Ron Gardenhire

Infobox MLB retired
bgcolor1=#c6011f
bgcolor2=#072764
textcolor1=white
textcolor2=white


width=230 px
name=Ron Gardenhire
position=Manager
bats=Right
throws=Right
birthdate=birth date and age|1957|10|24
debutdate=September 1
debutyear=1981
debutteam=New York Mets
finaldate=October 6
finalyear=1985
finalteam=New York Mets
stat1label=Batting average
stat1value=.232
stat2label=Home runs
stat2value=4
stat3label=Hits
stat3value=165
teams= As Player
*New York Mets (by|1981-by|1985)As Manager
*Minnesota Twins (by|2002-present)
highlights=
*Finished in 1st place 4 times in the AL Central

Ronald Clyde Gardenhire (born October 24, 1957 in Butzbach, Hesse, Germany) is a manager in Major League Baseball for the Minnesota Twins in the American League. He attended Okmulgee High School in Oklahoma and college at the University of Texas at Austin.

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 by|1981 to by|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 muscle. Only twice in his career, in by|1982 and by|1984, did he play over 70 games in the season.

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

On January 4, by|2002, Gardenhire was named manager of the Twins, replacing Tom Kelly, who had won two World Series titles with the Twins. In contrast to "TK"'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 TK did in his entire career (as of July 31, 2008, Gardenhire has been ejected 41 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. He has been nicknamed 'Gardy'.

Managerial career

(through July 31, 2008)

ee 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

External links

* [http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/team/coach_staff_bio.jsp?c_id=min&coachorstaffid=43010117524 Gardenhire bio at the Minnesota Twins' official website]
* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/managers/gardero01.shtml Baseball-Reference.com] - playing statistics and managing record
* [http://www.ultimatemets.com/profile.php?PlayerCode=0312 Ron Gardenhire at Ultimate Mets Database]