26 Facts About Ron Gardenhire

Ronald Clyde Gardenhire was born on October 24,1957 and is an American former professional baseball player, coach, and manager.

Ron Gardenhire played as a shortstop for the New York Mets from 1981 through 1985.

Ron Gardenhire then coached for the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2017 and managed the Detroit Tigers from 2018 through most of 2020, when he retired from baseball.

Ron Gardenhire was born to a military family at the US Army base in Butzbach, West Germany.

Ron Gardenhire played for the Mets for five seasons, from 1981 to 1985.

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Ron Gardenhire was plagued by injuries, especially to his hamstring.

Ron Gardenhire stood six feet tall, and weighed 175 pounds during most of his baseball playing career.

Three years after he retired as a player, Ron Gardenhire 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.

On January 4,2002, Ron 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, Ron Gardenhire was a very active and aggressive manager, frequently exiting the dugout to argue with umpires, leading some to joke that "Gardy" got ejected more times in a season than Kelly did in his entire career.

An early 2006 television commercial for the Twins pokes fun at this, showing Ron Gardenhire arguing with an office worker planning to go home after work rather than go to the Twins game.

In thirteen seasons as the Twins' manager, Ron Gardenhire's team had a losing record five times, and won the division six times.

Ron Gardenhire was the first manager in major league history to take a team to the playoffs six times in a tenure and never make it to the World Series, and he is one of just five managers with at least four playoff appearances to never appear in one.

Ron Gardenhire won the American League Manager of the Year Award in 2010 and finished as runner-up for the award in 2003,2004,2006,2008, and 2009 while leading the Twins.

Ron Gardenhire finished third in the voting in 2002, his first season as manager.

On November 13,2008, Ron Gardenhire signed a contract extension that kept him as the Twins' manager through the 2011 season.

In October 2012, after two consecutive 90 plus loss seasons, Ron Gardenhire was not given a contract extension past the 2013 season.

Ron Gardenhire became the 60th manager in major league history to top one thousand wins.

Ron Gardenhire is only the tenth manager to accomplish this feat with only one team, joining the Twins' previous manager, Tom Kelly, on that list.

On September 29,2014, Ron Gardenhire was fired after 13 seasons as Twins manager and 27 years in the Twins organization.

Ron Gardenhire will be inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame in 2022.

On October 20,2017, it was announced that Ron Gardenhire had signed a three-year contract to take the helm of the Detroit Tigers beginning in the 2018 season.

On September 19,2020, Ron Gardenhire announced his retirement as a manager due to health concerns.

In 1991, Ron Gardenhire became the Twins' third base coach and held that post for 11 full seasons, including the team's 1991 World Series championship.

Ron Gardenhire began the 2017 season as the bench coach of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

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Ron Gardenhire was replaced by Jerry Narron, who took over as interim bench coach.