Starting Nine: Otis Nixon, a Very Good Brave

During a recent trip to Kroger, I ran into Otis Nixon — almost literally, as we were in that awkward predicament of me reaching for the bathroom door to go in, while he pulled it open from the inside.

The near collision with the former Braves center fielder got me thinking about an element of his game that few have been better at since the team moved to Atlanta in 1966.

The steal.

So, we’ll start there as this we continue this content series that has taken over the Starting Nine amid the lockout, because despite an offensive game that largely left him a one-trick pony, my fellow Kroger shopper was, indeed, a Very Good Brave.

• Kent Mercker, a Very Good Brave

• Dan Uggla, a Very Good Brave

• Steve Avery, a Very Good Brave

• Bob Horner, a Very Good Brave

• Tim Hudson, a Very Good Brave

• Rafael Furcal, a Very Good Brave

• Kevin Millwood, a Very Good Brave

• Javy Lopez, a Very Good Brave

1. Speed Thrills, Pt. I

Suspended for four games in 1991 after he charged the mound — and delivered a flying, spikes-up kick — when the Phillies’ Wally Ritchie hit him on the leg with a pitch, Nixon was protective of his biggest asset. “My legs are my livelihood,” he’d say. Sixteenth all-time with 620 steals, Nixon swiped 186 during his two stints with the Braves, which is the second most since the team moved to Atlanta — another Very Good Brave, Rafael Furcal, is three ahead of him — and Nixon ranks 11th in franchise history. His 160 steals from 1991-93 were bested by only the player who would later patrol the same center field in Marquis Grissom with 207.

2. Speed Thrills, Pt. II

On April 1, 1991, the Expos sent Nixon to the Braves for Jimmy Kremers and a player to be named later (Keith Morrison). Nixon didn’t appreciate the timing, and when he made his return for Olympic Stadium for the first time in a June 14-16 series, he had one thing on his mind. “[The Braves] were the worst team in baseball,” Nixon told MLB.com. “I wasn’t comfortable with that trade, so I had some animosity toward the Expos when they did that on April Fools’ Day. So, I was like, ‘I’m going to show you guys a few things here.” He did and made history in the process. Nixon singled in the first, then proceeded to steal second and third. In the third, he reached on a bunt single and swiped two more bags and followed with a ninth-inning single and two more steals. Those six stolen bases tied Hall of Famer Eddie Collins’ record, and remains tied for the most in history, though current Braves first base coach Eric Young Sr. (1996) and Carl Crawford (2009) have since equaled him.

3. The Catch

Tom Holland, Tobey MaGuire and Andrew Garfield can point at each other all they want, a la the ever-present meme from the 1960s cartoon, this was Spider-Man in our corner of the multiverse. Nixon defied the laws of gravity as he scaled the wall to rob the Pirates’ Andy Van Slyke of a two-run home run in the ninth. It was spectacular, as was the call by Skip Caray. “There’s a drive, deep right-center field,” Caray said. “Nixon goes as far as he can go. He caught the ball. He caught the ball. I can’t believe it. What a catch by Otis Nixon. He took a home run away.” Said Nixon of the game-saving grab: “It was a home run, no doubt about it. I don’t know where that ranks. I used to watch Willie Mays make great catches.”

4. One-dimensional, but what a dimension it was

Of Nixon’s 1,379 career hits, 87 percent of them (1,199) of them were singles. Among players with at least 1,000 career hits, that percentage is tied for third behind Roy Thomas (90 percent), Al Bridwell (88) and Maury Wills (87). There’s no hyperbole in saying Nixon was one-dimensional at the plate but understanding his limited abilities at the plate really underscores how special that speed element was. No one with 500 or more steals had fewer hits, only one player in the top 100 had a worse slugging percentage and his career .658 OPS is 59th among the top 60 in steals.

5. Dealing with demons

The six-steal game and The Catch were the pillars of Nixon’s on-field play during his time with the Braves, but away from the game, that period was also marred by his personal battle with drugs. In 1987, while in the minor leagues, Nixon was arrested on a charge of cocaine possession, suspended and entered a rehabilitation program. He was one of a handful of players required to be drug tested, but after failing a drug test on July 13, 1991, commissioner Fay Vincent gave him pass. “My judgment was that if we were wrong, if he had fallen back into a bad habit, it would turn up in a test rather quickly,” Vincent said. Nixon passed a test on July 15, but on Sept. 7, he failed another, and was suspended 60 games. His season was over, and he missed the Braves’ run to the World Series. Lonnie Smith slid into Nixon’s spot at leadoff, providing a .736 OPS to cap the regular season and .836 in the postseason, where he stole nine bases. “It was tough,” Nixon said later. “I was rooting for my team like I was out there with them. But I had to take care of me; I had to take care of Otis, and make sure I was OK.” Nixon was arrested in 2013 for possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia, in 2015 for charges of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and arrested again in 2020 on drug charges after a traffic stop.

6. Better with age

Those moments in a Braves uniform are what many will remember with Nixon, but his true legacy lies in what he was able to do when so many players’ bodies begin failing them. In 1998, his first season with the Expos after signing as a free agent, Nixon stole 46 bases and went on to rattle off 11 straight seasons with 35 or more steals. Of his 620 steals, 561 of them came from his age-29 season on. That puts Nixon behind only the players who rank Nos. 1 and 2, Rickey Henderson (705) and Lou Brock (666), respectively, in total steals after turning 29. Nixon also owns two of the four highest single seasons in steals from 37-on, racking up 59 in 1998 with the Twins at 38 years old, and 54 the year before that with the Blue Jays.

7. Shipping out to Boston

The Braves had a potential logjam in its outfield going into the 1994 season with Nixon, Ron Gant, Deion Sanders and David Justice vying for playing time across three spots. That all changed with the Braves releasing Gant after breaking his leg in a motorcycle accident and Nixon — with word that the team intended on playing Sanders in center — deciding against exercising the $2.5 million player option on his deal. Nixon instead joined the Red Sox on a two-year, $7 million deal. In hindsight, Atlanta may have thought better of that faith in Sanders to get Nixon to stay around. In his age-35 season, Nixon hit .274 with 42 steals that first season in Boston, while Deion hit .288 with 19 steals in an act that wore thin with Braves brass as he missed a team function and created a scene at team photo day. Despite having just inked him to a three-year contract, the Braves dealt Sanders to the Reds in late May.

8. Running to a new standard in return to Braves

In 1999, time finally caught up with him. He was back with the Braves, with whom he had enjoyed his greatest success, coming back on a one-year deal with the expectation that he would back up Andruw Jones. Instead, he was part of a platoon in left field with Gerald Williams. At 40, Nixon played in the fewest games (84), of any of his full MLB seasons, and after hitting no lower than .266 for the past 10 seasons — and coming off a year in which he hit .297 in Minnesota — Nixon’s average fell to .205 and stole 26 bases, his lowest total since 1986. It would be his final season, as the market dried on the outfielder going into his age-41 season, but those 26 bases remain the benchmark for any Braves player from age-39, giving Nixon 17 more than anyone else in that age group.

9. For Your Viewing Pleasure

The steal, they tell us, is dead. In 2011, there were 4,540 stolen base attempts across the league, and this past season, that was down to 2,924. In 2021, Starling Marte was the only player that went over 40 steals, and his MLB-leading 47 don’t rank in the top 500 by any player in a single season. It’s time to go to Base Stealing School, and here’s Nixon breaking down the art of the steal. Watch and learn, Generation Next.