According to SI.com, Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington tested positive for cocaine following the 2009 All Star Break last July. Washington told Sports Illustrated that he called the commissioner’s office as soon as he thought he failed the test. He also said he apologized to the Rangers organization and that the incident was a “one-time transgression.”
MLB started drug testing managers, coaches, and clubhouse personnel in 2008 on recommendation from George Mitchell.
Washington has already been through outpatient substance abuse counseling for the past nine months and first time offenders are not usually subjected to punitive measures, per MLB regulations as told by SI. Their names are also withheld from the public.
Now that the cat is out of the bag it looks like either Nolan Ryan or Jon Daniels will have to publicly explain their decision not to fire the manager of a team with at least one recreational drug addict already on the roster, while they were sporting a 48-39 record that put them 1.5 games behind the Angels for first place in the AL West.
UPDATE: Evan Grant, while on 1310 The Ticket’s BAD radio show, said the Rangers organization could have fired Washington last year without fear of facing any sort of legal repurcussions.
UPDATE 2: Tip O’ The Hat to commenter SDM for pointing us to an ESPN Dallas chat with Nolan Ryan where he shared his reaction to the news:
Chris Smith (Dallas)
What was your first reaction when you learned of Washington positive test?
Nolan Ryan
(3:43 PM)I was in total shock. Then I was mad. Then I was very disappointed. I went through an array of emotions.
11 comments
I miss InsideCorner.
Deadspin:
“A recent study found that 95% of US dollar bills contain traces of Ron Washington”
Anyone find it interesting the DMN (and the Star-Telegram) (heck, even the post-Grego Ticket) did not break this story.
Wash should be fired for a one-time offense that he’s doing penance and treatment for?
Or perhaps the person who leaked the results to SI?
Which is worse: Ron’s one-time use of cocaine, which he immediately admitted to and offered to resign over, or the fact that someone at MLB leaked the result of his drug test to a Sports Illustrated writer?
I say it’s the latter. But I also think Karl Rove leaked Valerie Plame’s name to Bob Novak.
Nolan Ryan is chatting right now on ESPN Dallas (was set up before the story broke). A sample:
Chris Smith (Dallas)
What was your first reaction when you learned of Washington positive test?
Nolan Ryan (3:43 PM)
I was in total shock. Then I was mad. Then I was very disappointed. I went through an array of emotions.
All right, another person who has fallen from grace and made a mistake and must now endure countless attacks from anonymous saints.
“one-time transgression.”
How come that excuse never works for me with Mrs. Demo?
lamenting the loss of InsideCorner as I read the misspelled name of the man who has been at the helm of the Rangers for half of a decade.
@md thanks for the correction on Daniels’ first name.
Just so that I understand this correctly, Ron Washington wants us to believe that at the age of 57 he tried cocaine for the first and only time right before a mandatory drug test? I miss Billy Martin.