KC Royals: Ned Yost is Not a Hall of Fame Manager

A Look at the Managers in the Baseball Hall of Fame

The facts are these: Yost has managed only 12 seasons and has only five winning campaigns. Despite the successes of the last three years, he is still under .500 as a Royals manager (albeit just one game under), and 46 games under .500 overall.

Even if the Royals pull off the improbable feat of appearing in three consecutive Fall Classics, and win their second straight, the Royals would need to go 104-58 for Yost to reach .500 as a big league manager.

According to the Baseball Almanac, there are 23 managers in the Baseball Hall of Fame (inducted as managers, not players), including Rube Foster, who coached in the Negro Baseball Leagues.

According to Baseball-Reference, of those 22 MLB managers, the fewest wins of any Hall of Fame manager is 1,281 by Whitey Herzog. The former Royals’ skipper won 53.2 percent of his games. Only two managers are in the Hall of Fame with records under .500 – Connie Mack and Bucky Harris.

Connie Mack won 3,731 won games in his career and Harris 2,158. Mack managed for 53 seasons; Harris for 29. Herzog, 19th-century manager Ned Hanlon (1,313), Wilbert Robinson (1,399), and Frank Selee (1,284, 59.9 winning percentage) are the only managers to win less than 1,400 games and make the Hall of Fame.

Even if the KC Royals win 104 games this year, and win another World Series, Yost would only have 1,029 wins. He would need probably four more seasons, winning around 81 games (.500) a season, to have a chance, and then his winning percentage would still be right at .500.

It will be very difficult to make a case for Yost unless he wins three championships, and can get his winning percentage well over the .500 mark.

Mack, Harris, and Robinson are the only managers to win less than 52.4 percent of the games and make it into the Hall of Fame.

So, looking at all of the numbers, it is, in fact, possible for Yost to eventually make it into the Hall of Fame. It is, however, very unlikely. Yost would have to coach at least five more years, including 2016. The Royals would have to win at least one more World Series for him to have even a chance.

Just winning one more World Series won’t lock it up for Yost. Seven managers have won two or more championships and are not in the Hall of Fame. Bruce Bochy (who should make it in soon) has three and Lawrence, Kansas native Ralph Hauk has two, and both have more than 1,600 wins and are not in Cooperstown.

It will be very difficult to make a case for Yost unless he wins three championships, and can get his winning percentage well over the .500 mark.

Truth be told, Ned Yost probably isn’t a great manager. He IS a fantastic clubhouse manager. He puts his players at ease, stands behind them, lets them work through slumps, and develops incredible team chemistry. He gets players to put aside their collective egos, at least in the clubhouse, for the good of the team.

There is a lot to be said for that. The Royals probably would not have won last year if it were not for his calming presence in the dugout.

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