The Royals
Frey led the Royals to a 97-65 mark and the American League West Division title in 1980; then, in the 1980 American League Championship Series, the Royals defeated their long-time postseason nemesis, the New York Yankees in three straight games to capture the AL title. (The Yanks had defeated Whitey Herzog's Royals for three consecutive seasons (1976–78) in the ALCS). But Frey's Royals dropped the 1980 series in six games. The following year was marked by the 1981 baseball strike and the Royals never got untracked. They had lost 40 of their first 70 games when Frey was replaced by Dick Howser on August 31. Ironically, Howser had managed the Yankees the year before (and was fired after the Royals swept them out of the playoffs) and, because of the split-season format in use because of the strike, the Royals were actually in first place (with a 10-10 record) in the second-half AL West standings at the time of Frey's dismissal.
Read more about this topic: Jim Frey