ISU Student in baseball

In 1998, born and raised North Carolinian Tyrone Horne made headlines by doing something no one else in the history of professional baseball had ever done before or has replicated since.

It could be argued that most readers of The Bengal do so while at school or if nothing else, in a public place. So, take a moment from reading this and look up. Chances are there are people all around. Any idea who those people are, where they've come from or where they're going?

The point is one never knows who could be walking in a crowd entirely undetected.

Horne, a junior at the Idaho Falls Campus of ISU, majoring in physical education and minoring in coaching, played professional baseball after being drafted in 1990, by the Montreal Expos right out of high school.

He stayed with the Expos for five and half years before being traded to the New York Yankees, where he stayed for two more. He also played for the New York Mets, Florida Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies as well as in the major leagues in South Korea.

However, it is July 27, 1998 that stands out in the minds of most baseball fans. While playing for the Arkansas Travelers, whose parent team was the Cardinals, Horne became the first and still only professional baseball player to homer for the cycle. Ironically, Horne said, "I woke up [that] morning with a bad vibe about the game. I was going to ask my manager for the day off...I had probably the worst batting practice all season. I knew I was going to have a bad day."

"The pitcher I had seen in game one and I wasn't looking forward to facing him again."

"First at bat, I hit a home run. Home runs are rare there because there's wind coming from all directions. I was really surprised," he said.

"I got up again and 'whop,' hit a grand slam," he said that at his third at bat, in the fifth inning, his roommate asked him if he thought he'd try for a third home run, he said he wouldn't.

But sure enough, Horne hit a solo and in the sixth inning, completed the "cycle" with a three-run homer.

Said Horne, "It was probably one of the most climactic times of my life...and it was just a great feeling." He said the funny thing about the event was that after the game he was eating and turned on Sportscenter and saw himself. "I'm sitting there eating food, watching myself run bases."

Horne struck out in the eighth inning with two men on base, but Horne's 10 runs-batted-in (RBIs) was more than enough to help lead the team to a 13-4 victory over the Missions and land Horne a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

"I didn't know, no one knew till after the game. When we got back we got calls from Cooperstown." He said they asked for his bat, uniform and a picture which are still there.

"At the time, coming from a small town, I was giddy. It's a nice honor, you know? Everybody always dreams of following in the footsteps of like Mickey Mantle and Hank Aaron and all those greats."

Horne said the thing he values most about his experience was the opportunity to talk with greats like Hank Aaron, Mark McGuire, Dave Stewart, Sammy Sosa, and Dave Nelson about the game. "I was like a sponge, I just absorbed. I just absorbed it all, everything they told me."

In 2001, after a 12-year run in professional baseball, Horne had neck surgery due a ruptured disc and wear and tear.

"That put me into retirement," Horne said.

Growing up in Troy, NC, Horne played three sports: basketball, baseball and football. "I can remember every Saturday morning watching a baseball show and going out doing what I saw on TV. I guess I had an innate talent. I never went to baseball camps. It was just something I did." Although his passion was for football, there was talk from his coach in high school that he might be drafted for baseball. "I wasn't too much concerned about that...when it happened, I was really happy."

After being drafted, he and 10 other players were sent to play for the Pioneers in Pocatello, where Horne met his ex-wife. The pair dated for two years and got married. Together they had two girls, now 4 and 7, who are Horne's motivation for coming back to Idaho Falls after his baseball career.

Now his goal is to open all-star indoor batting cages in places like Idaho Falls and eventually, he aims to coach major league baseball.

"If I can't play, I want to coach."