A MISSING ROOKIE CUP- 1979 BOB HORNER

The next Topps rookie card to get the “missing rookie cup” treatment is that iconic card from the 1979 set: Bob Horner’s first cardboard slab:

We all remember the hype, and the fact that for some time this was THE card to pull out of a pack because of the splash Horner made in his first season, just weeks after being drafted #1 overall by the Atlanta Braves in June of 1978.
An All-American out of Arizona State where he set NCAA records for home runs, Horner never broke stride after making his debut 10 days after being picked in the draft.
Over the final 89 games of the season, all he’d do is club 23 homers while batting .266, with 63 runs batted in and 50 runs scored, eventually getting picked for the National League Rookie of the Year Award, though I feel Ozzie Smith should have won it based on his full-season (he got shafted).
Horner would go on to hit over 30 homers in three of the next four seasons, the only time missing the mark due to the 1981 strike, while also topping 20 homers in three of the next four after that.
However, his career was essentially ruined due to the baseball owners colluding in 1986, purposely NOT offering any high-dollar contracts to him and others (Jack Morris, etc), eventually leading to Horner signing with the Yakult Swallows of the Japanese League where he’d hit 31 homers in only 93 games.
He’d make it back to the Majors the following season, now with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1988, but after getting injured after only 60 games, though batting a not-so-terrible .257, he’d call it a career at only 30 years of age.
Think about this: Horner hit 218 home runs with 685 RBIs and 560 runs scored in only 10 abbreviated seasons, in only 3777 at-bats, and a very decent .277 career average.
His last full season, 1986, at only 28 years of age, he hit .273 with 27 homers and 89 RBIs, yet had his career screwed because of collusion.
Years later he’d win a $7 Million settlement with baseball owners due to the nefarious act, but man, this guy could have easily hit 400+ homers with some other gaudy numbers had he been given his rightful chance to keep playing, even with his nagging injuries that held him to one season of 500+ at-bats, ironically that 1986 season.

ROOKIES OF THE YEAR- 1979 SUB-SET

Well, here we are, the last installment of my “Awards” special sub-set through the 1970’s, and it is a 1979 card celebrating the 1978 Rookies of the Year: Bob Horner in the National League and Lou Whitaker in the American League:

Bob Horner made a huge splash in the Majors in 1978, going straight from being the #1 overall pick in the amateur draft that June to a Major League field for the Atlanta Braves, and he didn’t disappoint, slamming 23 homers while driving in 63 runs in only 89 games.
Though he only played slightly more than half a season, he beat out second-place finisher Ozzie Smith of the Padres for the National Leagues’ top rookie honor.
Over in the American League, Detroit’s Lou Whitaker took home the rookie honors, almost winning the award unanimously over the rest of the field as he went on to hit .285 with71 runs scored and 58 runs batted in while manning second base.
Both would go on to have nice Major League career, though Whitaker would go on to play 19 years for the Tigers and become a fan favorite alongside his teammate Alan Trammell, a double-play combination that would set the record for longest running 2B/SS combo in MLB history.
Nevertheless, two impressive debut seasons for Horner and Whitaker, and thus closing out this fun thread after 30 entries, covering Cy Youngs, MVP’s and Rookies of the year!

#1 DRAFT PICKS OF THE 1970's. A SPECIAL SUB-SET...BOB HORNER: ATLANTA BRAVES: 1978

Up next in my thread of #1 overall draft picks of the 1970's we come to 1978 and Bob Horner, picked #1 by the Atlanta Braves.

Take a look at my card design in my imagined sub-set:

 

 

An absolute monster coming out of Arizona State, Horner set College records with 58 career homers as well as 25 in a single-season, on his way to winning the very first "Golden Spikes" Award in 1978.

Horner made an immediate splash in the Major Leagues, skipping the Minors altogether and making his big league debut on June 16th, 1978 and hitting a homer off future Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

In only 89 games that season, Horner lead all third basemen with 23 home runs, while hitting .263 and driving in 63 runs in 323 at-bats beating out another future Hall of Famer, Ozzie Smith, for National League Rookie of the Year honors.

Over the next eight years of so Horner became a solid homer-hitting third baseman for Atlanta, teaming up with Dale Murphy as one of the best one-two homer punches in the game.

But injuries in 1983 and 1984, where he broke, then re-broke the same wrist, would ultimately derail his career after only ten seasons, finishing up with a short 60-game stint with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1988 after coming back from Japan, where he played in 1987 after being one of the players colluded against by Major League owners.

Though definitely not a "flop", Horner's career did fall short of expectations somewhat, though hitting 218 homers and driving in 685 runs without ever playing in more than 141 games in any season is quite impressive. 

As a matter of fact, Horner only played 140+ games in a season twice: 140 in 1982 and 141 in 1986, a season which also saw him hit four home runs in a single game, at the time only the eleventh player ever to do so, and second in a losing cause (Hall of Famer Ed Delahanty being the other).

It's interesting to note some of the other players taken after Horner in the first round of 1978: Lloyd Moseby (2nd overall), Hubie Brooks (3rd), Mike Morgan (4th), Kirk Gibson (12th), and Tom Brunansky (14th).
Not a bad crop of young players that year going in the draft.