KC Royals: Five Worst Managers In Team History
By John Viril
KC Royals manager Bob Boone (Photo by Anthony Neste/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images)
Fourth Worst Royals Manager – Bob Boone
Did you ever have a friend growing up that thought he could make anything work just a little bit better if only he tinkered with it enough? Forget about “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix”, this guy took apart anything he could get his hands on, thoroughly convinced that he knew something everyone else didn’t.
Bob Boone is what you got when that guy grew up to manage his very own baseball team.
Boone changed lineups so often, that then Kansas City Star writer Jeffrey Flanagan tabbed him “Abner Boonieday”. Recalling that era of KC Royals baseball, former Star columnist Jason Whitlock wrote:
"Bob Boone, the successor to Howl McRae, was the first manager we labeled a nut job. Jeff Flanagan, a colleague of mine at The Kansas City Star, tagged Boone with the nickname Abner Boonieday, a moniker based on Flanagan’s belief that Boone wanted to reinvent the game. The Star mocked Boone with a daily Boone-O-Meter, a graphic that tracked Boone’s ever-changing lineups."
Flanagan’s Boone-O-Meter determined that the Royals skipper used 152 different lineups in the 161 games the team played in 1996 (they skipped making up one rain out because it had no affect on the standings).
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Boone had different lineups for lefties, righties, and soft-throwers. He was the situation substitution king. If he had still been manager in 2014, he probably would have had a special lineup ready to go for days when Royals TV announcer Rex Hudler identified the moon as a planet.
Along with Boone’s ever-changing lineup, he also managed the first Royals team in their history to finish in last place (1996).
To be fair to Bob Boone, when he took over as manager in 1995, the Royals didn’t have a bullpen or power in the lineup. He was trying to race a broken down junker against lineups fueled by steroids.
What made Boonieday’s tenure a wreck, however, is that he couldn’t agree on a cohesive direction for the franchise with general manager Herk Robinson. Boone favored veteran players. Meanwhile, Robinson wanted to launch a youth movement with one of the worst farm systems in baseball.
The Star mocked Boone with a daily Boone-O-Meter, a graphic that tracked Boone’s ever-changing lineups.
Obviously, the whole thing didn’t work. Boone went 181-206 in 2 1/2 years as KC Royals skipper, for a winning percentage of .468. Robinson pulled the plug on Boonieday midway though the 1997 season.
In retrospect, Boone’s winning percentage wasn’t so terrible.
But, Boone became manager soon after: 1) the baseball strike, 2) founder Ewing Kauffman died in 1993, leaving the team held by a trust, 3) franchise icon Hal McRae was fired as manager, and 4) Hall-of-Famer George Brett retired.
Boone’s tenure might not have been nearly as bad as some of the sad sacks that followed him into the dugout at Kauffman Stadium. Yet, Boone’s watch became the first time that KC Royals fans considered their beloved team a joke.
That’s why Bob Boone is my fourth worst manager in KC Royals history.
Next: Third Worst Manager In KC Royals History