Tom Kelly managed 2,385 career regular-season games for the Twins between 1986 and 2001, and he was ejected just five times in that entire span (and never more than once in a season).
What gives with Twins manager Rocco Baldelli and all these recent ejections?
Twins managers have tended to be mild-mannered since Ron Gardenhire was fired. But that has changed lately.
August 24, 2022 at 3:51PM
Twins fans had quite an adjustment, then, when the more mercurial Ron Gardenhire took over as manager in 2002. Gardy had four ejections that season, tied for the most in the American League. as the Twins won the AL Central. Gardenhire would lead or co-lead the AL in ejections seven more times, including six years in a row from 2006-2011.
His fuse was short enough while his ejection list was long enough — 71 with the Twins and 13 more with the Tigers — to rank No. 7 on MLB's all-time list and to inspire a 47-minute YouTube compilation.
The days of Twins managers kicking up dirt, gesturing wildly and leading viewers on a lip-reading journey largely ended, though, when Gardenhire was fired after five ejections and a fourth-straight 90-loss season in 2014.
Paul Molitor, Gardenhire's replacement, was tossed just eight times in four seasons. Rocco Baldelli took over in 2019 and brought continued serenity. He was ejected six times in his first three seasons. Neither Molitor nor Baldelli were given the heave-ho more than three times in any year from 2015-2021.
But the mood and temperament has changed in 2022, as I talked about on Wednesday's Daily Delivery podcast.
Baldelli was ejected from Tuesday's 4-2 loss to the Astros for protesting being charged a mound visit — and for the lack of clarity that ensued — during a wild fifth inning.
It was Baldelli's second ejection this month and his fourth this season — the most for a Twins manager in a single year since the red-faced Gardenhire era.
Baldelli's third ejection a couple weeks ago for arguing an overturned call at home plate involving Gary Sanchez was accompanied by a lengthy postgame rant in which Baldelli said the call was "pathetic." (Gardenhire, by the way, recently called Baldelli's rant "the best ever.")
Perhaps it is just circumstantial, with more inflammatory moments this year leading to more heated moments from Baldelli. Maybe it's a sign of the stress of an up-and-down year. Maybe it's a manager getting more comfortable asserting himself.
Whatever the case, Baldelli is now tied for the third-most ejections in the majors this season behind the Yankees' Aaron Boone (six) and Cubs' David Ross (five).
He still as a long way to go to catch Gardenhire, but Baldelli is gaining faster than ever.
When he was hired after the disastrous 2016 season to reshape the Twins, Derek Falvey brought a reputation for identifying and developing pitching talent. It took a while, but the pipeline we were promised is now materializing.
