as a backup

outfielder An outfielder is a person playing in one of the three defensive positions in baseball or softball, farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder. As an outfielder, their duty is to c ...

and playing all four infield positions, Cox joined the Seattle Mariners in 1980 and the Toronto Blue Jays in 1981, his last major league season. In a five-season career, Cox was a .245 hitter with 10 home runs and 79 RBI in 272 games. On April 9, 1980, Cox became the first player in American League history to collect a

game-winning RBI A game-winning RBI (GWRBI) is a statistic that was used in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1980 to 1988. Building upon the run batted in (RBI) statistic, the ''game-winning'' RBI was defined in MLB rules as "the RBI that gives a club the lead it ...

, a statistic that was official only from 1980 to 1988.

Later life

After his playing career, Cox operated Grand Slam batting cages in Oklahoma City. In addition he was Oklahoma baseball director for the United States Specialty Sports Association. He was also an assistant baseball coach at Midwest City High School and

Oklahoma City University Oklahoma City University (OCU) is a private university historically affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The university offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, graduate master's degrees and docto ...

. Cox worked with the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association to raise money for charities and civic causes.

Death

In November 2019, Cox was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. He died in

Midwest City, Oklahoma Midwest City is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States, and a part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 54,371, making it the eighth largest city in the state. The city was developed in r ...

, on March 11, 2020. Cox was survived by his mother Ernestine, wife Debbie (Pulliam) Cox and sons Billy and Joey.

References

External links

o
Ted Cox - Baseballbiography.com
o
Pura Pelota
*''The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia'' – Gary Gillette, Peter Gammons, Pete Palmer. Publisher: Sterling Publishing, 2005. Format: Paperback, 1824pp. Language: English. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cox, Ted 1955 births 2020 deaths Deaths from multiple myeloma American expatriate baseball players in Canada American expatriate baseball players in Mexico Boston Red Sox players Bristol Red Sox players Cleveland Indians players Diablos Rojos del México players Elmira Pioneers players International League MVP award winners Knoxville Blue Jays players Major League Baseball designated hitters Major League Baseball left fielders Major League Baseball right fielders Major League Baseball third basemen Oklahoma City Stars baseball coaches Pawtucket Red Sox players Seattle Mariners players Spokane Indians players Baseball players from Oklahoma City Tiburones de La Guaira players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Toronto Blue Jays players Winston-Salem Red Sox players Winter Haven Red Sox players Deaths from cancer in Oklahoma