KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One day after the Kansas City Royals announced that Ned Yost would retire at the end of the 2019 season, the longtime manager said his decision to leave the franchise came during the All-Star break.
That's when Yost told Royals general manager Dayton Moore about his plan to move on.
"I miss my family. I miss my grandkids. I miss my farm," Yost told the media on Tuesday afternoon.
The manager hinted to the media that he had considered retiring after the Royals won the World Series in 2015, but he felt obligated to get the team through their rebuilding years.
"I knew that I had to go through the tough times as a manager because I could take it," he said.
Yost worked under Moore for his entire time with the Royals, but the two painted the picture as more of a partnership.
Moore said they first met in 1997 and grew up in the game together with many of the same mentors, so it only made sense to bring Yost to the club.
"He brought a breath of fresh air to us at a time where I thought we were struggling a lot mentally as an organization," Moore said. "Ned Yost was the absolute right person at the right time to lead this organization on the field."
The general manager said that he was proud of Yost, the winningest manager in franchise history, and how he was going out on his own terms.
He said Yost's best qualities were his belief in people, his optimism and his humility. He got choked up when talking about the pair's friendship.
"Not to give up. Because in this game ... the game beats you up every single day. Life beats you up," Moore said about what Yost taught him. "You have to have people around you that are going to breathe life on you."
Yost said he believes the team is in a good position to be great again in the coming years and that every person in the organization is responsible for that and for past victories.
"I don't know if I contributed any more than anyone else did," he said. "I was just lucky enough to be in this spot where I could benefit from everyone's expertise."
Yost said that although there's not a lot he will miss, he will miss the players most. The entire conversation about his retirement centered on his belief in his players and making sure they had the opportunity to be great.
''I cared about them. I cared that they had the opportunity to enjoy it," Yost said about the World Series victory.
He said that he was grateful to have the opportunity to watch players such as Salvador Perez, Mike Moustakas, Eric Hosmer and Alex Gordon grow up and become great players.
Kansas City fans are now speculating what the next move will be. With a change in both management and ownership of the team, possibilities are wide open.
"We're going to continue to focus on the process of what we do," Moore said about the change. He said the new owner will be involved in hiring the next manager.
When asked what he looked forward to doing in retirement that he hadn't been able to do while managing the team, Yost's answer was simple.
"Turkey hunting," he said.
