Kevin Curtis Kennedy (born May 26, 1954 in Los Angeles, California) 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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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.
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.
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.
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 the following year. From 1999 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 Inside Pitch with Casey Stern on XM Radio's MLB Home Plate station XM 175 between 1-4 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.
| Team | Year | Regular Season | Post Season | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wins | Lost | Win % | Finish | Wins | Lost | Win % | Result | ||
| TEX | 1993 | 86 | 76 | .531 | 2st 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 | - | |
   | Baseball-Reference.com - Kevin Kennedy Managerial Record - Baseball-Reference.com |
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