» June 8, 1978: Bob Horner, the College Player of the Year, is selected first in the free-agent draft by the Braves. Horner will skip the minors and debut on June 16 with a homer in his first game, off Blyleven. The Blue Jays make Lloyd Moseby the 2nd selection. The Yankees, with three first-round selections awarded as compensation in player signings, pick Rex Hudler, Matt Winters, and Brian Ryder. On the 23rd round they take a Clearwater RHP named Howard Johnson, who will make the ML as an infielder. MSU's Kirk Gibson, who most teams assume will play football, lasts until the 12th overall pick when his hometown Tigers take him. He signs for $200,000 and promises to drop football. Kent Hrbek lasts until the 17th round, and Ryne Sandberg goes the Phils on the 20th round. Besides Horner, three other draft picks, all high schoolers, will jump directly to the majors after signing: the A's Mike Morgan (June 11); Blue Jays Brian Milner (June 23) and the A's Tim Conroy (June 23).
» June 14, 1978: Bob Horner signs with the Braves for an estimated $175,000 bonus. Two days later he will celebrate his ML debut with a home run off Bert Blyleven of the Pirates.
» November 21, 1978: Brave Bob Horner edges Padre Ozzie Smith to win the National League Rookie of the Year Award. Horner batted .266 with 23 home runs in just 323 at bats.
» April 6, 1979: The Astros beat the Braves 2–1. Atlanta loses the services of Rookie of the Year 3B Bob Horner for the next 32 games due to an ankle injury.
» July 22, 1980: Atlanta's Bob Horner belts two home runs in a 7–5 win over the Expos, giving him 15 homers in his last 23 games and 13 in the month of July, just two short of the major-league record shared by Hank Greenberg, Joe DiMaggio, and Joe Adcock. Horner will hit one more home run in July, and finish the season with a career-high 35.
» October 3, 1981: In Cincinnati, Bob Horner homers twice and scores the winning run on Ron Oester's 8th-inning throwing error to give the Braves a 4–3 win over the Reds and give the Astros the 2nd-half title in the National League West. Cincinnati, which lost the first-half title to the Dodgers by one-half game, will finish with the best overall record (66-42) in the major leagues, but will not make the playoffs.
» January 17, 1983: Bob Horner agrees to a 4-year contract with the Atlanta Braves that will pay him up to $6 million, including $400,000 in bonuses if he keeps his weight below 215 pounds.
» August 15, 1983: Braves Bob Horner, who was hitting .303 with 20 home runs and 68 RBI, breaks his right wrist sliding into 2B during a 4–0 loss to the Padres and will be sidelined for the rest of the season. In Atlanta, the injury is widely attributed to the "Chief Noc-A-Homa Jinx," which seems to strike whenever the Braves remove their mascot's outfield teepee in order to sell more tickets.
» May 29, 1984: The Braves overcome a 4–0 deficit to beat the Cubs, 7–4, but lose 3B Bob Horner, who breaks his wrist diving for a ball and will be sidelined for the rest of the season. Horner broke the same wrist last year and missed the final 43 games.
» May 21, 1985: Vince Coleman's first ML homer is inside-the-park as the Cards beat the Braves, 6–3. Bob Horner accounts for the Braves' runs with two homers.
» July 6, 1986: Bob Horner becomes the 11th player to hit four home runs in a game, but it isn't enough as the Braves fall to the Expos 11–8. Horner is only the second to hit his four home runs in a losing cause; Ed Delahanty of the Phillies on was the first, on July 13, 1896. On the winning side, Al Newman cracks his first ML home run, off Zane Smith; it'll be his only homer, as Newman will go to the American League next year and set the junior circuit record by going to bat 1,893 times without a 4-bagger.
» September 6, 1986: After hitting a record 210 homers without a grand slam, Atlanta's Bob Horner finally connects with the sacks full to give the Braves a 4–2 win over Pittsburgh. It will be his only career grand slam. Horner's record will be broken by Sammy Sosa.
» January 8, 1987: Ten free agents (Tim Raines, Lance Parrish, Bob Horner, Andre Dawson, Rich Gedman, Ron Guidry, Bob Boone, Doyle Alexander, Toby Harrah, and Gary Roenicke) fail to meet a midnight deadline and thus will not be allowed to re-sign with their former clubs until May 1st if they are not offered contracts by new teams. The general lack of interest in the players will become the focus of the Players' Association's first anti-collusion suit against the owners.
» April 13, 1987:
Free-agent 3B Bob Horner, unable to find a ML club interested in his services, signs a one-year contract with Japan's Yakult Swallows.
» January 14, 1988: After playing last season with Japan's Yakult Swallows, Bob Horner signs a one-year contract with the Cardinals, who need a power-hitting 1B to replace Jack Clark.
» March 9, 1989: Bob Horner, 31, announces his retirement because of a damaged left shoulder.
» April 15, 1998:
Sammy Sosa of the Cubs hits his 210th career home run in the Cubs 2–1 loss to the Mets. He breaks Bob Horner's major league record for most home runs without a grand slam from the start of a career.
» July 27, 1998:
Sammy Sosa hits his 248th career homer—and his first grand slam—as the Cubs beat the Diamondbacks, 6–2. Sosa went to bat 4,428 before drilling the sacks–full homer. His 247 homers without a slam is a ML record: the previous mark was 210 homers by Bob Horner. Sosa also tops the 100 RBI mark with his four ribbies, to back Steve Trachsel's (10–5) pitching.
BALLPLAYERS | TEAMS | CHRONOLOGY | TODAY | BOOKS | NEWSLETTER | ERRATA | FAQ
