Ned Yost Announces Retirement as Kansas City Royals Manager

Ned Yost announces retirement after nine years as the Kansas City Royals team manager.

Having retired as a player in 1985, Yost stared his managerial career in 2002 after helping Atlanta Brave to two World Series after different roles in coaching in 12 previous years. After an up and down stint with the Milwaukee Brewers, Yost joined the Kansas City Royals in 2010, where he would go on to earn a legendary status.

Yost saw his highs as Royals manager in the year of 2014, when he led the team to their first playoff berth since 1985. Royals won their first American league pennant in 29 years after beating Baltimore Orioles in four straight games, during the course of which the Royals  became the first team in MLB history to win their first eight consecutive playoff games. Yost finished third in the voting for the 2014 Manager of the Year award.

The following year, Yost became the longest-tenured manager in Royals history, and brought the World Series Championship to Kansas City after 30 years. In 2016, he extended his contract and managed his 1000th game of the season.

He now has a win percentage of 0.473 in regular season and 0.710 in post season and on Monday, aged 65, Yost announced that he would be retiring at the end of the season.

“With the development of our young players and our returning veterans, I feel and hope the worst is behind us in this rebuilding phase of our organization,” Yost said. “My plan all along was to get us through the rough times then turn it over to a new manager to bring us the rest of the way. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my time here as your manager and will never forget the good and the hard times we had together as an organization and a fan base. I will never forget the fact that you fans supported us through it all. Kansas City will always have a special place in my heart, and I look forward to rooting the Royals on to their next World Championship very soon.”