That Time Ron Gant Took His Bazooka to the River(front)
Will Grandy Man fare any better on the writers' ballot?
1989 Bazooka Ron Gant (#9) - Card of the Day
The summer of 1995 turned out to be one of my favorite “surprise” baseball seasons ever. The campaign got off to a late start as owners and players finally figured out a way to end the strike that killed the last three months of the 1994 season, including the playoffs and World Series.
Like many fans, I wasn’t sure I could dive back into the game, at least not quickly. I was still sore that Tony Gwynn didn’t get his shot at .400 and that Matt Williams didn’t get his shot at Roger Maris. To this day, I swear Williams could have been a Hall of Famer and maybe even headed off the “Steroid Era” if not for the strike.
(Yes, I know other players — most of them, in fact — were plenty affected, too…Fred McGriff, Ken Griffey Jr., Les Expos, etc.)
But despite my reticence, my Reds pulled me back in.
After a rough start to the season that began in late April (0-6, 1-8), the Reds began winning in May, and by the end of the month, they were 20-11, tied for first in the new National League Central.
That’s about the time I remembered that the Reds had “won” the division the previous year, too, standing at 66-48 when the strike struck.
Maybe there was something to this strong start?
Maybe. But there was something more, too — these Reds were fun!
Many of the faces from the 1990 World Series team had come and gone, but holdovers like eventual MVP Barry Larkin, Hal Morris, and Jose Rijo were still around to remind the newbies about the recent glory.
Those newcomers were a mashup of young and old, numbering had-beens, would-bes, and never-quites like John Smiley, Benito Santiago, Pete Schourek, David Wells, Jeff Branson, Jeff Brantley, Reggie Sanders, and others.
At the head of the Big Red Frankenstein was the smartest guy in the room, second-year Reds manager and turnaround specialist Davey Johnson.
For me, though, maybe the most exciting of all Reds that summer was Ron Gant, signed as a free agent in June of 1994 while he was injured. With a one-year prove-it deal in hand and echoes of Eric Davis echoing through Riverfront Stadium, Gant flexed his muscle (literally and figuratively) in Cincinnati to the tune of .276, 29 home runs, 88 RBI, 79 runs scored, and 23 stolen bases while holding down leftfield most of the summer.
For his efforts, Gant was selected as the National League’s designated hitter for the All-Star Game held that July at the Ballpark in Arlington, yielding left to some guy named Barry Bonds. It was Gant’s second visit to the Midsummer Classic, and it ended up being his last.
But Gant had re-established himself as a 30-30 threat and one of the most exciting players in the game. He hit free agency again that fall, and predictably found a bigger bankroll elsewhere. Unfortunately for Reds fans, that elsewhere turned out to be new division-rival St. Louis.
Before Gant’s green(back) and red(bird) goodbye, though, there was still business to attend to. First, the Reds manhandled their division, winning the Central by nine games over the second-place Astros. Then,they swept the Dodgers in the National League Division Series. Gant hit just .231, but with a home run and two RBI.
Then…
Well, then the Reds ran into Gant's old team, the Atlanta Braves. The eventual World Series champs swept Cincy while Gant hit just .188 in four games. That fall, and the next year, collectors got our only cardboard versions of Gant-in-Reds-garb, like this contemplative 1995 Collector’s Choice SE (#196):
But even though he’s in the “wrong” uniform, it’s hard for the oldster collector in me to resist Gant’s 1989 Bazooka card, the one you see up top. Not only is Gant wearing the uniform in which he made most of his hay, but it’s a Bazooka card.
Ever since I saw a black-and-white pic of the thing in an old price guide in the 1980s, the 1959 Bazooka Hank Aaron has been my hobby white whale. I’ll never touch that card, let alone own it, so a 30-years-later Bazooka card of another Braves slugger is an acceptable proxy.
And there’s another place where Gant turns up as a proxy.
To wit, Curtis Granderson appears on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time in 2025. According to Baseball Reference’s Similarity Scores, Gant is the fourth-most similar batter to Granderson in baseball history.
So, can we read anything in Granderson’s Cooperstown chances by looking back at Gant’s ballot performance?
Grandy Man surely hopes not.
Because, in his lone appearance on the ticket, in 2009, Gant failed to pick up even a single vote. Interestingly enough, future Hall of Famer and perennial lightning rod Harold Baines garnered 32 votes that year.
Which just goes to show that the vote, like the hobby, can still be a subjective exercise.