2002 Topps 206 Ron Gardenhire and Overlap

And Happy World Series Eve!

2002 Topps 206 Ron Gardenhire (#398) - Card of the Day

From late in 1986 through 2014, the Minnesota Twins enjoyed a remarkable run of stability in their dugout.

During that nearly three-decade period, Minnesota could count on the maneuvering of just two managers — Tom Kelly from 1986 through 2001, and Ron Gardenhire from 2002 through 2014.

Of course, the two men share another, earlier bond, too, as Gardy wrapped up his playing career in 1987 for the Twins’ Triple-A affiliate Portland Beavers after eight seasons in the Mets system.

The very next season, Gardenhire began his coaching tenure in the Twins’ bushes before taking over as Kelly’s third base coach in Minnesota from 1991 through 2001.

So it made sense that Gardenhire was the heir apparent, and then the actual heir, when Kelly announced his retirement in October 2001.

Now, when Kelly took the reins back in the mid-1980s, Topps was making manager cards, but it was pretty much one and done — each team got the skipper they had at the end of the year before, and don’t ask for anything more.

So, we got a 1986 Topps Ray Miller and a 1987 Topps Tom Kelly, and nothing in between.

But by 2002, when Gardenhire took over, the hobby had exploded to the point that there were something like 650 sets issued.

And, yes, that did mean we got to see Kelly one last time, on his 2002 Topps card …

… and Gardenhire, for the first time as a big league manager, on his 2002 Topps 206 card …

And maybe it was fitting that old (Kelly) was new (Topps) and new (Gardy) was old (206) — a symbolic changing of the guard with a cardboard twist-tie to bond them forever.

And, though neither man has yet been alive forever, Gardenhire (who also managed the Tigers from 2018-2020) does turn 67 years old today.

An Early Return to the Lair

One fortunate side effect of playoff expansion is that we get the privilege of still having a handful of real baseball games remaining as Halloween bears down on us. For all the warts that a loooonggg baseball calendar entails, I’ll take a day with games over a day without games any month of the year.

It wasn’t always that way.

In fact, 40 years ago, the juggernaut Detroit Tigers had already owned the title of “World Champions” for ten days by this date!

That five-game World Series against the Padres wasn’t much to write home about, but it was something to write a blog post about…and so I did, once upon a time. Check out my rundown of one baseball card for each game of the 1984 Fall Classic right here.

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So, our very own 2024 World Series starts tomorrow. Lucky us!

Who are you rooting for in this one?

Me, I’m still rooting for the Reds, as always, reality be darned. If Tito can pull this one off, they can just hand him his plaque along with the bottle of champagne.

Thanks for reading.

—Adam

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