Ron Gardenhire Help...?

[cmuelken]

I have a game used bat of current twins manager Ron Gardenhire. On the knob of the bat is writen "20". I know alot of players write there number on the knob but was doing research and couldn't find when or if Gardenhire ever used number 20. I know in his major league days with the Mets he was #19. Anyone know if any information, have pics or anything that depict #20. It could be from his minor league days as well? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

[cmuelken]

Re: Ron Gardenhire Help...?

Any Mets fans out there that may be able to help out....?

[sox83cubs84]

Re: Ron Gardenhire Help...?

It MIGHT be a minor league bat, or else a MLB Mets bat that was used by a teammate. Players will sometimes use teammates bats for everything from experimenting with a new model to superstition about a hot hitting teammate's bats being full of hits.

With pics, we could date the bat...that would maybe narrow it down a bit.

Dave Miedema

[metsbats]

Re: Ron Gardenhire Help...?

Gardenhire played for the Mets between 1981-1985.

These are the players who wore no. 20 during those years

Greg Harris 1981
Rick Ownbey 1982-1983
Mike Fitzgerald 1984
Howard Johnson 1985

As Dave M stated a photo of the bat would help date the bat and perhaps narrow it down to one of these time periods during his Met years or one prior to them.

[cmuelken]

Re: Ron Gardenhire Help...?

Here are some pictures. There is no other numbers or information on the knob other than the "20". Thanks for your help too.

[metsbats]

Re: Ron Gardenhire Help...?

This appears to be from 1986 as evidenced by the foil stamped name and registered trademark symbol after "LOUISVILLE SLUGGER" which appeared on HB bats from the 86-89 time period.

Gardenhire played his last game as a Met in 1985 but as traded to the Twins where he spent time with the Triple A team before retiring.

If I had to guess the bat could have been used by Howard Johnson or by Gardenhire while he was playing for the Twins Triple A team (if his no. was 20 of course).