Other managers have taken over clubs under some pretty strange circumstances over the years, but few conditions have been as odd as those Ron Gardenhire inherited on Friday.

The Minnesota Twins handed the house keys to their 44-year-old former third-base coach, an affable, knowledgeable baseball man who should have gotten a chance to manage years ago.

Good news for Ron Gardenhire: He will get paid for the next two seasons even if the Twins don't exist. (AP)

Now, Gardenhire will spend the next six weeks waiting to see if commissioner Bud Selig and his henchmen arrive to repossess the furniture, automobile and jewelry.

"I'll tell you what," Gardenhire said. "I'll take it any way I can get it. There are not many major league managerial jobs around. I'll take it."

Assuming the managerial job market remains at 30 for the opening of spring training, all the better.

If it shrinks to 28 and Selig rams his contraction/stadium extortion plan through, well, then it won't be only Gardenhire who has been cheated. It will be baseball fans throughout the Upper Midwest.

But that's another column for another day, one we've written in various forms since Selig unveiled his evil contraction plan on Nov. 6. While the commish continues to maintain that contraction remains on track for 2002, he also insists on leaving which two clubs will be contracted to our imaginations (gee, Montreal and Minnesota, anyone?).

Anyway, the view from here, as it has been since Nov. 6, is that contraction is a crock -- a half-baked, transparent plan that never will hurdle all of the legal challenges it needs to take root, and that it is simply baseball's latest scare tactic to extort a stadium out of Minnesota taxpayers.

So into these circumstances steps Gardenhire, who signed a two-year contract Friday with a club option for a third year. The first two years of Gardenhire's contract are guaranteed, even if the Twins are sent the way of the eight-track tape player by The Commissioner Who Canceled the World Series.

What figures is that Gardenhire's hiring became official on the same day the Minnesota Vikings forced out head coach Dennis Green, news that is sure to blow the Twins back toward the classified ads in local newspapers, because Gardenhire has been a background player -- albeit a highly skilled one -- for so long.

What should be front-page news, though, is this: Gardenhire's hiring is a triumph over the status quo, a victory for all of those loyal, longtime coaches with bright minds and the patience of Job. Considered as one of the game's future geniuses after the Twins won the 1991 World Series, Gardenhire's managerial career never quite achieved liftoff as the Twins were subsequently left on the vine to wither by penurious owner Carl Pohlad.

He interviewed for the skipper's job in Colorado in the early 1990s, but finished behind Don Baylor. He interviewed in Kansas City in 1995, but finished as the runner-up to Bob Boone (the Royals admitted that mistake in '97 when they fired Boone). And he interviewed with the Cubs in Chicago in 1999, but again finished behind Baylor.

A key member of Kelly's staff since 1991, the Twins have been high on Gardenhire for years -- but with no place to put him, other than the third-base coach's box. When Kelly finally retired after last season, he recommended one man to general manager Terry Ryan: Gardenhire.

When Gardenhire and Kelly walked into the manager's office together in the Twins' clubhouse on Friday, Gardenhire admitted it was a little odd.

"I waited to see where he sat down first before I sat down," Gardenhire said, chuckling.

He admitted to scribbling out various lineup combinations at times this winter, especially inside his car, in the parking lot, whenever he dropped his wife off at the store. Given the young talent the Twins have, the most difficult thing for Gardenhire might be to memorize the spelling of "Mientkiewicz", his first baseman.

Behind Brad Radke, Eric Milton and Joe Mays, the Twins have a solid top of the rotation. With youngsters such as above-mentioned Doug Mientkiewicz, Cristian Guzman, Torii Hunter and Corey Koskie filling the lineup, they have the nucleus of a club that could emerge as the AL Central division champion in 2002.

"We feel really comfortable with our baseball team," Gardenhire said. "The team can go to spring training without a lot of holes to fill. You have to feel good about that."

Right field, where the Twins never did recover after trading away Matt Lawton last July 30, remains the biggest question.

Make that, uh, the biggest on-field question.

Baseball history is spotted with managers who took over clubs in unusual situations, and now the name "Gardenhire" can officially be added to the list.

And what a list it is, too. Among others, in 1907, Boston manager Chick Stahl stunned the Red Sox when he committed suicide by drinking carbolic acid toward the end of spring training. George Huff (eight games), Bob Unglaub (28), Deacon McGuire (106) and Cy Young (7) each managed the Sox for a time that season as they recovered from the shock.

There was Burt Shotton in 1947, who took over in Brooklyn for Leo Durocher after Leo the Lip was suspended for a season for "conduct detrimental to baseball."

There was Bob Lemon in 1978, who ran the New York Yankees after Billy Martin was fired for saying of star Reggie Jackson and owner George Steinbrenner, "They deserve each other. One's a born liar, and the other's convicted.''

There was Steve Boras, who hastily took over the San Diego Padres several days into spring training in 1986 after Dick Williams, in an act of spite directed toward then-GM Jack McKeon, quit on the eve of camp.

And there was Jim Fregosi, who stepped into the breach for the Toronto Blue Jays in 1999 after Tim Johnson was fired for fabricating stories about his heroics during the Vietnam War. Turned out, Manager Pinocchio was never actually in Vietnam.

But through the years, whatever the circumstance, at least the new guy was assured that he actually would have a team to manage when the boss thrust the contract in front of him.

"It's been tough up here," said Gardenhire, who moved his family -- wife Carol, son Toby (19) and daughters Tiffany (16) and Tara (11) -- to the Twin Cities a few years ago. "A lot of people have been hurt and disappointed by this (contraction talk).

"A lot of people think contraction is a slap in the face after a good season. But there are a lot of positive things coming out. We've seen a lot of Twins fans step up to the plate and let some strong feelings go. And I think a stadium eventually will be built, which will be a good thing.

"We have a strong club that's very resilient. A lot of them were trying to prove they belonged in the majors for two or three years, and last year they did that. And there were a lot of smiles on their faces.

"It's been a tough winter, a lot of ups and downs, but I think we'll survive."