Category: TTM

I loved watching Sweet Lou Piniella manage. He was fiery and motivated his team with a “I got ya back” attitude. He was also known to have a meltdown once in a while. I vividly remember one at the Metrodome years ago where he argued a play and got tossed. Before leaving the field, he tossed a bunch of bats and equipment on the field. It was glorious!
Today’s mail brought in a ticket that he signed from the April 8, 1986 game that was his managerial debut. He did not inscribe managerial debut as I requested but did include a 2007 Allen & Ginter card! Only one out of my three requests for the managerial debut inscription on a ticket worked and that was at a paid signing. I wonder if these guys consider managing when they were a bench coach or similar situation count as their debut and shy away from it otherwise.

Ron Gardenhire was one of the more feisty managers in Twins history. He was also a big time winner (even though he never won the World Series like Tom Kelly did). After he left the Twins, he managed in Detroit. I remember reading articles about how he would walk around the outside of the ballpark when the fans were waiting in line to enter and would chat with them. What a great guy. His son, Toby, is the manager of the St Paul Saints, the Twins AAA team. Gardy had some health problems and abruptly retired from managing late in 2020. I was able to acquire a ticket from the Tigers Authentics group for the game on September, 18, 2020. Since there were no fans allowed in 2020, the ticket really isn’t a ticket, at least for admission, but it is printed and looks just like a real ticket. I sent it off to Gardy and he signed it along with “Final Game as Mgr”. He did deserve a better send off than his last game with no fans but 2020 was a strange year anyway. The ticket is a pretty cool item from a pretty cool person.