James Robert Horner (August 6, 1957 – May 26, 2026) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball and the Nippon Professional Baseball league as a third baseman and a first baseman from to , most prominently as a member of the Atlanta Braves where he was named the 1978 National League (NL) Rookie of the Year and was a member of the 1982 National League All-Star team.
After a record-setting NCAA college athletic career with the Arizona State Sun Devils, Horner bypassed the minor leagues and moved directly to the major leagues, where together with Dale Murphy, he formed a power-hitting tandem for the Atlanta Braves teams of the early 1980s. Horner averaged 35 home runs and 109 runs batted in per his 162-game average and became the 11th player in Major League Baseball history to hit four home runs in one game on July 6, .
Horner became a victim of the Major League Baseball collusion scandal of 1986–87 after the courts found that owners had illegally shared information during free agency negotiations seeking to deflate player salaries. He was among hundreds of players and former players who were awarded millions of dollars in lost salary.
Amateur career
Horner was born in Junction City, Kansas, but grew up in Glendale, Arizona. He attended Apollo High School, where he set school records.
As a freshman at Arizona State in 1976, he hit .339 with 42 RBI and nine home runs (tied with Ike Davis for third all-time by a Sun Devil freshman, two behind Barry Bonds) as ASU won the Western Athletic Conference championship and made a trip to the College World Series.
As a sophomore, Horner was a First Team All-American as he hit .389 with 87 RBI and a school record 22 home runs as ASU again won the WAC title. The Sun Devils went on to win the 1977 College World Series with Horner winning the Most Outstanding Player award.
In 1985, Horner played 130 games and finished with a .267 batting average, 27 home runs, and 89 RBIs. In 1986, Horner set personal career highs. On July 6, 1986, in a game against the Expos, he became the eleventh player in Major League Baseball history to hit four home runs in a single game and only the second one to do so in a game that his team lost (the first one being Ed Delahanty). Later in the season, after hitting a record 210 career home runs without a grand slam home run, Horner finally belted a homer with the bases loaded to give the Braves a 4–2 victory over the Pirates. Horner's record for homers without a grand slam stood until 1998 when Sammy Sosa surpassed the mark by hitting his first grand slam on the 248th home run of his career.
Horner became a free agent in 1987, after his first season of more than 500 at-bats. Although Horner was still near his peak, the Major League clubs were then colluding to drive down salaries, so no offers were made to Horner, whose asking price was $2 million. (In 2004, Horner received $7,034,112 from the successful lawsuit the players filed against the owners and their illegal collusion.) After failing to reach an agreement with an MLB club, Horner signed a $2 million, one-year contract with the Yakult Swallows of Japan's Central League. He was given number 50 by the organization because that was the number of home runs they expected him to hit. He ended up hitting 31 homers and had 73 RBIs for the team.
Despite Yakult offering Horner a reported $10 million for a new three-year contract, Horner returned to the majors in 1988 with the St. Louis Cardinals. After 60 games, however, he injured his left shoulder. After being invited to spring training by the Baltimore Orioles in 1989, Horner announced his retirement.
In his ten-year Major League career, Horner batted .277 with 218 home runs, 685 RBIs, 560 runs, 1,047 hits, 169 doubles, 8 triples, 14 stolen bases, a .340 on-base percentage, and a .499 slugging average in 1,020 games. Defensively, in 684 games at third base, he compiled a .946 fielding percentage, and in 330 games at first base, he posted a .994 fielding percentage. Overall, his career fielding percentage was .977.
Personal life and death
Horner was married to Chris, with whom he raised two sons.
In 1979, Horner was inducted into the Sun Devil Athletics Hall of Fame. His No. 5 is honored on the outfield wall at Phoenix Municipal Stadium. In 2022, Horner was inducted into the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.
Horner died in Irving, Texas, on May 26, 2026, at the age of 68. His death was announced by the Atlanta Braves later that day.
See also
- List of baseball players who went directly to Major League Baseball
- List of Major League Baseball single-game home run leaders