Ron Gant

Ronald Edwin Gant was born on March 2, 1965, in Victoria, Texas. His father, George Gant, worked as a chemistry professor, and his mother, Alice Hardeman, was a special education teacher. In high school, Gant played both football and baseball. He received strong recruiting interest from colleges such as Texas and Oklahoma but chose to turn down scholarship offers and go straight to professional baseball after graduation.

Gant was selected by the Atlanta Braves in the fourth round of the 1983 MLB draft, 100th overall. After being named the Braves' Minor League Player of the Year in 1986, he got a September call-up to the majors. In his first stint, he collected 22 hits in 83 at-bats, including two home runs. The following season, he became an everyday player for a struggling Braves team that finished 54–106.

After a rough sophomore year, he was sent back to the minors to learn outfield play. He returned to form in 1990, batting .303 with 32 home runs and 84 RBIs, earning the National League Comeback Player of the Year award from The Sporting News. That same year, he stole 33 bases, making him a member of the 30–30 club. He repeated the feat in 1991, joining Willie Mays and Bobby Bonds as the only players in MLB history to post back-to-back 30–30 seasons. (Barry Bonds later surpassed this with three straight 30–30 years.)

In 1992, Gant’s home run and stolen base numbers stayed similar, but his average dropped to .251 with over 100 strikeouts and 23 fewer hits in just 14 fewer at-bats. His RBI total rose to 105. The Braves lost the 1991 World Series to the Minnesota Twins in seven games; Gant hit .267 with four RBIs. During Game 2, a controversial play occurred when Twins first baseman Kent Hrbek tagged Gant off first base. Gant claimed Hrbek pulled his leg off the bag. Umpire Drew Coble ruled that Gant’s momentum carried him off, and the call stood. New York Times writer Claire Smith noted that Hrbek, at 235 pounds, appeared to lift the 172-pound Gant’s leg off the base. The Braves’ bench emptied in protest.

Gant never again hit .300, but his average climbed back into the .270s, and he consistently drove in over 80 runs, peaking at 117 in 1993. He finished in the top five in the league in RBIs in both 1991 and 1993. He made his final World Series appearance in 1992, getting one double in eight at-bats as the Braves lost in six games to the Toronto Blue Jays. On September 15, 1993, in a nationally televised game on ESPN, Gant hit a walk-off home run off Rob Dibble to cap a comeback from a 6–2 deficit in the bottom of the ninth.

Shortly after signing one of the richest contracts in Braves history, Gant broke his right leg in an ATV accident. The Braves released him. He did not play again until 1995, when he joined the Cincinnati Reds, then signed with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1996. The 1997 season was the low point of his career: he struck out 162 times and batted .229.

After the Cardinals reduced his playing time in 1998 (though he still hit 26 homers), they traded him along with Jeff Brantley and Cliff Politte to the Philadelphia Phillies for Ricky Bottalico and Garrett Stephenson on November 19. With the Phillies in 1999, Gant had his last quality season, batting .260 with 17 home runs, 77 RBIs, 13 stolen bases, 107 runs scored, 27 doubles, two triples, and 134 hits. That year, he tied for the lowest RBI total ever by a player with 25 or more homers (a mark later tied by Joc Pederson in 2015). After a non-productive 2003 season with the Oakland Athletics, Gant retired at age 38.

Over 16 seasons, Gant batted .256 with 321 home runs, 1,008 RBIs, 243 stolen bases, and 1,080 runs scored in 1,832 games. He had 302 doubles and 50 triples, totaling 1,651 hits in 6,449 at-bats, averaging 20 homers, 63 RBIs, and 15 steals per year. In postseason play, he hit .228 with eight home runs and 28 RBIs in 52 games, collecting 43 hits in 189 at-bats.

After retiring, Gant worked as a color commentator for the Atlanta Braves on TBS during the 2005 season. He also served as an analyst on SportSouth for Braves games and on the MLB Network. On October 25, 2012, he became a news anchor for Atlanta’s Fox station WAGA-TV, co-hosting the morning show Good Day Atlanta.