Top Five Kansas City Royals Managers Of All-Time

Manager Hal McRae #11 of the Kansas City Royals (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)

Record: 286-277

Division titles: 0

Playoff appearances: 0

Playoff record: 0-0

World Series appearances/wins: 0/0

Hal McRae, whose son Brian played for the Royals, wasn’t a great manager, but he was a solid one.

Well-liked by fans, McRae is sixth on the all-time Royals’ win list, and one of the six who finished with a winning percentage above .500.

Tony Muser won 31 more games than McRae, but in two more seasons. His 317-431 record wasn’t going to land him on the list.

Many KC managers have winning percentages similar to Muser’s, and that’s what made McRae stand out.

It was his exit from the team that was odd however.

In his first three seasons, McRae led the team to victories of 82, 72, and 84. In the 1994 strike-shortened season that led to the cancellation of the playoffs, the Royals were 64-51 and in third place in the AL Central.

However, they were riding the momentum of a 14-game winning streak, and were just four games behind division-leading Chicago.

McRae, who had never previously managed in the big leagues, was fired after the season. An article in The Seattle Times reported that General Manager Herk Robinson wanted to “go in a different direction” with a team full of younger players for the ’95 season.

He was certainly passionate at times, maybe too much so, but no one has been as successful in terms of wins and losses in Kansas City since he was let go.

Next: Number 4