Rocco Baldelli had a sneaking suspicion that Ron Gardenhire was still a Minnesota Twins fan at heart. Although he spent 2018 to 2020 with the Detroit Tigers, Gardy managed the Twins for over a decade. He was in the dugout when Minnesota beat the Oakland A’s in 2002, and he sat by former GM Terry Ryan’s side at an exit press conference after Ryan fired him in 2014.
“He’s always seemed like a Twins fan a little bit and pulling for the organization in a lot of ways,” said Baldelli before Gardenhire returned to Target Field on Saturday. “And even though he was competing like hell on the other side of the field for a period of time, you still feel like he’s a Twin in his heart.”
“I watch all the time,” confirmed Gardenhire.
Gardenhire, Dan Gladden, and César Tovar entered the Twins Hall of Fame this weekend. The parsimonious Twins avoided contraction the year before Gardy took over, and he led them to 90-win seasons in three of his first four years. But his teams were 6-21 (.222) in the postseason, and Minnesota was a 60-win team in three of his final four seasons.
Ryan and Gardenhire’s methods became outmoded in the modern game. While Gardy may have eliminated the Moneyball A’s from the playoffs in his first season, the best teams become more analytically focused. Baldelli has immersed himself in advanced numbers and manages with a different philosophy. Gardy was irascible; Rocco is tranquil. Gardy managed with his gut; Rocco adheres to the analytics. Gardy had the same staff for years; Rocco’s turns over every year.
But Gardenhire and Baldelli share one thing in common. They care for their guys, and Gardy appreciated it when Baldelli let loose on the umpires after they overturned a game-changing play at the plate on Aug. 8.
“Oh my God, that was the best ever,” Gardenhire gushed. “Over at home plate, I’m telling you what, if I had had his number, I woulda called him. That was good stuff from him, I’m telling ya.”
Gardenhire is something of an ejection connoisseur. His 84 dismissals are seventh all-time in baseball history. It didn’t take much to get him to leave the dugout, face red as a tomato, and kick his hat in protest of a call. Conversely, Baldelli rarely gets as upset as he did after the Toronto Blue Jays game earlier this month. Gardy felt Baldelli was in the right and says his wife, Carol, nearly booted him out of the house after the umpires in New York overturned the call.
“The call? A joke,” says Gardenhire. “That was absolutely a joke, alright? The catcher did everything perfect. The ball took him into the plate to catch the ball, he blocked the plate, ate the guy up. That’s baseball, right? And then some guy in New York, some little guy, probably with a big pad in his back pocket, right? He decided to change it.
“My wife almost kicked me out of the house. That’s how mad I was. Rocco was awesome. That was good stuff.”
“He gained so much respect from the fans,” added Gladden, who was sitting next to him. “And the hat toss was –”
“[It] crawled up along the fence,” Gardenhire chuckled, cutting Gladden off.
“He did everything right. He was leaning on the wall over there like a hockey player. He did everything right. I was proud of him, and I told him that.”
Part of the reason why it played so well is that Baldelli’s outrage was genuine. Baldelli let loose on the field, and he hadn’t calmed down when the media descended upon him after the game.
“I wasn’t given an explanation because, truthfully, there’s no explanation to give on that play,” Baldelli said at the beginning of a long rant after the game. “That was probably one of the most chickenshit things I’ve ever seen on a baseball field.”
Baldelli isn’t going to become the firebrand that Gardenhire was. But his outburst won over fans who want to see passion from the serene manager. It also probably played well in the clubhouse.
He certainly won over Gardenhire, who’s still accruing ejections. Even if it’s his wife who’s giving him the heave-ho these days.
