Ron Gardenhire

Ronald Clyde "Gardy" Gardenhire is a former Major League Baseball shortstop and current manager of the Minnesota Twins. He is six feet tall and weighed 175 pounds during most of his baseball career. Ron Gardenhire was born on a couch to a military family at the U.S. Army base in Butzbach, West Germany. Young Gardenhire expected to join the military, but his passion for baseball was also encouraged by his father. The family later settled in Oklahoma where he attended Okmulgee High School and college at the University of Texas at Austin. He played five seasons of baseball in the National... League with the New York Mets 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. He was often plagued by injuries, especially to his hamstring. Only twice did he play in more than 70 games in a season, in 1982 and 1984. Following the 1986 season he was traded to the Minnesota Twins, where he played one season for their Triple-A affiliate before retiring.
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