Kansas City Royals: Top 3 managers in club history

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The KC Royals have had a few tremendous skippers throughout their 50-year history. Today we recap the top three.

After replacing Jack McKeon for the final third of the 1975 season, Whitey Herzog would win games at a 61 percent clip for the Kansas City Royals the rest of that year. He would then guide them to division titles in ’76, ’77 and ’78. Unfortunately, the franchise was never able to make it out of the American League Championship Series those three years, falling to the New York Yankees each time. Back then it was a best-of-five format and twice it came down to the deciding game.

A runner-up finish in 1979 would turn out to be the last run for Herzog in a Royals uniform. It’s hard to believe, but Herzog was let go after a second-place finish. From there Herzog went on to spend a decade producing a World Series winner and two other National League pennants for the cross-state St. Louis Cardinals.

Herzog not only managed the Royals but he was a player on the first MLB franchise in KC, the Athletics. He played for that team from 1958 to 1960. He was inducted into the Royals Hall of Fame in 2000. Prior to Ned Yost, Herzog was the all-time leader in wins as a Royals manager with 410 and his winning percentage of .574 is tops for the organization.

Whitey recently had a stroke at his charity golf tournament and we wish him a speedy recovery.

(Photo by G. N. Lowrance/Getty Images) /

Next on the list is a tale of greatness but also of what could have been.

After leading the Yankees to a 100-win season in 1980, Dick Howser still found himself out of a job going into 1981. The Royals eventually came calling toward the end of the year and they finished 20-13 under his guidance. Howser had Kansas City back in the playoffs in 1984 but they were swept by the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS.

Then came the magical season of 1985. On July 7th, KC was 7.5 games back of the California Angels and winning the American League West appeared to be a long shot. The Royals willed their way back to the top, however, and with a 91-71 record, they won the division by just one game.

The playoffs shifted to a best-of-seven format in ’85 and that would turn out to be a huge blessing as the Royals found themselves down three games to one to both the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALCS and the Cardinals in the World Series. There’s no doubt that Howser’s steady hand contributed to the Boys in Blue not panicking and rallying to win both series to give Kansas City a World Championship for the first time.

Trending. Roadblocks were created for younger players in 2019. light

Sadly, Howser was diagnosed with a brain tumor and after the 1986 All-Star Game stepped aside to battle the disease. He tried to come back as manager in 1987 but could not do it and passed away that summer. It is not hard to believe that with his guidance the Royals could have made another playoff appearance or two in the late ’80s. He finished with 404 victories and a .525 winning percentage.

Ned Yost certainly saw the best and worst of the KC Royals during his 10-year stint as manager.

Leading his last game on September 29, 2019, Ned Yost was in charge of the Royals the longest, recorded the most victories (and losses), and won 47 percent of the games he managed.

He does go down as the only skipper in the club’s history to take the team to back-to-back World Series and, of course, brought the trophy home to Kansas City in 2015. He was loved by most of his players and is rightfully credited for helping develop a core of young talent, not once but twice.

Although Yost only oversaw teams that won 50 percent or more of their games in four of his 10 seasons, he did the most with the talent that was given to him. The last two years have been difficult with the team not spending money to be competitive and plugging in many young players on the roster. It would have been easy for Yost to step away once he saw the direction it was going, but in credit to his character, he did not want another manager to be burdened with that.

Fitting tribute to Ned Yost at Kauffman Stadium. dark. Next

Between the three managers listed in this article, we have accounted for 40 percent of the Kansas City Royals wins as an organization. With anticipated new owner John Sherman taking the helm soon, hopefully another manager will step up and become the next person to lead the Royals to the postseason and another Commissioner’s Trophy.

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The KC Royals have had a few tremendous skippers throughout their 50-year history. Today we recap the top three.

Next on the list is a tale of greatness but also of what could have been.

Ned Yost certainly saw the best and worst of the KC Royals during his 10-year stint as manager.

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