Bob Horner, the slugging third baseman who arrived in Atlanta as the No. 1 overall draft pick and left an indelible mark on Braves history with one of baseball’s rarest feats, has died. He was 68.
The Braves announced Horner’s death on May 26, 2026, saying they had been informed by his wife, Chris, that he died in Texas. The team did not disclose a cause of death.
His passing marks the third devastating blow to the Atlanta organization in a matter of weeks. Former owner Ted Turner and Hall of Fame manager Bobby Cox died days apart earlier this month, plunging Braves Country into an extended period of mourning for the architects and stars of its modern identity.
A Career Built on Firsts
In their tribute, the Braves said the third baseman "built a career out of being first," noting he was the first draft pick in 1978, the first Braves draftee to skip the minor leagues and the organization’s first player to hit four homers in a game.
Horner did not wait long to validate the bet. Just over a week after Atlanta selected him out of Arizona State, he stepped into the batter’s box at the major league level for the first time on June 16, 1978, and drove a home run off future Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The blast set the tone for a rookie campaign that produced a .266 average, 23 home runs and 63 RBIs across just 89 games — and earned him National League Rookie of the Year honors.
What followed was a decade of refined power hitting. Horner finished his 10-year career with 218 home runs and a .277 batting average, posting three seasons with more than 30 long balls and a career-high 35 in 1980, when he also notched a top-10 MVP finish. Remarkably for a power hitter of his era, he never struck out more than 75 times in a season.
The Murphy-Horner Era in Atlanta
Paired with two-time MVP Dale Murphy, Horner formed the heart of an Atlanta lineup that gave a struggling franchise its identity through much of the 1980s. His lone All-Star nod came in 1982, a season in which he hit .261 with 32 home runs and 97 RBIs — and one in which the Braves won their first and only division title between 1969 and 1991, their only playoff appearance in that 22-year window.
Across nine seasons in Atlanta, from 1978 to 1986, Horner batted .278 with an .847 OPS, 652 RBIs and the vast majority of his 218 career home runs. He received MVP votes in four other seasons beyond his 1980 finish.
Four Swings Into History
The signature day of Horner’s career arrived on July 6, 1986, against the Montreal Expos. By the time the final swing landed, he had become the 11th player in baseball history to hit four home runs in a single game and the first Brave to accomplish the feat in the Atlanta era, which began when the franchise relocated from Milwaukee in 1966.
It remained the only four-homer game anywhere in the majors during the entire 1980s. Because Turner’s SuperStation carried the broadcast, it was also one of the first such performances captured on live television, preserving for future generations a feat that had previously existed mostly in box scores and memory.
Collusion, Japan and an Early Exit
Horner’s departure from Atlanta after the 1986 season was not by design. Caught in what was later determined to be collusion by MLB owners to suppress player salaries, he could not secure a deal with any major league team for 1987 and instead signed a one-year contract with the Yakult Swallows of Japan. He flourished overseas, hitting .327 with 31 home runs and 73 RBIs.
He returned stateside in 1988 with the St. Louis Cardinals, but a shoulder injury cut his season short and ultimately proved career-ending. Horner retired during spring training in 1989 at age 31.
Long before the professional accolades, Horner had been a college baseball giant. At Arizona State, he was named the MVP of the 1977 College World Series and captured the inaugural Golden Spikes Award in 1978 as the nation’s top college player. He set the NCAA career record with 56 home runs, a mark later surpassed by Oklahoma State’s Pete Incaviglia, who hit 100 from 1983 to 1985. In 2006, Horner was inducted into the inaugural class of the College Baseball Hall of Fame.
Horner is survived by Chris and their two sons, Tyler and Trent.