Kevin Kennedy (baseball)
Kevin Curtis Kennedy (born May 26, 1954) is a former manager in American Major League Baseball and a former television host for Fox Sports' baseball coverage. He was given the nickname "The Skipper" by Fox Sports due to his prior managerial career. Kennedy joined the Tampa Bay Rays broadcast team for the 2009 baseball season as a replacement for Joe Magrane.
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Biography [edit]
Early life and career [edit]
Born in Los Angeles, Kevin Kennedy graduated from Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California in 1972. He was a classmate of Robin Yount.
Kennedy was a career minor league catcher who played in the Baltimore Orioles and Los Angeles Dodgers farm systems. After a very successful career as a manager in the Dodger minor league organization, he briefly served as a player development official and then bench coach for the Montreal Expos.
Managerial career [edit]
Texas Rangers [edit]
He then was hired to manage the Texas Rangers for the 1993 season after firing Bobby Valentine and Toby Harrah, who were used in the 1992 season. Kennedy was let go following the strike-shortened 1994 season after posting only a 52–62 record (even though, at the time of the strike, it was good enough for first place in the division) and was replaced by Johnny Oates.
Just two weeks prior to the strike, on July 28, Kennedy managed Kenny Rogers' perfect game against the California Angels.
Boston Red Sox [edit]
For the 1995 season, Kennedy became the manager for the Boston Red Sox (where he led them to their first postseason appearance since 1990 despite ultimately being swept by the Cleveland Indians in the playoffs), but was part of a merry-go-round of manager changes in Boston which also saw the firing of Joe Morgan, Butch Hobson and later Jimy Williams, and Kennedy was fired following the 1996 season.
Broadcasting career [edit]
In 1997 Kennedy joined ESPN as a color analyst on the network's Wednesday Night Baseball telecasts, performing the same role on ESPN Radio's Sunday Night Baseball in 1998 and on Fox Sports Net's Thursday Night Baseball in 1999 and 2000. From 2001 to 2008, he was a studio analyst for baseball on Fox, teaming with host Jeanne Zelasko. He also contributed to Fox Sports Net's Best Damn Sports Show Period and hosted a radio program on FOX Sports Radio, and was a regular co-host of Dodgers Live on Prime Ticket at this time.
Kevin is currently the co-host of "Power Alley" with Jim Duquette on Sirius XM's MLB Network Radio on Sirius 209/XM 89 from 10 AM-2 PM EST.
In 2009 Kennedy took a job as a part-time television analyst for the Tampa Bay Rays, sharing the duty with former Rays pitcher Brian Anderson. Kennedy and Anderson both replaced Joe Magrane, who is now a part of the MLB Network.
Kennedy returned to the Dodgers' postgame show for the 2009 postseason.
On April 24, 2010, Kennedy, along with multiple other passengers, subdued a passenger on a flight from Los Angeles to Florida who had sprayed the first class cabin with water and had made threats to destroy the aircraft.[1]
In October 2010 it was announced that Kennedy would not be returning to the Rays' broadcast crew in the 2011 season.[2]
Managerial records [edit]
| Team | Year | Regular Season | Post Season | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins | Lost | Win % | Finish | Wins | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| TEX | 1993 | 86 | 76 | .531 | 2nd in AL West | – | – | – | – |
| TEX | 1994 | 52 | 62 | .456 | 1st in AL West | – | – | – | – |
| BOS | 1995 | 86 | 58 | .597 | 1st in AL East | 0 | 3 | .000 | Lost ALDS 3–0 |
| BOS | 1996 | 85 | 77 | .525 | 3rd in AL East | – | – | – | – |
| Total | 309 | 273 | .531 | – | 0 | 3 | .000 | – | |
References [edit]
- ^ http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/baseball/mlb/04/23/kennedy.airplane.ap/index.html?eref=sihp. Missing or empty
|title=(help)[dead link] - ^ Jones, Tom (October 5, 2010). "Brian Anderson to become Tampa Bay Rays' full-time TV analyst". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved October 6, 2010.
External links [edit]
- Baseball-Reference.com – managerial record
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