Ron Gardenhire

Twins manager who won AL Central six times and AL Manager of the Year in 2010.

Ron Gardenhire (born October 24, 1957) is an American former professional baseball player, coach, and manager. He played as a shortstop for the New York Mets from 1981 to 1985, later managed the Minnesota Twins from 2002 to 2014, and managed the Detroit Tigers from 2018 through most of 2020.

Quick Facts

Position

Shortstop
Manager
Coach

Bats

Right

Born

24 October 1957

Birthplace

Butzbach, West Germany

Debut league

MLB

Debut date

September 1

Debut year

1981

Debut team

New York Mets

Lore & Background

Gardenhire was born to a military family at a U.S. Army base in Butzbach, West Germany. He attended Okmulgee High School in Oklahoma and played college baseball at the University of Texas at Austin. He was drafted by the New York Mets in the sixth round of the 1979 MLB draft. After his playing career, he managed in the Twins farm system for three years, then served as a Twins coach from 1991 to 2001. He became Twins manager in 2002 and led the team to the American League Central title and AL Championship Series that year. He won the American League Manager of the Year Award in 2010. He was fired after the 2014 season and later managed the Detroit Tigers from 2018 until his retirement in 2020.

Reader's Guide

Gardenhire's managerial record with the Twins was 1,068–1,039 in the regular season and 6–21 in the playoffs. He became the 60th manager in MLB history to reach 1,000 wins. He was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame in 2022.

Did You Know?

Gardenhire was ejected 73 times in his 13 seasons as Twins manager.
He is one of only five managers with at least four playoff appearances to never appear in a World Series.
He set the University of Texas record for most RBIs in a single game (10) in 1978.