I'm curious as to how you guys would rank the top managers in Royals history. The headline here says "Top 5" but really any variation on the debate is interesting and acceptable. Of course, part of the problem is that it is really hard for anyone -- players, media, fans -- to evaluate what makes a good manager. Tactics are a jumble. As opposed to football or basketball, the baseball manager has less direct impact on the game. Similarly, the long regular season makes individual games a balance of long and short term goals. A football coach basically coaches every game like it's an elimination game. In baseball, there's a radical difference in how an elimination game and a July tilt against the Twins would be handled. Clearly, a good manager is one that gets the most out of his talent. I am open to the idea that, say, Buddy Bell might have been a better manager than Whitey Herzog. The problem is that bad teams are under-studied and quickly forgotten and no one has much of an idea as to what their potential (good or bad) might have been. Or rather, they just don't care.

The leader of men aspect also gets extremely muddled and confused. Even for the actors themselves, the on-the-field results end up coloring post-facto observations. No one wants to believe they lost because they weren't good enough. No, they just weren't united, or focused, or having enough fun, or having too much fun. So every year, in Royals country, we hear about the team's new attitude, new approach, new culture. That doesn't mean those issues don't matter, it's just really dangerous to go down that road.  

To get the discussion going, here are the Royals managers by winning percentage:

Ned Yost, by the way, is 11th in team history in winning percentage.

Longevity, also, should probably be taken into account.

Tony Muser managed the Royals for 748 games, the second most in team history. How do we account for this?

Other questions to consider: which managers had the most talent to work with? Who had post-season success and failure? Who was brought in to win and who was hired to teach and mentor?