Single-A South Bend took the win in this April 1989 contest and Jay Hornacek's early home run ultimately proved the difference in the 8-5 win, The Cedar Rapids Gazette wrote.
With two men on in the second, Hornacek hit it out to put South Bend ahead by a score of 3-1, The Gazette wrote.
"It was a fastball low and in and I just stayed with it," Hornacek told The Gazette afterward.
Hornacek ended up staying with the pros for just one more season. He returned in 1990, his seventh as a pro. He topped out at high-A.
Hornacek's career began in 1984, taken by the Dodgers as a 17-year-old out of Lyons Township High in Illinois. Hornacek is the younger brother of longtime NBAer Jeff Hornacek, The Gazette wrote.
Hornacek started with the Dodgers in the rookie Gulf Coast League and at rookie Great Falls. He hit .263 over 51 games.
He moved largely to single-A Bakersfield for 1985, where he hit .205. That May, he hit a grand slam in a win over Reno, off a reliever, The Reno Gazette-Journal wrote.
"I was watching him in the bullpen," Hornacek told The Gazette-Journal of the reliever. "I got a good look at him when he was warming up. He threw the first pitch right down the pipe so I jumped on it."
Hornacek returned to Bakersfield for an abbreviated 1986, then split 1987 between single-A Vero Beach and single-A Miami and 1988 between Miami and Bakersfield. He hit .234 in 1987 and .218 in 1988.
He arrived in the White Sox system for 1989 and played at single-A South Bend. He hit .254 in 81 games there. He then moved to high-A Sarasota for 1990. He saw 17 games and hit .143 to end his career.
- Reno Gazette-Journal, May 2, 1985: Bakersfield tunes up bats, beats Padres
- Cedar Rapids Gazette, April 21, 1989: Crucial errors plague Reds in Midwest loss
Made the Majors:1,284-33.7%
Never Made Majors:2,522-66.3%-X
5+ Seasons in the Majors:526
10+ Seasons in the Minors:320-X
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