Bob Horner, the power-hitting third baseman who became one of the most unusual stories in baseball history, has died at age 68, according to ESPN.
Horner was the No. 1 overall pick in the 1978 amateur draft. He skipped the minor leagues entirely and hit a home run in his very first major league game with the Atlanta Braves. The moment set the tone for a career defined by raw power and an unconventional path through the sport.
He is perhaps best remembered for a single game in which he hit four home runs, one of the rarest individual accomplishments in baseball. Details of his full career statistics were not immediately available from the source material, but his place in Braves history and in the broader record books was secured long before his death.
Horner played during an era when the Braves were building toward the powerhouse teams that would define the franchise in the 1990s. His combination of draft pedigree, immediate major league impact, and that four-home-run game made him one of the more memorable players of his generation.
He was 68.
