Baseball has lost one of its memorable power hitters as Bob Horner, the former Atlanta Braves star known for his incredible four-home-run performance, passed away Tuesday at 68 years old.
The Kansas-born athlete made an extraordinary leap from college baseball directly to the major leagues after Atlanta selected him as the top pick in the 1878 Amateur Draft from Arizona State University. Just one week after being drafted, Horner stepped onto the field for his first big-league appearance on June 16 against the Pittsburgh Pirates at age 20, marking the occasion with a home run off future Hall-of-Famer Bert Blyleven.
His rookie season proved exceptional, as Horner posted a .266 batting average across 89 games while launching 23 home runs and driving in 63 runs. These impressive numbers earned him National League Rookie of the Year honors, edging out future Hall-of-Fame shortstop Ozzie Smith.
Horner’s most legendary moment came on July 6, 1986, when he launched four home runs during a single game at Atlanta Fulton-County Stadium, despite the Braves falling to the Montreal Expos 11-8. This remarkable achievement placed him among just 21 players in baseball history to accomplish this feat, and made him only the second Brave to do so, following Joe Adcock’s four-homer performance against the Brooklyn Dodgers on July 31, 1954, during his time with the Milwaukee Braves.
Despite battling injuries that limited him to 120 or more games in only five of his 10 major league seasons, the third baseman accumulated 218 career home runs and maintained a .499 slugging percentage. His standout 1982 All-Star season featured 32 home runs and 97 RBIs, contributing to the Braves’ National League West Division championship.
Horner’s professional career spanned nine seasons with Atlanta from 1978 to 1986, followed by a year in Japan with the Yakult Swallows in 1987, where he hit 31 home runs and batted .327 in 93 games. He concluded his major league career with one season for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1988.
His death follows the recent losses of former Braves manager Bobby Cox, who was Horner’s first manager, and former team owner Ted Turner.
