KC Royals: Club’s managing tree has many branches

The KC Royals are known for some great players. They’ve also had several players who became big league managers.

There will be no baseball played this Thursday, the day the KC Royals were scheduled to open their first season under new manager Mike Matheny in Chicago. Instead, Matheny, the Royals, the country and the world will continue to await a return to normalcy. When baseball does resume, Matheny will become the 19th man to manage the Royals.

Like so many other managers, Matheny is a former big league player who earned his baseball stripes on the field before taking a permanent seat in the dugout. Only four KC managers–Jack McKeon, Jim Frey, Bob Schaefer and Trey Hillman–didn’t play in the big leagues. The three winningest managers in club history, however, all made it to the majors as players, but distinguished themselves more as managers.

Ned Yost caught six years for Milwaukee, Texas and Montreal; his .212 average explains why he wasn’t a regular catcher. He managed the Brewers for almost six seasons before they fired him in the heat of the 2008 pennant race. He took over the downtrodden Royals in 2010 and eventually led them to two American League pennants and a World Series title before retiring after last season with a club leading 687 wins.

Whitey Herzog hit 25 homers and .257 across eight seasons with the Senators, Orioles, Tigers and old Kansas City A’s, then returned to town in 1975 to manage Ewing Kauffman’s Royals. He won three straight West Division titles and never had a losing record in 4½ seasons; his 410 wins rank second to Yost. The “White Rat” also skippered Texas and California and won a World Series (and lost another to the Royals) and two NL pennants with St. Louis.

Dick Howser hit .248 in eight campaigns with Cleveland, the Yankees and the KC A’s. Only Yost and Herzog have more than the 404 victories Howser collected in six seasons. His Royals captured the “second half” West Division title during the strike-interrupted 1981 season and won the Division again in ’84. Howser then led the Royals to their first World Series title in ’85; brain cancer forced him out of the game in ’87.

But what of the several Royals who became big league managers when their playing careers ended? Some managed other clubs, some went on to manage the Royals, and two won World Series titles.

Three former KC Royals went on to manage the team. They succeeded each other.

Of the 19 men who’ve managed the KC Royals, three played for the club–catchers John Wathan and Bob Boone, and designated hitter (and occasional outfielder) Hal McRae. Beginning in mid-1987, they were the only full-time Kansas City managers for 10 years.

John Wathan‘s transition from field to dugout was predictable. Even-keeled, businesslike and a student of the game, Wathan was a smart and respected player throughout his 10 years with the Royals (he never played for anyone else). It’s said that their unique perspective of the game and on-field responsibilities give catchers a leg up as managers, and Wathan was an intelligent catcher who called good games and kept his pitchers happy.

Although he took a turn in the outfield now and then and played first base late in his career, Wathan set the modern-era record for stolen bases in a season by a catcher when he swiped 36 in 1982. He hit .305 in 1980 and .262 for his career.

Wathan immediately joined Dick Howser‘s KC coaching staff after retiring as a player following the Royals’ 1985 World Series victory, then coached for Mike Ferraro when he took over as interim manager when Howser’s battle with brain cancer forced him off the field in 1986. Billy Gardner became manager for the ’87 season and kept Wathan, and it was Wathan who succeeded Gardner when the club fired him during that season.

“Duke” took over a 62-64, fourth place club; the Royals went 21-15 the rest of the way to finish second in the AL West.

The KC Royals finished third (84-77) in Wathan’s first full season as skipper, then went 92-70 in 1989 but finished second in the West, seven games behind Oakland. They dropped to sixth (75-86) in the then-seven team West in ’90.

Wathan’s tenure with the Royals ended May 22, 1991 when, with the Royals mired in last place at 15-22, the club fired him, replacing him for a game with Bob Schaefer until they brought Hal McRae back to manage.

Wathan later held several baseball jobs, including with the Royals, and managed the Angels part of a season while Buck Rodgers recuperated from a vehicle crash. Wathan’s sons Dusty and Derek played pro ball; Dusty had a brief stint with the Royals and is now the Phillies’ third-base coach.

Hal McRae came to the KC Royals as an outfielder in 1973, the club’s prime target in a trade that sent Roger Nelson and Richie Scheinblum to Cincinnati. McRae split time between right field and the newly-created designated hitter position that season, then became KC’s go-to DH for the remainder of his 19-year career. Known for his tenacious, aggressive play–especially on the basepaths–McRae finished with over 100 steals, over 1,000 RBIs and a .290 average.

McRae retired during the 1987 season and was serving as hitting coach when the club decided to fire manager Billy Gardner. General manager John Schuerholz offered the job to McRae for the rest of the campaign, but apparently offered no guarantee for 1988 or beyond. McRae turned the job down, suggesting he didn’t know if he was ready to commit to the demands of the position. Schuerholz hired McRae’s fellow coach and former teammate John Wathan instead.

With the KC Royals floundering in last place after a 15-22 start in 1991, new general manager Herk Robinson fired Wathan and pursued McRae; this time, McRae was ready to manage and took the job. Bob Schaefer managed the club for a game while it awaited McRae, then Montreal’s hitting coach, to arrive; the Royals gave Schaefer a win and stood 16-22 when McRae took over. Although KC lost its first game under McRae, the club improved and finished 66-58 for him and 82-80 for the campaign.

The Royals started horribly the next season, losing 15 of their first 17 games, and never recovered; they finished tied with the Angels for next-to-last in the West with a 72-90 record. A third place, 84-78 1993 followed, but was marred by an ugly post-game incident in late April when McRae, angered by a reporter’s question, lashed out and swept his desktop of its contents. One object hit a beat writer and bloodied his face.

McRae survived the incident and had the Royals in third place, just four games out of first, when the players went on strike the next season. Although the strike wiped out the rest of the campaign, the business of the game continued and the club curiously fired McRae in September.

A highlight of McRae’s Kansas City tenure was managing his son Brian, who played with the Royals every season his father managed. McRae’s clubs never reached the playoffs and he finished 286-277. He then managed Tampa Bay for a season-and-a-half with a 113-196 record.

The Royals replaced McRae with the last of its former players to manage the club.

Like John Wathan before him, Bob Boone sharpened his baseball mind as an excellent catcher. In 19 years in the majors–the final two with the KC Royals–he was an All-Star four times and won seven Gold Gloves. He hit .274 for KC in 1989, then retired during the ’90 season after breaking a finger.

Boone’s first managerial job came quickly–he was hired a few months after retiring, but never skippered a game for his employer. The job came from an Orlando group bidding for an expansion team and was conditioned upon a successful bid; the major leagues picked Miami and Colorado instead.

His next offer came from his old friends in Kansas City and he agreed to replace Hal McRae as manager for the 1995 season, becoming the third straight–and last–former Royal to manage the club full time. Unfortunately, Boone was less successful than his predecessors Wathan and McRae: the Royals were 70-74 in the strike-shortened 1995 season, finished last at 75-86 in ’96, and were in fourth place (36-46) when the Royals fired him in July 1997.

Boone then managed the Reds to a 190-238 record in two seasons and part of a third; combined with his 181-206 KC record, he finished his managerial career 371-444.

Boone’s father, Ray, and two sons, Bret and Aaron, all played in the majors. Aaron currently manages the Yankees.

Two World Series champion managers played for the KC Royals. One is retired and the other is suspended from the game.

A pair of former KC Royals–Lou Piniella and AJ Hinch–made more headlines as managers than as players. Piniella won a World Series with the Reds and AJ Hinch won one with the Astros. Piniella retired in 2010 after a long and successful career in the dugout; Hinch captured a Series title with Houston but is serving a suspension from baseball.

Piniella was a Royal from the first–he was in their inaugural lineup in 1969 and won Rookie of the Year honors that season, then played for the club until it traded him to the Yankees after the 1973 season. He hit .295 for KC and .291 for his 18-year career. His lack of power (102 career homers) detracted from an otherwise serviceable big league skill set.

Managing was Piniella’s greater impact on the game. He managed five teams in 23 years and his 1,835 games ranks 16th on the all-time list, 28 behind Dusty Baker and 66 ahead of Jim Leyland. He won a World Series his first year with Cincinnati, took the Mariners to the playoffs four times and captured two division titles with the Cubs.

Piniella’s 2001 Seattle team tied the 1906 Cubs for most wins in regular a season with 116; the Mariners had major-league bests in runs scored, OBP, steals, WHIP, shutouts, runs allowed and ERA. They won the AL West by 14 games but lost the ALCS to the Yankees.

Piniella replaced fellow former Royal Hal McRae as Tampa Bay’s manager in 2003. He closed out his career during the 2010 season when he retired from managing the Cubs to help care for his aging mother. He won three Manager of the Year awards and finished with a record of 1,835-1,713.

Hinch spent two seasons (2001-02) of his seven-year major league career backing up KC Royals’ catcher Brent Mayne. Never a threat with the bat, Hinch hit .217 with the Royals and .219 for his career.

Arizona hired Hinch to replace Bob Melvin early in the 2009 season. Hinch took over a 12-17 club that finished 70-92; he hadn’t coached or managed in pro ball before and the Diamondbacks fired him the next July after a 31-48 start left them in last place.

Houston finished 70-92 in 2014 and named Hinch their manager the day after the season ended. The Astros, entrenched in a notorious rebuild in which 100-loss seasons were common, believed they were ready to win and Hinch was the man to lead them. He delivered immediately with successive 86 and 84 win seasons, then skippered the club to a World Series championship in 2017, a division title in 2018 and an NL pennant in 2019. The Astros won 101 games in ’17, 103 in ’18 and 107 in ’19.

Glory was fleeting for Hinch and Houston, however–the Astros were implicated in the signal-stealing cheating scandal that broke shortly after last season ended and tainted their 2017 and 2018 seasons.

Major League Baseball suspended Hinch and the Astros fired him. He won’t manage this season and his future prospects are uncertain.

Several KC Royals players have managed major league teams and three managed the Royals. Who will be the next Royal to join the ranks of big league managers?