Ron Gardenhire
Minnesota Twins — No. 35
Shortstop / Manager
Born: October 24, 1957 (1957-10-24) (age 52) Butzbach, Hesse, West Germany
Batted: Right	Threw: Right
MLB debut
September 1, 1981 for the New York Mets
Last MLB appearance
October 6, 1985 for the New York Mets
Career statistics
Batting average	.232
Home runs	4
Hits	165
Teams
As Player New York Mets (1981-1985) As Manager Minnesota Twins (2002-present)
Career highlights and awards
Five-time AL Central champion

Ronald Clyde "Gardy" Gardenhire (born October 24, 1957 in Butzbach, Hesse, West Germany) is a former Major League Baseball infielder and the current manager of the MLB's Minnesota Twins.

He is six feet (183 cm) tall and, during his baseball career, weighed 175 pounds (79 kg). He played five seasons of baseball with the New York Mets of the National League from 1981 to 1985. The Mets drafted him in the sixth round of the 1979 amateur draft. In his career, he played shortstop, second base, and third base. During his career, he was often plagued by injuries, especially to his hamstring. Only twice in his career, in 1982 and 1984, did he play over 70 games in the season.

Gardenhire attended Okmulgee High School in Oklahoma and college at the University of Texas at Austin.

[edit] Post-playing career

For three years after he retired (1988–90), he was a manager in the Minnesota farm system, leading teams in the Class A Midwest League and Class AA Southern League to one second- and two first-place finishes. In 1991, Gardenhire became the Twins' third base coach and held that post for 11 full seasons, including the team's 1991 World Series championship.

[edit] Twins manager

On January 4, 2002, Gardenhire was named manager of the Twins, replacing Tom Kelly, who had won two World Series titles with the Twins. In contrast to Kelly's relatively calm, Bud Grant-like coaching style, Gardenhire is a very active and aggressive manager, frequently exiting the dugout to argue with the umpire, leading some to joke that "Gardy" gets ejected more times in a season than Kelly did in his entire career (as of August 7 2009, Gardenhire has been ejected 46 times). An early 2006 television commercial for the Twins pokes fun at this, showing Gardenhire arguing with a (presumably Twin Cities area) office worker planning to go home after work rather than go to the Twins game.

Gardenhire has finished as runner-up for Manager of the Year four times while leading the Twins (in 2003, 2004, 2006, and 2008). He finished third in the voting in 2002, his first season as manager. His four runner-up finishes are second only to Tony La Russa, who has finished second five times (and won four). ^[1]

In eight years as the Twins manager, Gardenhire's team has won the division five times (and lost a one-game playoff to the Chicago White Sox to determine the division champion at the end of the 2008 season). The Twins have had a losing record just once (in 2007) during Gardenhire's tenure. On November 13, 2008, Gardenhire signed a contract extension that will keep him the Twins manager through the 2011 season.

[edit] Managerial record

(through October 6, 2009)

[edit] Family

Gardenhire and his wife, former Carol Kissling, who grew up in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, and is a graduate of Mariner High School, have 3 children : Toby (9-8-1982), Tiffany (3-18-1985) and Tara (3-22-1990)^[2].

[edit] See also

• List of Major League Baseball managers in 2006
• List of Major League Baseball managers in 2007
• List of Major League Baseball managers in 2008

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Gardenhire bio at the Minnesota Twins' official website
• Major league career managerial statistics from Baseball-Reference
• Career statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference, or The Baseball Cube
• Ron Gardenhire at Ultimate Mets Database