Athletes - Billy Gardner

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	Athletes - Billy Gardner

William Frederick Gardner (born July 19 1927 in Waterford, Connecticut) is an American former Major League Baseball player. Gardner was a scrappy light-hitting second basemen who batted and threw right-handed. Gardner played for the New York Giants, Baltimore Orioles, Washington Senators (later the Minnesota Twins), New York Yankees, and the Boston Red Sox. His only significant time on any team was with the Orioles, when he had four straight full seasons with them from 1956-1959. He was also notable for managing the Minnesota Twins and Kansas City Royals.

Gardner was signed by the Giants and came up with them on April 22, 1954. In early 1956, he was purchased by the Orioles, which is where the bulk of his career began, and he would begin to secure himself as an every-day player.

Gardner was not speedy, picking up a career-high of only 10 steals, but in his best season of 1957, he did lead the league in doubles with 36, and at bats with 644. He batted .262 that season with 6 home runs and 55 RBIs in the full 154 games that he could play. Gardner also came in the top 10 in hit by pitches twice (1956, '57), with a career-high of 8 in 1957 (5th in the league).

He wound up on the powerful 1961 Yankees, winning the 1961 World Series with them against the Cincinnati Reds. In his one and only at bat of the postseason, he lined out to short stop in the 9th inning of Game 2. The Yankees lost the game 6-2. He was never an every-day player with the Yankees, because at the time, they had Bobby Richardson to fill the spot. He ended his career with 2 years on the Red Sox, picking up 70 hits with them, in 283 at bats.

He was a fairly good fielder, finishing with a .976 fielding percentage all-time.

In 10 seasons (some not full), Gardner batted .237 with 41 home runs and 271 RBIs in 1034 games played. He picked up 841 hits, with 159 doubles and 18 triples, in 3544 career at bats. He finished with 19 career steals.

Gardner was a major league coach for the Red Sox (1965-66), Montreal Expos (1977-78), and the Twins (1981) and then managed them from 1981 through 1985, never leading them to the playoffs, and only once not serving up a losing record (1984, 81-81). He finished with a 268-353 record with them, before nabbing a job with the Royals as their manager in 1987. After first being considered for third-base coach, terminally ill Royals manager Dick Howser retired during spring training, and Gardner got the position. He was fired in August of that year after going 62-64, and John Wathan took over. All in all in his managing career, he was 330-417 in his career, a .442 winning percentage.

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