Ron Washington Speaker & Booking Information

As a major league player, Ron Washington was best known for his time with the Minnesota Twins. He had grown up living in New Orleans, LA. In 1989, Washington played for the West Palm Beach Tropics of the Senior Professional Baseball Association. He hit .359 in 67 games with a league-leading 73 runs batted in. After the season, he signed a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers. In 1990, Washington played for the Daytona Beach Explorers, also of the Senior Professional Baseball Association. He was batting .195 with 2 home runs and 11 RBI in 21 games when the league folded. His main teammates were Kent Hrbek, Tom Brunansky, Gary Gaetti, Gary Ward and Frank Viola. After his playing career ended, he joined the New York Mets organization, where he served as a minor league coach and manager. Washington was the coach for the Tidewater Tides in 1991-1992. He managed the Capital City Bombers in 1993-1994, then coached the Norfolk Tides in 1995. From 1996 to 2006, he was an Oakland Athletics coach. He was hired to replace Buck Showalter as manager of the Texas Rangers on November 5, 2006. He beat out 4 other managerial candidates, including Don Wakamatsu, Trey Hillman, and Manny Acta. Hillman might have been offered the job, but he was offered more money by the Nippon Ham Fighters to stay on with them, after he managed them to the Nippon Pro Baseball championship earlier in the Fall of 2006. Both Washington and Hillman had interviewed with the Oakland Athletics about their managerial vacancy, one week before Washington got the job with the Rangers. On March 17, 2010, Washington announced at a press conference that he had tested positive for cocaine use the previous summer. Calling it a "one-time mistake", he offered his resignation as Rangers manager, but top-level management rejected it. He also admitted to having used marijuana and amphetamines during his playing career. He then led the Rangers to a number of franchise firsts that season, including their first win in a postseason series when they defeated the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS, and their first World Series appearance after an upset of the New York Yankees in the ALCS. In the 2010 World Series however, the Rangers were no match for the strong pitching of the San Francisco Giants and bowed out in 5 games. The Rangers repeated as AL West champions in 2011 with an even stronger season, then reached the World Series for the second consecutive year by defeating the Tampa Bay Rays in the ALDS and the Detroit Tigers in the ALCS. On September 2, 2012, Washington earned his 507th win as a manager of the Texas Rangers, passing Johnny Oates for 2nd most wins by a Rangers manager. On August 4, 2013, Washington passed Bobby Valentine for the most wins as a Rangers manager, at 582. Following the conclusion of the 2014 season, Washington is scheduled to travel to Japan to manage a team of MLB All-Stars playing against All-Stars of Nippon Professional Baseball in the 2014 Major League Baseball Japan All-Star Series. On September 5, 2014, Washington announced his resignation as manager of the Rangers, citing personal reasons. On September 11, 2014, it was announced by several media outlets that Ron Washington's resignation may be related to allegations of sexual assault against a reporter. On September 18, 2014, Washington announced that he had been having an extramarital affair, and that he had resigned to reconcile with his family. Washington's managerial record with the Rangers was 664–611, including four consecutive 90-win seasons, and two pennants. However, his 2014 squad was only 53–87.