Ray Knight - Post-playing Career

Post-playing Career

Upon retiring from baseball, Knight became an ESPN broadcaster. He accepted his first coaching job with the Reds in 1993. Early in the 1995 season, Reds owner Marge Schott announced that Knight would replace Davey Johnson as manager of the Reds in 1996 regardless of how the Reds did. Schott and Johnson had never gotten along, and relations between the two had deteriorated to the point that she almost fired Johnson after the 1994 season. However, the Reds were doing so well under Johnson (they led the National League Central at the time of the 1994 Major League Baseball strike and won the division in 1995) that she instead opted to name Knight as assistant manager, with the understanding that he would succeed Johnson in 1996.

Knight managed the Reds from 1996 to 1997, and served as acting manager for a single game in 2003. In 1997, he forgot how many outs there had been in a half-inning in which the Reds were at bat and called for a bunt at an inopportune time. He later fined himself $250 for the incident. The team's lack of success would lead to his firing midway through the 1997 season in favor of Jack McKeon.

Knight is currently a broadcaster with the Washington Nationals, and hosts Nats Xtra, MASN's pregame and postgame show. Johnny Holliday, Knight's fellow MASN broadcaster, has playfully referred to him as the "Silver Fox."