A former Golden Spikes Award winner as the nation’s best amateur baseball player, Bob Horner would win the National League Rookie of the Year award in the same calendar year (1978).  The number one draft pick would become known in Atlanta for his power numbers, where he would finish in the top ten in Home Runs six times, including a second-place rank where he went yard 35 times in 1980.  Horner was ninth in MVP voting that year and would later be named an All-Star in 1982.  As a Brave, he would swat 215 Home Runs and was six Hits shy of 1,000.

Sadly, Horner’s career with the Atlanta Braves came to an end when, as a free agent, he had the misfortune of becoming available in the year of collusion, and he would sign in Japan with the Yakult Swallows. 

For what it is worth, while we respect Bob Horner’s ability as a hitter, his rank is affected by his relatively low On Base Percentage (.339) and poor defensive record when he played Third Base.

Felipe Alou is arguably better known in baseball as a manager, having helmed the Montreal Expos for years and been named Manager of the Year in 1994, but he was also a former player who accumulated over 2,000 hits in his career.

Alou came up through the Giants, where he would be named an All-Star in 1962, and he would arrive in Milwaukee as part of a seven-player trade after the 1963 season.  The Outfielder played for the Braves for six years, where he had the best run of his career.  In 1966, he would lead the National League in Hits (218) and Runs Scored (122), both of which were career highs.  He would also set personal bests with 31 Home Runs, a .327 Batting Average, and a .533 Slugging Average, all of which would land him a fifth-place finish in MVP voting.  Alou would again lead the NL in Hits in 1968, this time with 210 Hits and a .317 Batting Average.

Twice an All-Star as a Brave, Alou’s six seasons would see him bat .295 with 989 Hits.

After an excellent run with the Oakland Athletics, Tim Hudson would be traded to Atlanta, where he would win 113 of his 222 career Wins.  Hudson won at least 13 Games in each of his first three seasons, and in late 2008, he underwent Tommy John surgery.  While that ailment kept him out of baseball for a year, he rebounded in 2017 with his best season in years, including an All-Star appearance, a 17 Win season, and an ERA under 3.  He would finish fourth in Cy Young voting that year.   Hudson would win 16 Games over the next two seasons, and before signing with the San Francisco Giants after the 2013 Season, he recorded 997 Strikeouts as a Brave.

In 2018, Hudson was elected into the Braves Hall of Fame.

Jimmy Collins did a lot of things beautifully on the baseball diamond that may not be considered sexy, but they went unnoticed, and he generated a Hall of Fame career out of it, which included five seasons with the Boston Beaneaters. 

After debuting for Boston in 1895, he was loaned to Louisville, only to return before the 1896 Season.  Collins would win the starting Third Base job, and he was considered to be one of the better defensive players at that position, which he showed by leading the NL in Defensive bWAR in 1899 and was in the top five as a Boston Beaneater three other times.  He was also very capable with the bat, an expert bunter, and led the NL in Home Runs (albeit with only 15) in 1898.  That year, he was seventh in Batting Average and second in Slugging Percentage.  His overall numbers with the team would see him generate 821 Hits with a .309 Batting Average.  His run with the Beaneaters ended when he jumped to the Boston Americans of the American League in 1901.

Collins would enter the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1945 when he was chosen by the Old Timers Committee.