Ron Gardenhire

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.

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 was a very active and aggressive manager, frequently exiting the dugout to argue with the umpire, leading some to joke that "Gardy" got ejected more times in a season than Kelly did in his entire career. In his 13 seasons managing the Twins, Gardenhire was ejected 73 times.[3] An early 2006 television commercial for the Twins pokes fun at this, showing Gardenhire arguing with an office worker planning to go home after work rather than go to the Twins game.

Gardenhire in 2006

Gardenhire won the American League Manager of the Year Award in 2010[4] 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 Russa, who won the award outright an additional four times.[5] In 2009, he received the Chuck Tanner Major League Baseball Manager of the Year Award.

In thirteen seasons as the Twins manager, Gardenhire's team had a losing record five times (2007, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014), and won the division six times (the Twins lost a one-game playoff to the Chicago White Sox 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 advanced to the ALCS only once–his first season, in 2002–and did not advance to the World Series. In Gardenhire's tenure as the manager of the Twins, the Twins posted a playoff record of 6 wins and 21 losses. He is the only manager in MLB history to take a team to the playoffs at least six times and never make it to the World Series, and only one of four with at least four playoff appearances to never appear in it.[6]

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.[7] In October 2012, after two consecutive 90 plus loss seasons, Gardenhire was not given a contract extension past the 2013 season. On September 30, 2013, despite having another 90 plus loss season for the third year in a row, Gardenhire was given a 2-year extension through 2015. He had 998 career wins at the end of the 2013 season.

Gardenhire earned his 1,000th managerial victory on April 5, 2014 with a 7-3 victory over the Cleveland Indians at Progressive Field. He became the 60th manager in major league history to top one thousand wins. He is only the tenth manager to accomplish this feat with only one team, joining the Twins' previous manager, Tom Kelly, on that list.[8]

On September 29, 2014, Gardenhire was fired after 13 seasons as Twins manager and 27 years in the Twins organization.[9] The last four years of Gardenhire's tenure were the worst in Twins history.[10] This includes 383 losses and a record of 78-148 from August 1 to the end of the season.[10] His overall regular season record was 1,068–1,039 and his playoff record was 6–21.[11][12]

On October 20, 2017, it was announced that Gardenhire had signed a three-year contract to take the helm as manager of the Detroit Tigers, beginning in the 2018 season. He succeeded Brad Ausmus, who posted a 314–332 record in four seasons.[13]

In his first game as the Tigers' manager, Gardenhire was ejected after what initially appeared to be a walk off win in the 10th inning over the Pittsburgh Pirates was overturned on video review. The Tigers would end up losing to the Pirates 13-10 in 13 innings. [14]

As of games played on June 1, 2019.