NEW YORK (AP) — Bud Black hung on to win this race. Ron Gardenhire became a first-time Manager of the Year, too, after so many near misses.

A month after his San Diego Padres were knocked out of the playoff chase on the final day, Black nudged Cincinnati’s Dusty Baker by one point for the NL award Wednesday.

“I guess this vote was sort of like our season, it came down to the wire,” Black said on a conference call.

Gardenhire was the clear choice in the American League, earning the honor after five times as the runner-up. He led Minnesota to its sixth AL Central title in nine seasons.

“Congrats to the best manager in bestball!” Twins center fielder Denard Span tweeted. “Way overdue!” Span tweeted an apology moments later for misspelling baseball.

Said Gardenhire: “It’s pretty neat to have your name mentioned up there.”

Black was selected after guiding San Diego to a 15-game turnaround despite the second-lowest payroll in the majors. The Padres finished 90-72 and led the NL West until a late, 10-game slump and then a loss to San Francisco on the last day eliminated them.

Black drew 16 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America and got 104 points. Baker had 13 first-place votes and 103 points.

Manager of the Year was decided by a single point. There was a tie for the AL honor in 1996 between Joe Torre and Johnny Oates.

Two BBWAA voters from every league city send in three top choices when the regular season ends. Votes were counted on a 5-3-1 basis.

Gardenhire drew 16 first-place votes and 108 points, and was the only AL manager listed on all 28 ballots.

Gardenhire became the first manager in baseball history to win six division titles in his first nine seasons. Despite another loss to the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs, there are many in the Minnesota organization who feel that he had his best year as a manager.

“A lot of good things came out this season,” he said.

Always focusing on fundamentals, he won his 800th career game in September and another division title despite playing the entire year without closer Joe Nathan and most of it minus former MVP Justin Morneau. Gardenhire shuffled his lineups and batting order constantly.

Minnesota finished 94-68 in its first season at Target Field. The Twins were swept by New York in the opening round of the playoffs.