One of Bud Selig’s last acts as commissioner was to reportedly screw Ron Washington

When the Los Angeles Angels hired Ron Washington to be their manager this offseason, everyone knew they were getting a character. Beloved around the league, Washington is renowned for his motivational talks and notes to players, as well as his work as an infield instructor. The guy has been around forever and is known to speak his mind even if it can get him in a little trouble at times. In short, he is a hoot and also a great baseball man.

That said, Wash is not a man or manager without flaws and he would be the first one to tell folks that. In addition to being a bit of an old school guy which could, in theory, make integrating data into decision-making a challenge, Washington has dealt with controversy in his past. In 2010, he admitted to using cocaine during the season after failing a drug test as well as using amphetamines in the past. Then there was his resignation as manager of the Rangers after he had an extramarital affair.

Fortunately for Washington, the Braves took the chance to bring him back into coaching and he was able to work his way back to manage in the big leagues again. However, that almost wasn't a possibility as a recent report revealed that former MLB commissioner Bud Selig seemingly had it out for Washington after his scandals and basically tried to blackball Washington throughout baseball.

Former MLB commissioner Bud Selig tried to keep Ron Washington out of the league

We are light on details here, but the article from ESPN linked above cites multiple sources that said as Selig was leaving office, one of his last directives (official or unofficial) was to keep teams from hiring Washington at all. Apparently, Selig took personal offense to Wash's second brush with trouble to the point where he was going to do everything he could reasonably do to keep him from mounting a comeback in baseball.

Obviously Selig's plan didn't work, although it did take a decade after he resigned from Texas for Washington to land a managerial job again. Perhaps Selig's words/actions kept Wash out the top seat or organizations were just a little wary of hiring him given his age and previous troubles.

In any case, it looks like he is enjoying his time with the Angels and the team seems to be responding to him well. A long road traveled, indeed.

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