Ronald Clyde "Gardy" Gardenhire (born October 24, 1957) is a former
Major League BaseballMajor League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
shortstopShortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the...
and current
managerIn baseball, the field manager is an individual who is responsible for matters of team strategy on the field and team leadership. Managers are typically assisted by between one and six assistant coaches, whose responsibilities are specialized...
of the
Minnesota TwinsThe Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...
.
He is six feet (183 cm) tall and weighed 175 (79 kg) pounds during most of his baseball career.
Early life
Ron Gardenhire was born on a
couchA couch, also called a sofa, is an item of furniture designed to seat more than one person, and providing support for the back and arms. Typically, it will have an armrest on either side. In homes couches are normally found in the family room, living room, den or the lounge...
to a military family at the U.S. Army base in Butzbach, West Germany. Young Gardenhire expected to join the military, but his passion for baseball was also encouraged by his father. The family later settled in
OklahomaOklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
where he attended Okmulgee High School and college at the
University of Texas at AustinThe University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
.
Playing career
He played five seasons of baseball in the
National LeagueThe National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League , is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball, and the world's oldest extant professional team sports league. Founded on February 2, 1876, to replace the National Association of Professional...
with the
New York MetsThe New York Mets are a professional baseball team based in the borough of Queens in New York City, New York. They belong to Major League Baseball's National League East Division. One of baseball's first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New York's departed National League...
from 1981 to 1985. The Mets drafted him in the sixth round of the
1979 amateur draftThe 1979 Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft was held on June 5-7, 1979, via conference call.-First round selections:The following are the first round picks in the 1979 Major League Baseball draft.* Did not sign- Background :...
. In his career, he played
shortstopShortstop, abbreviated SS, is the baseball fielding position between second and third base. Shortstop is often regarded as the most dynamic defensive position in baseball, because there are more right-handed hitters in baseball than left-handed hitters, and most hitters have a tendency to pull the...
,
second baseSecond base, or 2B, is the second of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a base runner in order to score a run for that player's team. A second baseman is the baseball player guarding second base...
, and
third baseA third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run...
. He was often plagued by injuries, especially to his
hamstringIn human anatomy, the hamstring refers to any one of the three posterior thigh muscles, or to the tendons that make up the borders of the space behind the knee. In modern anatomical contexts, however, they usually refer to the posterior thigh muscles, or the tendons of the semitendinosus, the...
. Only twice did he play in more than 70 games in a season, in 1982 and 1984. Following the 1986 season he was traded to the Minnesota Twins, where he played one season for their Triple-A affiliate before retiring.
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 LeagueThe Midwest League is a Class-A minor league baseball league which operates in the Midwestern United States.-History:Six teams – the Belleville Stags, the Centralia Cubs, the Marion Indians, the Mattoon Indians or East Frankfort White Sox, the Mount Vernon Braves, and the West Frankfort...
and Class AA
Southern LeagueThe Southern League is a minor league baseball league which operates in the Southern United States. It is classified a Double-A league. The original league was formed in , and shut down in . A new league, the Southern Association, was formed in , consisting of twelve teams...
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 SeriesThe 1991 World Series pitted the Minnesota Twins of the American League against the Atlanta Braves of the National League. The series was played from Saturday, October 19 to Sunday, October 27....
championship.
Twins manager
On January 4, 2002, Gardenhire was named manager of the Twins, replacing
Tom KellyJay Thomas Kelly , is the former manager of the Minnesota Twins baseball team from to . Currently, he serves as a Special Assistant to the General Manager for the Twins....
, who had won two
World SeriesThe World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball, played between the American League and National League champions since 1903. The winner of the World Series championship is determined through a best-of-seven playoff and awarded the Commissioner's Trophy...
titles with the Twins. In contrast to Kelly's relatively calm,
Bud GrantHarry Peter "Bud" Grant, Jr is the former longtime American football head coach of the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League for eighteen seasons. Grant was the second and fourth head coach of the team...
-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 22, 2011, Gardenhire has been ejected 57 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 won the American League Manager of the Year Award (in 2010) and has finished as runner-up five times while leading the Twins (in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2009). He finished third in the voting in 2002, his first season as manager. His five runner-up finishes are tied with
Tony La RussaAnthony "Tony" La Russa, Jr. is a former Major League Baseball manager and infielder, best known for his tenures as manager of the Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics, and St. Louis Cardinals...
, who won the award outright an additional four times. In 2009, he received the Chuck Tanner Major League Baseball Manager of the Year Award.
In nine years as the Twins manager, Gardenhire's team has had a losing record only twice (2007 & an injury-plagued 2011), and has won the division six times (the Twins lost a one-game playoff to the
Chicago White SoxThe Chicago White Sox are a Major League Baseball team located in Chicago, Illinois.The White Sox play in the American League's Central Division. Since , the White Sox have played in U.S. Cellular Field, which was originally called New Comiskey Park and nicknamed The Cell by local fans...
to determine the division champion at the end of the 2008 season). Despite all of the team's regular season success under Gardenhire, the Twins have advanced to the ALCS only once, and have not advanced to the World Series. In Gardenhire's tenure as the manager of the Twins, the Twins have posted a playoff record of 6 wins and 21 losses.
On November 13, 2008, Gardenhire signed a contract extension that kept him as Twins manager through the 2011 season. On November 18, 2010, the Twins announced a two-year contract extension for Gardenhire through 2013.
Family
Gardenhire is married to Carol (Kissling), who grew up in
White Bear Lake, MinnesotaWhite Bear Lake is a city in Ramsey and Washington counties in the U.S. state of Minnesota. The population was 23,797 at the 2010 census. The city is located on White Bear Lake, one of the largest lakes in the Minneapolis-St...
and is a graduate of Mariner High School. The Gardenhires have 3 children: son Toby (born September 8, 1982) and daughters Tiffany (born March 18, 1985) and Tara (born March 22, 1990). Toby was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 41st round of the 2005 MLB Draft and currently is a utility player for the
Rochester Red WingsThe Rochester Red Wings are a minor league baseball team based in Rochester, New York. The team plays in the International League and is the Triple-A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins major-league club. The Red Wings play in Frontier Field, located in downtown Rochester.The Red Wings were an...
, the Twins AAA affiliate. Like his father, Toby is known more for his glove than his bat. After hitting .188 in 50 games at Rochester in 2010, Toby has a career line of .228/.293/.261 with only 2 home runs in 430 minor league games while seeing playing time at all 9 defensive positions including 1 2/3 innings at pitcher.
External links