The new ownership group was headed by Bill DeWitt Jr.. He grew up in St. Louis where his father, Bill DeWitt, was a baseball executive with the St. Louis Browns, Yankees, Tigers, and Reds. DeWitt Sr. even ended up owning the Reds for a few years in the 1960s.
DeWitt Jr.'s made many moves after taking ownership of the team in hopes of improving the on-field product. Tony LaRussa was hired as manager, the team traded for half of the Oakland A's and Royce Clayton, and the team signed two high end free agents. Andy Benes was signed to lead the rotation and long-time Brave Ron Gant was signed to bolster the middle of the lineup.
During his time with the Braves and Reds had frequently appeared in playoffs and was one of the better impact bats available that off season. He had left the Braves after he broke his leg in an ATV accident before the 1994 season. Gant proved himself worthy with a good year in Cincinnati....
which landed him a 5 million dollar a year contract with the Cardinals.
Gant's first season with the Cardinals was a huge success. He hit 30 home runs in just 122 games and the Cardinals got within a game of the NLCS. Gant was clutch throughout the unexpected playoff run.
Gant spent two more seasons on the Cardinals and they were not good. In 1997 the Cardinals struggled to score runs during the first half of the season and Gant was a large part of the problem. He had an OPS of just .698 and a slugging percentage of .388, or 50 points lower than leadoff hitter Delino DeShields.
Mark McGwire came over to the Cardinals from Oakland at the end of July in 1997. Gant was pushed down the lineup in 1998 in favor of hitting McGwire, Lankford, and Brian Jordan in the middle of the lineup. The team eventually traded for Fernando Tatis and brought up top prospect J.D. Drew. Add in the free agent signing of Eric Davis and Gant was toast in St. Louis.
Gant's role as a starter eventually diminished after leaving the Cardinals, but he still had some nice moments down the stretch of his career. Including a pretty good playoff game as a spot starter for the A's in 2001.
Baseball card wise, there are a lot of Ron Gant cards in a Cardinals uniform. I had a few hundred to sort through to find a few for this post. I narrowed it down to a small stack of cards. More specifically, one marble and a few baseball cards.
Marble first.
Baseball card wise, there are a lot of Ron Gant cards in a Cardinals uniform. I had a few hundred to sort through to find a few for this post. I narrowed it down to a small stack of cards. More specifically, one marble and a few baseball cards.
Marble first.
One of the great oddball sets of the 1990s is the 1997 Topps Marble Shooters set. The small plastic marbles are tough to find and can be pretty pricy at times. I have managed to scrap together the complete Cardinals set, three different marbles, over the course of 20 years. Gant was included in the set along with fellow outfielders Brian Jordan and Ray Lankford.
Not my favorite Gant, but certainly a great conversation piece.
Next up is a sort of cool low budget card.
Who can forget the old "You Crash The Game" cards that Upper Deck used to put in their card packs during the 1990s? Not sure how many people actually followed along with these cards and took advantage of the exchange program. Gant went yard twice against the Cubs on in a July 12th win.
Since Gant hit the home run, this card could be exchanged for a winning card.
I have seen some people call these Winner cards, other Cell cards. Whatever you want to call it, Ron Gant is wearing a Reds uniform on the card, but you just cannot see the logos on his jersey and batting helmet. There is only one number 6 on the Cardinals......
and it is not Ron Gant.
Last two quickly. I am supposed to be writing a newsletter, but this has been a great few minutes of procrastination.
This is THE Ron Gant baseball card. It does not matter if you get the 1997 Topps or Topps Chrome version of this card, both are pretty incredible. Same picture, just a matter of whether you want shine or no shine. If someone asked me about Ron Gant, this is where I would point them. This is what Ron Gant was as a baseball player. Even when he was on the Braves, his arms were rather bulky. He is still ripped to this day.......
Which brings me to my last card. If the 1997 Topps card shows what Ron Gant was as a baseball player, the 1999 Topps card shows what Ron Gant was a Cardinals player. This photo says it all....
He's swinging, he looks happy, and I am not sure he hit anything. I am not saying that Ron Gant was somehow happy about not hitting while he was on the Cardinals, but if I were getting paid a bunch of money to hit baseballs and have huge biceps I would be pretty happy most of the time too. Gant was not actually on the 1999 Cardinals, don't worry Topps got him a Phillies card in 1999.
Let's procrastinate three extra minutes to talk about why Topps made a card of Ron Gant in a Cardinals uniform after he retired. This is the card.....
Let's procrastinate three extra minutes to talk about why Topps made a card of Ron Gant in a Cardinals uniform after he retired. This is the card.....
Ron Gant got traded off the Cardinals at the end of the 1998 season because he could not hit consistently for power and then he and Tony LaRussa got into some sort of verbal spat. Not sure much good came out of Gant's time as a Cardinals. Why are we revisiting these three years? I am sure there are some Braves fans who would love to see a Ron Gant card, maybe the Reds? At least Topps stopped at one.
Any clip featuring an Athletic launching a homer against the Evil Empire is a great clip in my humble opinion. I vaguely remember his brief stints in Oakland, but mostly I remember Gant for his time in Atlanta. I stocked up on his 88 rookie cards.
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