Gardy honored in pregame for 1,000 wins

MINNEAPOLIS -- The Twins honored manager Ron Gardenhire for reaching 1,000 wins with a special pregame ceremony at Target Field before Wednesday's game against the A's.

Gardenhire reached the milestone on Saturday, becoming the 60th manager to reach 1,000 wins, and just the 10th do it all with one team.

The Twins showed a video tribute to Gardenhire before the game with highlights from his career. Several current and former Twins congratulated him in the video such as Tom Kelly, Joe Mauer, Joe Nathan, A.J. Pierzynski, Jesse Crain, Doug Mientkiewicz, Torii Hunter, Michael Cuddyer, Corey Koskie, Scott Ullger and Glen Perkins.

Gardenhire, with his wife, Carol, at his side, was then presented with a custom-made, hand-crafted humidor with 1,000 specially made Rocky Patel cigars. Perkins' father-in-law built the humidor, which was made to look like a locker and also had a team-autographed baseball and the ball from the final out of Saturday's game.

Gardenhire then took the microphone, and thanked the crowd for its support in his 13 years as Twins manager.

"I just want to say thank you to the Pohlad family, Dave [St. Peter], Terry [Ryan], Bill [Smith] and Jim Rantz -- a lot of people to thank, but mostly you fans," Gardenhire said. "You're the best. We're going to get this thing right. So stay with us."