<p>At first glance, the Atlanta Braves' John Schuerholz and Bobby Cox don't look like the longest-serving active management tandem in professional sports.</p><p>Instead, they look more like baseball's Odd Couple.</p><p>Schuerholz is the Felix Unger of the two, the well-dressed and fit general manager of the Braves who is as well-known for his suspenders, cuffs and expensive suits as his knack for finding trade bargains.</p><p>Cox is Oscar Madison, the sometimes gruff manager who greets reporters for postgame press briefings with a cigar in hand, and tobacco or coffee stains on his unbuttoned shirt.</p><p>Schuerholz is a classic and ageless European sedan. Cox is an American truck, a dent here and there but built to do the job and run forever.</p><p>Together in Atlanta, they have formed a partnership that has produced an unprecedented 12 straight division championships, excluding the 1994 strike-shortened season. The Braves are on track to pushing the streak to 13.</p><p>Each year there are more predictions that the division dynasty will end.</p><p>"The longest streak in professional sports is our 12 consecutive divisional titles. The second-longest streak are the number of years in a row people have predicted our demise," the 63-year-old Schuerholz boasted.</p><p>Schuerholz, who came to Atlanta from the Kansas City Royals in October 1990, has the longest active tenure with one team of any general manager in the four major professional sports.</p><p>Cox, also 63, has the longest run with a team of any major league manager. Only Jerry Sloan, who has been coach of the NBA's Utah Jazz since December 1988, has a longer active run as coach or manager of one team.</p><p>Cox is closing in on 2,000 career wins. He first was the Braves' manager from 1978 to 1981, laying the groundwork for the 1982 team that won the National League West under Joe Torre. He returned to Atlanta as general manager in 1985 before moving back into the dugout in 1990.</p><p>Each won before moving to Atlanta. As Toronto's manager in 1985, Cox finished one win shy of the World Series, the same year Kansas City won the World Series with Schuerholz as GM.</p><p>When the Braves won the 1995 World Series, Schuerholz became the first general manager to win championships in the American League and National League. Cox was the first manager to be named Manager of the Year by The Associated Press in both leagues _ with Toronto in 1985 and Atlanta in 1991.</p><p>"I have a lot of admiration for them," said Colorado manager Clint Hurdle, who began his playing career with the Royals when Schuerholz was a young executive in Kansas City.</p><p>"Players get the credit for playing the game, as they should. But this group here, John and Bobby and his coaches who have been here for this reign, have a lot to be proud of and have a lot to do with the success that they've had. They have been able to retool consistently or reload, whatever you want to call it."</p><p>Each year Schuerholz somehow reworks the roster and Cox blends the new players into his time-proven formula for success.</p><p>The predictions of doom were never as prevalent as this year, when the team's corporate owner, Time Warner, ordered a payroll reduction from about $94 million to about $79 million. The Braves lost Greg Maddux, Gary Sheffield, Javy Lopez and Vinny Castilla. None of the projected replacements _ John Thomson, J.D. Drew, Johnny Estrada and Mark DeRosa _ had career stats that compared with the team's departed stars.</p><p>The Braves were picked by many to finish third in the National League East, behind defending World Series champion Florida and Philadelphia. Even third place looked like an optimistic projection when the Braves were six games under .500 on June 25.</p><p>Instead, the Braves approach September with another comfortable lead as they almost casually march closer to a 13th straight division championship.</p><p>Cox, the champion of maintaining an even keel, refuses to place this season's success above any other.</p><p>"People ask that and it's just another year for me," Cox said.</p><p>Rookies Nick Green and Charles Thomas helped out when the Braves were without Marcus Giles and Chipper Jones, and Cox kept Thomas' hustle in the lineup by moving Jones back to third base, where he is more comfortable.</p><p>Even after losing starting pitcher Horacio Ramirez to a sore shoulder in late May, the Braves have the best earned run average in baseball, and Drew has provided a Sheffield-like presence ahead of Jones in the middle of the lineup. Thomson and converted reliever Jaret Wright have joined the long list of pitchers who have enjoyed their best seasons under Cox and pitching coach Leo Mazzone.</p><p>"It seems every time they go shopping they come up with a sale," Hurdle said. "And it's a pretty good sale. Because a lot of times the people they're bringing in, other people have had opportunities to work with them and they haven't had quite the same results."</p><p>Schuerholz doesn't hesitate to say this is his most satisfying season.</p><p>"Absolutely," Schuerholz said. "The challenges that we faced this winter were not just another year. This was a dramatic challenge this winter to lose the All-Star caliber players _ Sheffield, Maddux, Lopez, Castilla _ and you had your payroll reduced by over $15 million. That's a pretty dramatic challenge and we regarded it as such."</p><p>Through annual roster overhauls, the most important constants have been Schuerholz and Cox, and their success is based in large part on the fact they aren't so different after all.</p><p>They share the same values and place the same emphasis on the character of person added to the roster. Substance matters more than style.</p><p>"It's the same old formula that's always made them successful," said Glavine, now in his second season with the New York Mets. "I'm not surprised by it. Anytime Bobby's managing over there, he's going to find a way to get the team to play and play well and be in contention. Maybe this is the year that he'll get the recognition for how good of a manager he really is."</p><p>Added Jones: "As long as Bobby's here, this thing will go on."</p><p>Cox is signed through the 2005 season and says "After that, I don't know, but I feel great."</p><p>Schuerholz says "I'll work until I'm tired of working or someone else is tired of me working. I don't know when that's going to be."</p><p>And if his continuing partnership with Cox makes him part of an Odd Couple, Schuerholz isn't complaining.</p><p>"That's all right," he said. "The Odd Couple were pretty successful."</p>
