List of Minnesota Twins managers

Ron Gardenhire, manager of the Minnesota Twins since 2002

In its 108-year history, the Minnesota Twins baseball franchise of the American League has employed 29 managers. The duties of the manager include team strategy and leadership on and off the field. Eight of these team managers have been "player-managers", all during the Washington Senators era; specifically, they managed the team while still playing for it.

The Minnesota franchise began its life as the Washington Senators in Washington, D. C., where they played from their inception in 1901 to 1960. In the early twentieth century, the Senators were managed consecutively by three future members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, bookended by Bucky Harris, who managed the team from 1924 to 1928 and again from 1935 to 1942. Walter Johnson managed the team for four seasons from 1929 to 1932, and he was followed by Joe Cronin, who led for the next two seasons (1933–1934). In 1960, the American League awarded an expansion franchise to Minneapolis, Minnesota; however, owner Calvin Griffith moved his team to Minnesota, and Washington was awarded the expansion team instead. Thus, the Minnesota Twins began play at Metropolitan Stadium in downtown Minneapolis the following year, during the tenure of manager Cookie Lavagetto, and have played in the city since.

Seven managers have taken the franchise to the postseason, with current manager Ron Gardenhire leading them to four playoff appearances, the most in their franchise history. Two managers have won the World Series with the franchise: Bucky Harris, in 1924 against the New York Giants; and Tom Kelly, in 1987 against the St. Louis Cardinals and 1991 against the Atlanta Braves. Harris is also the longest-tenured manager in their franchise history, with 2,776 games of service in parts of 18 seasons between 1924 and 1954; he is followed by Kelly, who managed 2,386 games over 16 seasons from 1986 to 2001. The manager with the highest winning percentage in team history is Billy Martin, who managed the team in 1969 and achieved a record of 97–65 (.599). Conversely, the manager with the lowest winning percentage is Malachi Kittridge, whose winning percentage of .059 was achieved with a record of 1–16 in the first half of 1904. Kittridge's tenure is also the shortest in team history.

Table key

Clark Griffith, manager, 1912–1920

WPct	Winning percentage: number of wins divided by number of games managed
PA	Playoff appearances: number of years this manager has led the franchise to the playoffs
PW	Playoff wins: number of wins this manager has accrued in the playoffs
PL	Playoff losses: number of losses this manager has accrued in the playoffs
WS	World Series: number of World Series victories achieved by the manager
†	Elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame
§	Member of the Twins Hall of Fame

Managers

File:BuckyHarris.jpg

Bucky Harris, three-time manager; 1924–1928, 1935–1942, 1950–1954

File:JoeCronin.jpg

Joe Cronin, manager, 1933–1934

#[a]	Manager	Years	Wins	Losses	WPct	PA	PW	PL	WS	Ref
1	Jim Manning	1901	61	73	.455	—	—	—	—
2	Tom Loftus	1902–1903	104	169	.381	—	—	—	—
3	Malachi Kittridge	1904	1	16	.059	—	—	—	—
4	Patsy Donovan	1904	37	97	.296	—	—	—	—
5	Jake Stahl	1905–1906	119	182	.395	—	—	—	—
6	Joe Cantillon	1907–1909	158	297	.347	—	—	—	—
7	Jimmy McAleer	1910–1911	130	175	.426	—	—	—	—
8	Clark Griffith†	1912–1920	693	646	.518	—	—	—	—
9	George McBride	1921	80	73	.523	—	—	—	—
10	Clyde Milan	1922	69	85	.448	—	—	—	—
11	Donie Bush	1923	75	78	.490	—	—	—	—
12	Bucky Harris†	1924–1928	429	334	.562	2	7	7	1
13	Walter Johnson†	1929–1932	350	264	.570	—	—	—	—
14	Joe Cronin†	1933–1934	165	139	.543	1	1	4	0
—	Bucky Harris†	1935–1942	558	663	.457	—	—	—	—
15	Ossie Bluege	1943–1947	375	394	.488	—	—	—	—
16	Joe Kuhel	1948–1949	106	201	.345	—	—	—	—
—	Bucky Harris†	1950–1954	349	419	.454	—	—	—	—
17	Chuck Dressen	1955–1957	116	212	.354	—	—	—	—
18	Cookie Lavagetto	1957–1961	271	384	.414	—	—	—	—
19	Sam Mele	1961–1967	522	431	.377	1	3	4	0
20	Cal Ermer	1967–1968	145	129	.529	—	—	—	—
21	Billy Martin	1969	97	65	.599	1	0	3	0
22	Bill Rigney	1970–1972	208	184	.531	1	0	3	0
23	Frank Quilici	1972–1975	280	287	.494	—	—	—	—
24	Gene Mauch	1976–1980	378	394	.490	—	—	—	—
25	Johnny Goryl	1980–1981	34	38	.472	—	—	—	—
26	Billy Gardner	1981–1985	268	353	.278	—	—	—	—
27	Ray Miller	1985–1986	109	130	.456	—	—	—	—
28	Tom Kelly§[b]	1986–2001	1140	1244	.478	2	16	8	2
29	Ron Gardenhire	2002–present	534	437	.550	4	6	15	0
Totals			7963	8597	.481	10	33	44	3

Statistics current through 2007 season

Footnotes

• ^a #: running total of the number of Twins managers. Thus, any manager who has two or more separate terms is only counted once.
• ^b Tom Kelly won the Manager of the Year Award in 1991.

References

General references

• "Minnesota Twins Team History". Baseball Reference. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
• "Minnesota Twins Managerial Records". Baseball Reference. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
• "Twins All-Time Managers". Minnesota Twins. Retrieved 2008-08-07.

In-text citations

External links

• Official Website of the Minnesota Twins