Bobby Cox Told Jeff Francoeur To Fake an Injury in a Spring Training Game So He Could Go Play Golf With Tiger Woods

What a real one Bobby Cox is. I'm sure most managers would try to have their young players taking extra batting practice on a back field even after playing in a spring training game and Bobby was trying to find a way to get Jeff Francoeur out of the ballpark in time to tee off with Tiger Woods.

Even though it was less than 20 years ago, this story feels like it harkens back to the good old days because there is absolutely no chance you could do this now. Someone would spot Francoeur on the course 45 minutes after he left a spring training game with an alleged injury, tweet out a picture and it would become a story that he and Cox would have to apologize for and there would be a whole ordeal. In 2006, you could just hobble down to the clubhouse, throw on a polo and khaki shorts and head to the course.

And I guess Tiger worked out some sort of deal with Bobby Cox to let Braves players accompany him on the course during spring training, because this wasn't the only time something like this happened.

I'd guess those few Braves players looked forward to heading down to Florida every year a little more than guys on other teams knowing somewhere in February or March would probably be a tee time with Tiger.