KC Royals: Five Worst Managers In Team History
By John Viril
As part of KC Kingdom’s Royals Top All-Time Lists, we present the Five Worst Managers In KC Royals History.
In the 46 years since the KC Royals began play in 1969, the team has had 19 managers. Some have been good, some have been mediocre, and some have been bad.
Overall, those 19 men have guided the franchise to a 3,528-3,785 record, for a .488 winning percentage. The Kansas City Royals have won 1 World Series, 3 American League Pennants, and 6 Division titles.
Along the way, we’ve had a manager who won the World Series and two years later pass away with a brain tumor (Dick Howser), we’ve had a manager who did not get along with the owner’s wife (Whitey Herzog), and a manager that refused to give his real name while getting coffee at Starbucks (Ned Yost).
Trying to rank the worst managers in team history requires an outsider such as myself to make some value judgments.
The KC Royals even had a manager who threw a such a legendary clubhouse meltdown that it still lives on Youtube (Hal McRae).
Kansas City has also finished last in their division 8 times, including a horrific 4 years in a row between 2004-2007.
Trying to rank the worst managers in team history requires an outsider such as myself to make some value judgments. It would not be fair to simply use career winning percentage as the sole criterion, since each manager faces different challenges, and is given varied levels of talent by the front office.
What I have tried to do is determine who performed the worst under the circumstances.
What follows is one fan’s opinion of the five worst managers in Kansas City Royals history:
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