Atlanta Braves Opening Day Countdown: the 70s

NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 03: The New York Mets honor the passing of Major League Baseball executive Katy Feeny before the Opening Day game between the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves on April 3, 2017 at Citi Field in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 03: The New York Mets honor the passing of Major League Baseball executive Katy Feeny before the Opening Day game between the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves on April 3, 2017 at Citi Field in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)
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72. Otis flies around in ’91

The Atlanta Braves had some incredible speedsters back at the turn of the 20th century. Guys like King Kelly, Billy Hamilton, and Herman Long stole 50 bases regularly. In the team’s history, there have been 15 seasons of 50+ stolen bases in a season, and 13 of them happened before 1900. Coming into the 1990s, the last time anyone had stolen over 50 bases was Hap Myers in 1913.

Then the Atlanta Braves traded a backup catcher to the Montreal Expos for incredibly fast, but also incredibly troubled Otis Nixon. Nixon would have the best season of his career in 1991, hitting .297/.371/.327, but it’s what he did on the basepaths that made a huge difference as the Braves surged to first place.

On April 14th, Nixon got his first start of the season at Cincinnati. He had six plate appearances, gaining a hit in 2 of them and drawing a walk. While he was on base, he attempted 4 stolen bases on the day. He was only successful on two attempts, but the pace had been set.

Then came an incredible game against his old teammates in Montreal on June 16th. Nixon led off the game with a single. He proceeded to steal second and then after Terry Pendleton singled behind him, Nixon stole third base. He would score on a Ron Gant double.

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He would come up again in the third, and he reached base on a bunt single. While Pendleton was at the plate, Nixon let one pitch go, and then on the next two pitches, he stole two bases. He grounded out to finish the fourth inning and lined out to finish the 6th.

Nixon came back up in the top of the 9th inning with the Atlanta Braves trailing by a run. He hit his first ball solid, smacking a line drive single up the middle. He then proceeded to steal second base while Pendleton was hitting. After two outs, Nixon got himself to third via steal with Gant at the plate, but Gant struck out to end the ballgame.

Six steals in a single game tied a modern record that had not been done since 1912 at that time (it’s been accomplished twice since), and it was the high mark of what would be 72 steals for Nixon in the 1991 campaign, a career high for him, and the only season of over 50 steals in the Atlanta Braves organization since World War I.

Now we are all caught up, and you should look for a new piece each day as we get closer to 2019 Atlanta Braves Opening Day! Hope you enjoyed!