Bob Horner, Braves' 1978 Rookie of the Year, Dies at 68
Updated
Updated · Yahoo Sports · May 27
Bob Horner, Braves' 1978 Rookie of the Year, Dies at 68
13 articles · Updated · Yahoo Sports · May 27
68-year-old Bob Horner, the former Braves slugger and Arizona State legend, died Tuesday, Atlanta announced.
1978 marked his breakthrough: Horner went first overall in the MLB draft, skipped the minors and won NL Rookie of the Year after hitting 23 homers with an .852 OPS.
218 career home runs in 1,020 games underscored his power, including three 30-homer seasons, a 1982 All-Star berth and Atlanta's first four-homer game by a player in 1986.
58 homers at Arizona State had set an NCAA record, and his college run included three College World Series trips, the 1977 national title, the first Golden Spikes Award in 1978 and induction into the inaugural College Baseball Hall of Fame class in 2006.
Is Bob Horner's legendary leap from college to MLB stardom a model that today's top prospects should follow?
Four homers in one game, a Japan detour, an early exit—is Bob Horner baseball's most fascinating 'what if' story?
How did MLB owner collusion send a Rookie of the Year to Japan and forever alter his career path?