Ron Gardenhire, Retired

Date of Birth: 10/24/1957
Birthplace: Hessen, Germany
College: University of Texas at Austin

Ron Gardenhire, manager of the Minnesota Twins from 2002 through 2014, had one of the longest tenures of active managers in major league baseball before being released at the end of September, 2014. He started his major league career as a player with the New York Mets in 1981. Although he played for the Mets for five years, he was often sidelined by injuries.

In 1987, the Mets traded Gardenhire to the Twins, who sent him down to the minor leagues. The following year, he became a manager of one of the Twins' minor league teams and he continued in that position until 1991, when he became the third base coach for the Twins.

After more than a decade as third base coach for the Twins, the team promoted Gardenhire to Manager in 2002. Gardenhire was a stellar manager of the Twins for his first eight years, leading them to first place in the AL Central division six times. In that time, the Twins have had eight winning records but they have gone to the ALCS only once and they have never made it to the World Series. Gardenhire's best year with the Twins was in 2006, when they finished in first place in the AL Central division with a record of 96-66 and a win percentage of .593. However, Gardenhire didn't win as AL manager of the year until 2010, when the team had a 94-68 record with a .580 win percentage, the third best record the Twins had under Gardenhire's leadership.

Gardenhire received a two-year contract extension prior to the 2014 season. However, after a fourth poor season finish for the Twins, he was fired on September 29, 2014. In 2011, the team finished with a 63-99 win-loss record and in 2012 and 2013, they had a 66-96 record. Their record was slightly better in 2014, with 70 wins to 92 losses, but they finished in last place in the American League Central division. Gardenhire's overall record as manager of the Twins was 1068 wins to 1039 losses.

Gardenhire was hired as the Arizona Diamondbacks bench coach on November 17, 2016.

On October 20, 2017, the Tigers gave Gardenhire a three-year contract to manage the team. He led the Tigers to 64 wins and 98 losses in 2018.

The Tigers and Gardenhire had a terrible season in 2019, finishing with the worst record in baseball. They had just 47 wins and 114 losses.

Gardenhire's record as a manager for 15 years in the major leagues is 1,179 wins and 1,251 losses.

Gardenhire retired on September 19, 2020.

Sources for Information
Wikipedia - Ron Gardenhire
Baseball Reference - Ron Gardenhire