Alex Cora to join Boston Red Sox manager history; ‘A lot of ups and downs’

Alex Cora will manage his 1,00th game for the Red Sox on Saturday. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke)AP

Alex Cora was set to manage his 1,000th game with the Red Sox here Friday at Progressive Field.

But it will have to wait one more day.

The Red Sox-Guardians’ game Friday was postponed due to rain. Boston and Cleveland will instead play a doubleheader Saturday. The first game will start at 1:10 p.m. The second game will start at 6:10 p.m.

Cora will become the fifth manager in Red Sox history to reach the 1,000-game milestone, joining Joe Cronin (2,007), Terry Francona (1,296), Pinky Higgins (1,119) and Bill Carrigan (1,003).

“When somebody mentioned 999 yesterday, I was like, ‘Oh shoot. That’s a lot,’” Cora said. “But it’s been good. A lot of ups and downs. Not only as an organization but as a person with the suspension.”

Then-president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski hired Cora following the 2017 season. Cora went on to lead the 2018 Red Sox to a franchise-record 108 regular season wins. Boston went 11-3 that postseason as the former big league infielder earned a World Series title in his first season as a big league manager.

The 49-year-old Cora was suspended and fired in 2020 for his involvement in the Astros’ 2017 illegal sign-stealing scandal. He had served as Houston’s bench coach in ’17.

Then-chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom re-hired Cora as manager before the 2021 season. He remained manager when ownership fired Bloom and hired Craig Breslow as their new chief baseball officer in October 2023.

Breslow then signed Cora to a three-year extension last July.

“A lot of people gave me a chance. Ownership and Dave gave me a chance in ’17,” Cora said. “After the suspension, Chaim gave me a chance to come back. And now Brez gave me a chance to stay here for a certain period of time.”

Cora said he has been surrounded by good people and good coaches. He pointed out that bench coach Ramón Vázquez — who has worked in multiple roles — is the only coach still remaining from his 2018 staff.

“A lot of them are big league coaches (still) and they did an amazing job helping me to be ready at 7:05,” Cora said. “I think over 1,000 games, my main goal is to be ready when I’m supposed to be ready. ... I take a lot of pride in that. And I have some great days, some bad days and horrible days. But I show up every day. I’m very genuine with you guys (the media), very transparent and tell you guys like it is. And I think that’s what people like. And the players like that, too.

“One-thousand is a lot,” Cora added. “I never dreamed of managing in the big leagues for so long, quote-unquote. I’m not dreaming of managing at the big league level for a long, long period of time. But I’ve enjoyed every moment. And it’s been fun. And to do it with this organization, it means a lot.”

Cora said he still enjoys his job as much as he did in ’18.

“The way we took off (in ’18), it was like, ‘Wow, this is easy,’” Cora said. “But I found out in ’19, it’s not that easy. And it was a good wake-up call. Not that I needed it, but understanding that every season is different. ... I think ’18, it was the perfect storm. No free agents going into it. Everybody was locked into the prize. And then in ’19 ... somebody’s like, ‘Man, I need my at-bats to cash in (in free agency).’ I was like, ‘Oh shoot. This is different.’ So every year’s different, every day’s different. But I enjoy it.”

Francona — who has managed the second most games in franchise history — encouraged Cora to get into coaching. In 2008, Francona talked with Cora about the possibility of him someday managing.

“He talked to me about delegating and that’s the key to be successful at this level,” Cora said. “And success is measured in different ways at the big league level. Of course winning the World Series is the ultimate one but to be able to manage and keep the culture and don’t miss a beat as an organization and you are leading that, that’s a success, too.

“There have been a lot of successful managers in this organization, obviously in the history of this game,” Cora added. “And that’s something I take a lot of pride (in). And he (Francona) was the one, talking to me in ’08. In ’07, he didn’t mention it. But in ’08, he started talking about managing and all that. At that point I was like, ‘You just don’t want me to play, right?’ But I played a few more years and then this happened.”