KC Royals: Five Worst Managers In Team History

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:

Next: Fifth Worst Manager In KC Royals History

Manager Tony Pena of the Kansas City Royals (Photo by Albert Dickson/Sporting News via Getty Images)

Fifth Worst Royals Manager – Tony Pena

Pena took over as KC Royals manager 34 games into the 2002 season. Pena was fired early in 2005, compiling a 198-285 record for a .410 winning percentage while lasting close to three full seasons at the helm.

Pena makes the list for the particularly embarrassing scandal he left behind after his sudden resignation on May 10, 2005.

Along with the Royals cratering to a 8-25 start that season, Pena’s North Kansas City neighbor Kelly Locke testified in a divorce proceeding that Pena had an affair with Locke’s wife.

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

Manager Buddy Bell of the Kansas City Royals (Photo by Michael Zagaris/MLB Photos via Getty Images)

Third Worst Royals Manager – Buddy Bell

Buddy Bell “won” the KC Royals manager job on May 31, 2005. He then earned the distinction of being the guy in charge of a Royals team that finished 56-106—which is the worst season in club history.

Bell would have plenty of time getting used to being in last place, because his other two Royals teams also finished in the cellar. Buddy Bell is the only manager in Royals history to finish in last place every year he spent at the helm.

That fact pretty much guaranteed him a place on this list.

Hey, at least Buddy Bell was consistent. He didn’t tease us with a season of hope like Tony Pena, or by coming to town with a Japanese Series title like his successor Trey Hillman.

No, with a Buddy Bell led team, Royals fans KNEW their team would finish in last place. I must confess, it was nice to completely ignore the team and be certain you weren’t missing anything you would want to remember later.

Of course, Buddy Bell wasn’t given much of roster to work with. He had Doug Mientkiewicz, Terrence Long, and Scott Elarton well past their major-league expiration dates. He had a struggling Alex Gordon and a Mark Teahen who was destined to never develop.

Most of all, he had a spectacularly gifted Zack Greinke, who broke down due to social anxiety disorder in 2006.

To Bell’s credit, he and general manager Dayton Moore, handled Greinke’s condition with dignity and class. Not only did they display compassion, they also enabled Greinke to realize most of his vast potential.

Buddy Bell is the only manager in Royals history to finish in last place every year he spent at the helm

Today, Greinke has $147 million in guaranteed money from the Dodgers and a Cy Young award that he won in Kansas City sitting on his mantle. Buddy Bell had no small part in making Greinke’s career possible.

At a certain point, however, you are what your record says you are—and three last place finishes in three years is going to wear on any manager.

Moore, however, did not fire Buddy Bell.

Bell announced he would resign at the end of the 2007 season on August 1, after fighting throat cancer since September of the previous year.

Bell finished his Royals tenure with a 174-262 record and a .399 winning percentage. Yet, Bell’s part in rescuing Greinke’s career, enabled Dayton Moore to flip the discouraged star for Lorenzo Cain and Alcides Escobar. Both players helped bring the 2014 pennant to Kansas City, with Cain taking the star turn.

I guess we should all remember that even a failed manager probably did some things right.

Next: Second Worst Manager In KC Royals History

Manager Jim Frey #41 of the Kansas City Royals (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)

Second Worst Royals Manager – Jim Frey

Frey managed the Royals team that won their first American League pennant in 1980, defeating franchise nemesis New York Yankees.

That 1980 team not only won 97 games, it won the A.L. West by 14 games, swept the New York Yankees in the ALCS to avenge three consecutive playoff losses to New York from 1976 through 1978, and featured George Brett‘s MVP season in which he made a run at .400.

With a career Royals record of 127-105, how in the heck is Jim Frey the 2nd worst manger in Royals history?

Well, a deranged monkey could have won the American League pennant had they been named manager of the 1980 KC Royals.

That KC Royals team pretty much had it all. The offense featured 6 hitters with an OPS+ 115 or over (15% better than league average), including super-sub John Wathan who contributed 510 plate appearances.

George Brett had a legendary season in which he hit over .400 into late August. Brett’s .390/.454/.664 line with 24 home runs and an outrageous OPS of 1.118 was the best season for a Royals position player in club history at 9.4 wins above replacement (bWAR).

On the pitching side, the Royals had five starters who all won at least 10 games, headlined by Larry Gura‘s 2.95 ERA and 283.1 innings pitched (IP). The closer was Dan Quisenberry, who had a career-coming out party that season with 33 saves and a 12-7 record while piling up what would today be considered an astounding 128.1 IP for a reliever.

Along with Brett, the 1980 team included Royals Hall-of-Famers Hal McRae, Willie Wilson, Frank White, Paul Splittorff, Dennis Leonard, Larry Gura, Amos Otis, and Dan Quisenberry. Steve Busby had a brief cameo during a futile comeback attempt.

a deranged monkey could have won the American League pennant they had been named manager of the 1980 KC Royals

Other notable players on the team that season were former phenom and future World Series manager Clint Hurdle (Rockies), 4-time All-Star catcher Darryl Porter, Willie Mays Aikens who hit 24 home runs, and future Royals manager John Wathan.

The first crack in Frey’s armor came in October when the favored Royals lost the World Series to a Phillies team that had only won 91 games during the regular season.

Frey showed his true colors the next season, when another loaded Royals team stumbled out of the gate to an uninspired 20-30 start to the 1981 season that was interrupted by the baseball strike. Frey’s loaded team somehow managed to finish in 5th place in the season’s 1st half.

After play resumed, the Royals merely tread water with a 10-10 record before GM Joe Burke pulled the plug on Frey and hired Dick Howser. The Royals turned it on for 20-13 finish to win the 2nd half A.L. West title.

In a mere year-and-half as manager, Frey somehow managed to alienate his team full of successful veterans.

Frey was a bumbling tactician who suffered a national embarrassment when he had to send up a pitcher to hit in a game played under American League rules (with a DH). Just before he was fired, Frey ordered an intentional walk to fill the bases in a game against Baltimore and then told pitcher Jim Wright that since the runners on first and second were both slow, they could now turn a double play.

Much to his embarrassment, one of his players informed Frey that there were already two outs.

Dan Quisenberry agreed that Jim Frey was not popular in the clubhouse, telling the Kansas City Star at the time:

"“He [Frey] doesn’t leave a lot of friends behind.”"

That line pretty much summed up Jim Frey‘s time in Kansas City.

Next: The Worst Manager In KC Royals History

Manager Trey Hillman #22 of the Kansas City Royals (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Worst Royals Manager – Trey Hillman

Trey Hillman didn’t have the worst winning percentage, a 100-loss season, or finish in last place while manager of the KC Royals. He came to Kansas City after taking the Nippon Ham Fighters to the Japan Series two seasons in a row, winning the title in 2006.

So, why do I think he is the worst manager in Kansas City Royals history?

I can sum it up in two words: Gil Meche

In 2007, general manager Dayton Moore signed free-agent starter Meche to what still is the biggest contract in franchise history: 5-years for $55 million.

The move was a gambit to accelerate the KC Royals return to respectability by landing a top of the rotation pitcher. The problem was, the then 28-year-old Gil Meche had yet to pitch to that standard in his career.

Moore got blasted by numerous pundits for giving Meche a desperate over-pay. At the time, Meche had flashed good stuff, but had compiled a mediocre career ERA of 4.65 in six seasons for Seattle. Meche’s career ERA+ was 96, which suggested he was a slightly below league average starter.

But, damned if Dayton Moore wasn’t right.

Meche came to Kansas City in 2007 and made the All-Star team. He threw a career-high 216.0 innings for a 3.67 ERA, good for an ERA+ of 125 (25% better than league average). In short, he was the Royals clear ace.

Meche followed up that season with a 14-11, 3.99 ERA campaign in 2008 after Trey Hillman took over as the new manager. While not as good as 2007, Meche showed his improvement was no fluke. He threw 210.1 innings, took the ball for 34 starts, and notched a solid ERA+ of 109.

In short, he looked destined to be a solid no. 2 man behind staff ace-in-waiting Zack Greinke.

Then came 2009.

That year, Dayton Moore thought he might steal the A.L. Central title after the team finished with a surprising 75 wins in 2008. He signed RF Jose Guillen as a right-handed power bat, traded with the Marlins for 1B Mike Jacobs, who had hit 32 home runs in the National League. And, Moore topped off the winter by signing CF Coco Crisp and setup man Juan Cruz.

That series of moves appeared to address most of the club’s holes and the team jumped out to a 17-7 start that put them in 1st place at the end of April.

Zack Greinke bolted out of the gate on a mission, winning his first five starts and so thoroughly dominating teams that he landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Gil Meche also started the season well, complementing the otherworldly Greinke with a solid 3.77 ERA in five April starts. On June 16, Meche threw what turned out to be the only complete game shutout of his career by shooing Hillman back to the dugout before he finished off the Diamondbacks. Meche’s ERA stood at 3.11 after that 5-0 victory, but he threw 132 pitches.

He never was the same after that game.

Meche complained of a “dead arm” after two terrible starts that ballooned his ERA to 4.27, but Hillman then allowed Meche to throw 121 pitches and 114 pitches in consecutive starts.

Meche landed on the disabled list by August, and finished the season with a disappointing 5.09 ERA in 129 innings.

If that wasn’t enough, Hillman let Meche throw 128 pitches early in 2010 when he had an unsightly 9.89 ERA.

Needless to say, Meche never recovered.

To summarize, not only was Hillman dumb enough to demolish his 2nd best pitcher with his most expensive contract in 2009, he repeated the same mistake one year later. Three days after that debacle, Dayton Moore came to his senses and fired Hillman.

Trey Hillman is the worst manager in Royals history because his samurai baseball damaged the talent that the front office gave him.

Hillman’s sins, however, extend well beyond destroying Gil Meche. He ran CF Coco Crisp into the ground by playing him for weeks while he struggled with an apparent injury in 2009. He allowed closer Joakim Soria to pitch despite a “twinge” in his elbow (Soria later tore his Ulnar Collateral ligament for the 2nd time in 2011), and SS Mike Aviles to play for a month with an injured forearm.

While the team’s medical staff certainly bears much of the responsibility, Hillman was making the decisions in the dugout.

Aside from running many players into the ground, he also failed to identify his talent. Hillman never figured out that Luke Hochevar was a dominant reliever, rather than a starter. He couldn’t help Alex Gordon unlock what we now know was All-Star talent, and watched one of the franchise’s prized prospects come within an eyelash of washing out of baseball.

Trey Hillman couldn’t prevent Zack Greinke from becoming so despondent, that he demanded a trade to get out of Kansas City after the 2010 season. That the trade became a springboard to 2014’s pennant-winning season had nothing to do with Hillman. We shouldn’t give him a pass because Dayton Moore turned lemons into lemonade.

In short, Trey Hillman is the worst manager in Royals history because his samurai-style baseball damaged the talent that he was supposed to nuture.

I just wrote a freaking book about Hillman’s sins, and still haven’t gotten to his bush league showboating in his first spring training as KC Royals manager in 2008.

Blogger Rany Jazayerli had this to say about the incident:

"The signature moment of the spring for Hillman came when, immediately after Ryan Shealy ended a game with a walk-off homer, he called the entire team onto the field and lectured them about running the bases for ten minutes. It had the potential to be a divisive moment for the team, having their manager lecture them like little leaguers in front of a large crowd immediately after they had won a game."

Trey Hillman went 152-207 for a .423 winning percentage in his two-plus years as KC Royals manager.

He finished 4th in 2008 and ’09, and the team finished in last place in 2010 after Hillman got fired in early May for a 12-23 start.

Perhaps the KC Royals weren’t ready to win while Trey Hillman was their manager. What makes him the worst skipper in Royals history is that Hillman would have ruined any chance they had to win as long as he sat in the dugout.

Next: Top Second Basemen In Royals History

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John Viril

Like a lot of people, I am still fixated on the sports teams I followed in my youth. I grew up in Kansas City and naturally became a fan of the Chiefs and Royals. Of course, that means I haven't seen a playoff win in 20 years. Here's to breaking the drought in 2014!