Former Brave Ron Gant leaving ‘Good Day Atlanta’ as anchor after 14 years

“Good Day Atlanta” anchor Ron Gant is leaving after 14 years. The former Atlanta Braves player’s last day is Wednesday.

“This was completely my decision,” Gant told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution this week. “When my father passed away last October. it really made me reevaluate my life. I spent a lot of years not being at my kids’ events or being around family. I traveled so much.”

The 61-year-old Atlanta resident noted that he wants to spend more time with his mother, sister and other family members who live in Texas.

At the same time, Gant said four of his five adult children live in metro Atlanta, where he has resided since 1991, and he plans to keep his primary home here.

“Thank you guys so much. You’ve been so supportive,” Gant told the Fox 5 audience on “Good Day Atlanta” when he made the official announcement. “You’re always going to be part of my life no matter what.”

Beyond his broadcasting bona fides, Gant is best known in Atlanta for his tenure with the Braves from 1987 to 1993, playing a pivotal role as starting left fielder and cleanup hitter during the Braves’ “worst to first” 1991 season. In all, he spent 16 seasons as an MLB player on eight different teams, making the All-Star team twice and hitting 321 home runs.

After Gant retired from baseball, he moved into broadcast TV as a color commentator on TBS for Braves games as well as on national programs on the MLB Network. He spent four years as a regional sports analyst at Fox Sports South before landing a job on “Good Day Atlanta” in 2012.

“I didn’t seek that job at all,” he said. “Fox 5 had asked me to do an interview with (former Braves player) Chipper Jones when he retired. They then reached out to my agent. The next thing I knew, I was working for them.”

Gant admitted the transition wasn’t easy, in part because he had never read a teleprompter before. Evening anchor Russ Spencer, he said, mentored him and “taught me how to read the news. You’re trying to make it look like you’re not reading, like you’re having a conversation.”

Gant said he eventually felt comfortable. “Like in baseball,” he said, “I hung in there and got better.”

With retirement from TV news, he said he plans to hold baseball clinics for season ticket holders on behalf of the Braves and play more golf.

“Leaving,” Gant said, “hasn’t hit me yet because it hasn’t quite happened. I’m sure it will in a couple of weeks.”

He said he won’t miss the early hours but he will miss the people, “not just my co-anchors and reporters, but the producers and writers.”