Braves outfielder Otis Nixon tries to score here on a sacrifice fly by Jeff Blauser in a 1993 game against Pittsburgh, sliding past the Pirates’ Don Slaught.
If you look closely, plate umpire Mark Barron has his eyes on the plate to see if Nixon is going to hit it. Slaught, meanwhile, has the plate blocked is about to turn with the ball and try to swipe Nixon, who certainly is the best base stealer the Braves ever had but also one of their most strategic when sliding into base. Nixon does avoid the tag by going wide of the plate and comes across with his back foot.
Nixon stole 160 bases from 1991-93 with the Braves and 620 in his major league career, 16th in history. He shares the major league single-game record of six which he did for the Braves in a game at Montreal in ’91.
His success came not only because of his speed, which by the way was good but not blinding but he also was a student of the stolen base and baserunning. Like many good hitters who kept a book on pitchers and what they threw, Nixon did the same thing for pitchers and catchers.
“I knew exactly what the pitchers tendencies were when it came to throwing to first base, their pickoff move and also studied the arm of the catchers,’’ he said. “I also had a lot of different ways I would go into the base. I could move my body into certain positions.’’
The one big steal Nixon made for the Braves that many fans forget is when he came back to the team in 1999 for what would be his last season. At the age of 40 and in the NLCS against Mets in Game 6, the Braves had let a 5-0 and 7-3 lead slip away and were behind 8-7 in the eighth inning, Nixon was put in as a pinch runner and stole second and went to third when catcher Mike Piazza’s throw went into center field. Nixon scored the tying run and the Braves won in 11 innings, winning the NL pennant and making what is still their most-recent World Series appearance.
