June 16, 1991: Braves’ Otis Nixon ties single-game stolen base record

The Atlanta Braves had been spiraling downward. From a division championship in 1982, Atlanta’s plummet to the National League West Division basement was slow but sure. In 1983 the Braves finished in second place, three games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers. In 1984 they were second again but looking up at the San Diego Padres, 12 games off the pace. Over the next six seasons, from 1985 through 1990, the Braves never came in higher than fifth, finishing dead last in 1988, ’89, and ’90.  

One aspect missing from the Braves’ offensive arsenal was the stolen base. In 1990 they were last in the NL with 92 stolen bases.1 In 1989 they stole 83, the second fewest in the league.

On April 1, 1991, the Braves did something about this glaring weakness. They obtained an accomplished basestealer, 32-year-old outfielder Otis Nixon, from the Montreal Expos for catcher Jimmy Kremers and a player to be named later.2

The swap occurred just eight days before Atlanta’s scheduled season opener.3 It may have seemed like a strange deal, considering that Nixon led the Expos with 50 stolen bases in 1990. He needed only 119 games and 231 at-bats to accomplish the feat, and his total was good for fifth in the NL.4 By comparison, Tim Raines – whom Montreal had traded to the Chicago White Sox in December 1990 – was second on the Expos with 49 thefts but had played 130 games and totaled 457 at-bats.

“I don’t understand what the team’s philosophy is by getting rid of Otis,” said Montreal pitcher Dennis Martinez. “Here was a guy who always had the chance of stealing second, or even third, late in the game and getting something going. Now he’s gone and Rock” – Raines – “is gone, too. I don’t know how much speed there is left around here. Especially proven speed.”5

Manager Bobby Cox was in his first full season of his return as the Braves’ skipper in 1991.6 He had replaced Russ Nixon midway through the 1990 campaign. The Braves were building something. Right fielder David Justice was selected as the NL Rookie of the Year in 1990, and third baseman Terry Pendleton signed in free agency in December 1990. Lonnie Smith was a seasoned veteran in left field, who had batted over .300 in both 1989 and 1990.

“I’ll have to say I’m very happy with the trade,” said Atlanta general manager John Schuerholz after the Otis Nixon deal.

Schuerholz had also signed speedy outfielder Deion Sanders during the 1990-91 offseason.7 “We needed speed. We wanted speed. Now we’ve got it in Otis and Deion. Our team is almost ready,”8 Schuerholz said. 

When the Braves visited Montreal on June 14, Atlanta had exceeded expectations, running in second place, just two games behind the Dodgers. Montreal was last in the NL East, 12½ games in back of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

A week earlier, the Braves and Expos had split a four-game series at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Now the two teams faced off at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium. Montreal took the first two games of the series, limiting Atlanta to one run and no stolen bases.

The pitching matchup for the Sunday afternoon finale on June 16 consisted of two left-handers: Atlanta’s Charlie Leibrandt (5-5, 2.89 ERA) and Chris Nabholz (2-4, 4.01) for the Expos. 

Cox made a late change to his lineup card. Justice was unable to go because of an upset stomach. In his place, Nixon started in right field. “Two minutes before game time, [Cox] tells me I’m playing,” said Nixon. “I had to really crank it up.”9 Nixon had been a productive addition in Atlanta, starting in all three outfield positions and batting .348 with 26 steals in 48 games.

Atlanta struck first when Nixon, batting leadoff, got aboard on an infield single and then stole second base ahead of catcher Mike Fitzergald’s throw. Pendleton followed with a single to shortstop, while Nixon held at second.

With Smith batting, Nixon stole third. Pendleton then took off for second, rounded the bag as Nixon appeared to be caught in a rundown off third, and was tagged out after both he and Nixon wound up at third together.

The inning appeared to fizzle when Smith struck out, but Gant picked up the Braves with a double to left field to score Nixon. Jeff Blauser was safe when Nabholz, covering first, failed to handle second baseman Delino DeShields’ throw on a grounder, and Gant crossed the plate to give the Braves a 2-0 advantage.

Nixon struck again in the third, leading off with a bunt single. As in the first frame, Nixon stole second base and then third. After Pendleton lined out, Smith singled home Nixon to make the score 3-0, Atlanta.

Montreal got the run back in the home half of the inning. With one down, DeShields singled. Doing his Otis Nixon impression, DeShields stole second base and scored on a single by Ivan Calderon.10

Leibrandt added his own support in the fourth. With Rafael Belliard on first and two outs, Leibrandt’s fly ball to the left-center gap dropped out of Calderon’s reach and rolled to the wall. Belliard scored on the triple. Consecutive doubles by Larry Walker and Spike Owen answered for the Expos in the bottom of the inning, making the score 4-2, Braves.

The Expos tied it in the bottom of the fifth, and in the process knocked Leibrandt from the game. With one out, DeShields walked and Calderon followed with a double to right field to put runners on second and third.

Cox summoned Marvin Freeman to the mound, ending Leibrandt’s day. Belliard made a diving stop of Tim Wallach’s bouncer up the middle but threw wildly to first; the play was scored a single and an error, and DeShields and Calderon scored. The game was now tied, 4-4, through five innings. “You really think you have a win when you have a three-run lead and Charlie in there,” said Cox.11

It was now a battle of the bullpens. Montreal reliever Bill Sampen gave up a solo home run to the Braves’ Sid Bream, pinch-hitting for first baseman Brian Hunter with a righty now on the mound, in the sixth. It was Bream’s ninth home run of the year. Atlanta was now back on top, 5-4.

In the bottom of the sixth, Cox went to his bullpen again and brought in southpaw Mike Stanton. With one down, Stanton walked Owen, then gave up a single to pinch-hitter Junior Noboa.

Cox signaled to the pen and Rick Mahler emerged. A workhorse in the Braves’ rotation for many seasons, the 37-year-old Mahler had rejoined Atlanta two days earlier after being released by the Expos.12

Mahler uncorked a wild pitch, moving the runners up a base. Marquis Grissom knocked in Owen on a fielder’s choice, and DeShields dropped a double in front of a charging Smith in left, driving home both Noboa and Grissom to stake the Expos a 7-5 lead. “I guess you can say I didn’t do my job,” said Mahler.13

The Braves got a run back on a seventh-inning RBI double by Blauser but were still down by one going to the ninth. Montreal manager Tom Runnells – promoted two weeks earlier, when Buck Rodgers was fired – brought in closer Barry Jones for the save.

Nixon led off for the Braves. Since his two singles and four stolen bases in the first three innings, Nixon had grounded out and lined out. Now the Braves were looking for him to get on base and get the offense moving again. Nixon obliged, getting aboard with an infield single.

Jones bore down and struck out Pendleton. Nixon took off and swiped his fifth stolen base of the game. Jones was undeterred. He struck out Smith for the second out in the inning. Nixon then stole third base for his sixth theft of the day. But it went for naught, as Jones whiffed Gant on a pitch in the dirt. The Expos edged the Braves, 7-6, thus sweeping the three-game series.

Nixon’s six steals tied the post-1900 record for stolen bases in a game, set by Eddie Collins of the Philadelphia Athletics. Collins turned the trick twice in September 1912.14 “I thought the record was held by somebody like Rickey Henderson or Vince Coleman,” said Nixon. “I don’t know who this guy [Collins] is. To be honest, I would trade all those stolen bases and hits for a win.”15       

Nixon ended the season with 72 stolen bases, second-best in the league, despite missing the final three weeks after being suspended when he tested positive for cocaine use.16 It was the most steals he had in his career.17 The Braves stole 165 bases in 1991, good for third in the NL.

Nixon played until 1999, retiring with 620 stolen bases, including 186 in 462 games with the Braves. As of 2022, he ranked 16th all-time in steals.

The Braves may have been swept by the Expos, but 1991 was a true “rags to riches” story in Atlanta. They finished first in the NL West, winning the division by one game. The magical season continued when they defeated the Pittsburgh Pirates in seven games in the NLCS to advance to the World Series for the first time since 1958, when the franchise was in Milwaukee. But they came up on the short end, losing to the Minnesota Twins in seven games.

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Ray Danner and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources referenced in the Notes, the author consulted Baseball-Reference.com and Retrosheet.org for pertinent information, including the box score and play-by-play.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MON/MON199106160.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1991/B06160MON1991.htm

Notes

1 Ron Gant swiped 33 to lead the club, while the rest of the team combined for just 59 steals in 98 attempts.

2 Kremers had played in 29 games as a rookie with Atlanta in 1990 but never appeared in the majors again. The player-to-be-named later going to the Expos was minor-league pitcher Keith Morrison. The Braves also received minor-league infielder Boi Rodriguez in the deal. Neither Morrison nor Rodriquez reached the major leagues as a player.

3 The Braves’ scheduled opener with the Dodgers on April 9 was postponed by rain, and Atlanta instead played its first game on April 10. I.J. Rosenberg, “Rain Puts Opener on Hold: Smoltz to Face Dodgers in Single Game Tonight,” Atlanta Constitution, April 10, 1991: F1.

4 It was the third season in a row that Nixon had finished seventh or higher in the NL in steals.

5 Jeff Blair, “Nixon Trade Puzzles, Angers Expos,” Montreal Gazette, April 2, 1991: F1.

6 Cox was Atlanta’s manager from 1978 to 1981, then the Toronto Blue Jays manager for four seasons before returning to the Braves as general manager in 1985.

7 Sanders had been released by the New York Yankees after the 1990 season, his second major-league campaign. It was hoped that the NFL star – who had finished his second pro football season with the Atlanta Falcons in 1990 – could improve the Braves on the basepaths. Sanders struggled in 1991, batting .191 and getting sent to the minor leagues for about a month in May and June. In four seasons with the Braves, however, he batted .277 with 75 stolen bases in 292 games.

8 I.J. Rosenberg, “Braves Cut Thomas and Acquire Nixon,” Atlanta Constitution, April 2, 1991: E7.  

9 Ian MacDonald, “Nixon Got a Late Start on a Record-Tying Day,” Montreal Gazette, June 17, 1991: D2.

10 Calderon, who had come to Montreal in the Raines trade, made the NL All-Star team in 1991, the only All-Star selection of his 10-season major-league career.

11 I.J. Rosenberg, “Nixon Swipes 6; Braves Swept,” Atlanta Constitution, June 17, 1991: D6.

12 Mahler was Atlanta’s Opening Day starter five times from 1982 through 1988, pitching shutouts in 1982, 1986, and 1987. He appeared in 307 games, including 218 starts, in 11 seasons with the Braves.

13 I.J. Rosenberg, “Nixon Swipes 6; Braves Swept.”

14 Two nineteenth-century players, George Gore of the Chicago White Stockings in 1881 and Billy Hamilton of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1894, stole seven bases in a game. After Nixon, Eric Young of the Colorado Rockies (June 30, 1996) and Carl Crawford of the Tampa Bay Rays (May 3, 2009), have also stolen six bases in a game.

15 I.J. Rosenberg, “Atlanta Outfielder’s NL Record Is a Steal,” Atlanta Constitution, June 17, 1991: D1.

16 Nixon was subject to random drug testing because of a drug-related arrest in 1987. Joe Strauss, “Nixon May Contest 60-Day Suspension,” Atlanta Constitution, September 17, 1991: B1.

17 Nixon’s former Expos’ teammate Marquis Grissom led the NL with 76 steals, while DeShields finished third with 56 thefts. Gant’s 34 steals tied him for ninth. Raines was third in the AL with 51 stolen bases.