A week after the end of the 1979 World Series on October 24, Frey was named to succeed Whitey Herzog as manager of the Kansas City Royals. He 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 swept their long-time postseason nemesis, the New York Yankees, in three straight games to capture the AL title. (The Yanks had defeated Herzog's Royals for three consecutive seasons (1976–78) in the ALCS.) But Frey's Royals dropped the World Series to the Philadelphia Phillies, in six games.