Arizona State legend and former Atlanta Braves standout Bob Horner has died,the Braves announced Tuesday. He was 68 years old.
The club honored him witha corresponding statement:
“Bob Horner built a career out of being first. He was the first overall pick in the 1978 draft after an illustrious collegiate career. He was the first Braves draftee to skip the minor leagues entirely and debut directly in the majors. And he was the first Atlanta player to ever hit four home runs in a single game, when he did so against the Montreal Expos in 1986.
“The National League Rookie of the Year in 1978 and an NL All-Star in 1982, Horner teamed with Dale Murphy to form one of the most feared power duos in the game for nearly a decade.
“The Atlanta Braves extend sincere sympathies to his wife, Chris, two sons, Tyler and Trent, and his numerous friends and fans across the game.”
Horner spent nine of his 10 MLB seasons in Atlanta, with the other coming in St. Louis, where he wound up wrapping his playing career with the Cardinals after one season in Japan. He switched between third and first base throughout his decade in MLB, but he mostly played at the hot corner. It was there that he started 88 games as a rookie in his age-20 season.
As mentioned above, he won NL Rookie of the Year that season, piling up 23 home runs and 63 RBI while posting an .852 OPS, which ended up being the third-best mark of his career in that category. Horner made his lone All-Star appearance in 1982. That year, he recorded one of his three 30-plus-homer campaigns. He smashed 32 home runs and logged 97 RBI, and the Braves reached the NLCS.
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He also eclipsed the 30-homer barrier in 1979 and 1980, maxing out with 35 big flies in ’80, his third season in the majors. All said and done, Horner clocked out with 218 home runs in 1,020 career games during a career that, at times, was limited by injury.
Before offering his power-charged bat and infield services to the Braves, he put on a show at Arizona State. The Sun Devils used him all over the diamond. During his ASU tenure, he launched 58 career homers — then an NCAA record — and earned All-WAC honors in all three of his collegiate seasons.
Each of those culminated in College World Series appearances. That run featured a national title in 1977. Horner was named the Most Outstanding Player of the CWS. In 1978, he emerged as the first winner of the Golden Spikes Award, given annually to the best player in college baseball.
Fittingly, he became part of the inaugural College Baseball Hall of Fame class, which was inducted in 2006.
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