Coaching While Black
This occasional series will highlight Black coaches at all levels of sport. This week: Los Angeles Angels Manager Ron Washington.
Major League Baseball is one of the hardest leagues for second chances that aren’t often afforded, especially as manager, and especially when you’re Black. Ron Washington is a rare exception.
Since 2024, he has been the Los Angeles Angels manager; his first managerial job was at Texas (2007-2014). He played nine MLB seasons with five clubs, including Minnesota (1981-86).
“I had a single room. They made me go room with Kirby [Puckett],” recalled Washington of his time with the late Hall-of-Famer.
A middle infielder for most of his career, Washington also played first base, left field, and center field throughout his playing years. But after retiring as a player in July 1989, Washington said he wasn’t ready yet to leave the game.
“My dream was to be a third base coach, infield coach,” said Washington as he sat in the visitors’ dugout before a game against Minnesota in April after his mandatory pre-game meeting with reporters.
Washington coached in the New York Mets organization for 5 years before Oakland hired him as first base coach in 1996. He later served as third base coach and infield coach, developing a reputation for teaching players how to play baseball the right way.
Then his chance to be a big league manager finally came when Texas hired Washington in 2006. “The opportunity presented itself for me,” he recalled.
“I’ve always been a leader, so when that opportunity presented itself, I took advantage of the fact that I got an interview and I won the interview.”
However, Washington stepped down from the Rangers job in 2014 for personal reasons. He was only the second Texas manager to lead the team to the postseason, the first to win a playoff series (2010) and the franchise’s first World Series (2010), which he did again in 2011.
But getting another managerial job, despite not being fired, became a long ride on the MLB manager-go-round for a few seasons.
“Even though I lost a job in Texas, I didn’t run away from the game,” continued Washington. “I didn’t lose what I could offer to the game.
“I stayed in the game and kept myself relevant, and by keeping myself relevant, I got another opportunity and I made a difference,” he said of Oakland, who hired Washington in 2015 as an infield coach and third base coach.
However, in the meantime he was unsuccessful interviewing for two separate managerial openings.
“I could have stayed home and had the chip on my shoulder about I’m not managing anymore,” Washington pointed out. “But these kids in this game need people like me, and that’s why I stayed in the game, and that’s why the Angels gave me another opportunity to manage.”
Washington and Los Angeles Dodgers’ Dave Roberts are MLB’s only Black managers — only 15 Black men have ever managed in Major League Baseball. Three have won World Series titles — Cito Gaston, Dusty Baker and Roberts. Washington is only the third Black manager to twice manage a team in the World Series (2010 and 2011).
“I think we all would like to see more Blacks in the managing core because there are some guys that can do it,” said Washington as we wrapped up our chat. “But the biggest key for me is not giving us a job, just giving us an opportunity to prove to you that we can do the job.
“You gotta nail the interview, man,” he stressed. “You gotta nail the interview because they’re not gonna give us anything. So, you gotta go in there and nail the interview.
“That was just for me, just selling you,” concluded Washington. “I think as we move forward and in years to come in the game of baseball, hopefully it’ll get better, because there are some guys out there, Black guys out there, that can run a baseball team.”
Charles Hallman welcomes reader comments to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.