It didn’t take long for speculation about Ron Gardenhire’s job security to start. By Wednesday of last week, six days after the 0-4 Twins had opened the 2012 season, speculation about whether Gardenhire would last the season as Twins manager had started including including a column from Star Tribune columnist Jim Souhan.
For Gardenhire loyalists—and there are many—such talk must be further evidence of how dysfunctional our sports society really is. “The win today or you’re gone” mantra in athletics seems to gain momentum every few years.
A look at the Gardenhire file shows a lot of winning. Now in his 11th season managing the Twins, Gardenhire’s teams have won six division titles. He was American League Manager of the Year in 2008 and 2010. Off the field he’s made himself available for local causes and his good-natured personality has long resonated with fans who approached him as strangers and left as friends.
Twins general manager Terry Ryan told Sports Headliners his franchise has someone special in Gardenhire. “He’s everything you’re looking for in a manager,” Ryan said. “”If he wasn’t here, he’d be snapped up in a day. He’s that good. He’s got the on field (skills). He’s got the off field. He’s got the knowledge. He’s got the respect.
“For me, this (job) was made for him. He’s a member of this community as much as he is a manager of the baseball team. This is where he belongs.”
Ryan said Gardenhire, 54, meets all the criteria needed in a manager—from leadership to dealing effectively with the media. “You put 10 things down that you want a manager to do, he does them all well,” Ryan said. “So what more can you ask?”
The Twins are off to a 2-7 start but Ryan believes the talent is available to be a competitive team, better than last year’s 99 loss club, the worst record for a Gardenhire club and only the second to play under .500 baseball. Ryan said the 2011 season was an “aberration” and wasn’t the manager’s fault.
“You can’t pin that on (former general manager) Bill Smith,” Ryan said. “You can’t pin that on Ron Gardenhire. We’re gonna pin it on the organization. So if you take that out of the equation—which I do and have—we’re talking about the manager of the year in 2010. That’s about all I need to say.”