Gardy Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

Gat R Done: As there's been no cache to find for months, I'm archiving it to keep it from continually showing up in search lists, and to prevent it from blocking other cache placements. If you have any questions, please contact me via email (gatrdoneMN@gmail.com) and include the GC#.

Gat R Done
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Hidden : 10/7/2010
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:

This cache was placed in honor of Gardy's birthday, Oct. 24th!

Ronald Clyde "Gardy" Gardenhire (born October 24, 1957 in Butzbach, Hesse, West Germany) is a former Major League Baseball infielder and the current manager of the MLB's Minnesota Twins.

Gardenhire attended Okmulgee High School in Oklahoma and college at the University of Texas at Austin.

He played five seasons of baseball with the New York Mets of the National League from 1981 to 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. Only twice in his career, in 1982 and 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 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, 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 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 Kelly did in his entire career (as of August 20, 2014, Gardenhire has been ejected 72 times). 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 won the American League Manager of the Year Award (in 2010) 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. 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 has had a losing record five times (2007, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014), and has 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 have advanced to the ALCS only once, and have not advanced to the World Series. In Gardenhire's tenure as the manager of the Twins, the Twins have 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.

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. 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 has 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.

On September 29, 2014, Gardenhire was fired after 13 seasons as Twins manager. The last four years of Gardenhire's tenure was the worst in Minnesota Twins history. This includes 383 losses and a record of 78-148 from August 1 to the end of the season. His overall regular season record was 1,068–1039 and his playoff record was 6–21.

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