Current Texas Rangers’ manager Ron Washington was born on April 29, 1952 in New Orleans, Louisiana.  He was signed by the Kansas City Royals as a shortstop at the age of 18 on July 17, 1970.  He would spend the next ten seasons in the Minor Leagues of three different organizations – the Kansas City Royals, the New York Mets, and the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Washington’s first taste of the big leagues occurred during a brief September callup by the Dodgers in 1977.  He would go 7-19 (.368) during this stretch.  However, he wouldn’t return to the Majors again until 1981 as part of the Minnesota Twins’ organization.  He would remain in the majors with the Twins until 1986.  Washington would then play with the Baltimore Orioles in 1987, the Cleveland Indians in 1988, and the Houston Astros in 1989 before playing one final season with Oklahoma City, the Triple-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers, in 1990.

After his retirement from the field, Washington worked in the New York Mets’ organization for a total of five years.  In 1996, the Oakland Athletics hired Washington to be their first base coach under Washington’s former Houston Astros’ manager Art Howe.  Washington would then serve as infield coach and as third base coach with the Athletics during his tenure between 1997 and 2006.

Washington is credited with helping much of the Athletics’ young infield talent that was coming up through their Minor League farm system and beginning to play regularly at the Major League level, particularly 3B Eric Chavez and SS Miguel Tejada.  Chavez, who won 6 Gold Gloves at third base while with Oakland, even signed one of his Golden Glove trophies with, “Wash, not without you,” and gave it to Washington, knowing how important Washington’s teachings were to helping Chavez become the player he became.

The famous book, “Moneyball,” showed how the Oakland Athletics utilized a sabermetric and analytical approach in order to find quality ballplayers that could make a competitive team on a limited budget, which the Athletics dealt with due to their small revenue streams.  Washington is featured prominently in this book, both for helping to teach former Oakland player Scott Hatteberg how to play first base and for being in disagreement with Oakland general manager Billy Beane’s saber metric approach to evaluating ballplayers.

Washington became manager of the Texas Rangers on November 6, 2006, replacing noted manager Buck Showalter and beating out Rangers’ bench coach Don Wakamatsu, Mets’ third base coach Manny Acta, Nippon Ham Fighters’ (of the Japanese Baseball League) manager Trey Hillman, and former Rangers’ catcher John Russell for the position. Many people bought Ranger tickets in the hope that he could bring a Championship to the team.

During the early part of the 2007 season, it was rumored that a rift was developing between Washington and one of Texas’ star players, 1B Mark Teixeira.  From some of Washington’s comments made at the time, it seems that Washington was not thrilled with players like Teixeira who would not make middle relievers work deep into counts before swinging at a pitch.  Too often, Teixeira would swing at the first pitch that he liked in an at-bat, but oftentimes, would not be productive with that pitch.

Essentially, Washington was asking and wanting Teixeira to be a little more selective at the plate and not just go after the first pitch he liked in an at-bat when a middle reliever was on the mound.  Washington’s view was that he could see hitters like Teixeira going after the first pitch they liked when a closer was on the mound, since it stands to reason that the closer of a team will have some quality strikeout stuff and that a hitter likely won’t get too many hittable pitches to hit in an at-bat.

However, Washington didn’t believe that that was true of middle relievers, who weren’t at the same level as closers; that’s why these pitchers were known as “middle relievers.”  They didn’t have the same quality of pitches or the command that closers had.  Washington felt that Teixeira would be more productive if he forced the middle reliever to throw more pitches, get deeper into the count, and force the reliever to throw a perfect pitch to him to get a strike.

Washington felt that middle relievers would be more likely to make mistakes on the plate somewhere in the at-bat, at which time Teixeira would be more likely to be productive offensively, rather than just go after the first pitch a he liked.  Too often, that philosophy led to the Rangers making three outs in an inning on just four to five pitches, often when the Rangers were down four to five runs in a game and needing to maximize the production of every at-bat, which Washington felt Teixeira was not doing often enough because he would be too eager to go after the first pitch he liked.

This rift may have partly been the reason why Teixeira was traded to the Atlanta Braves in July 2007, though this trade helped to bring back three key pieces to the Rangers’ 2010 and 2011 playoff teams – SS Elvis Andrus, LHP Matt Harrison, and RHP Neftali Feliz.

Washington also expected a lot of his young players, as was evidenced by rumored tensions between Washington and young catcher Gerald Laird.  Washington admitted that he put a lot of pressure on him, but that the situation called for “him to grow up fast.”

Jon Heyman of Sports Illustrated reported on March 17, 2010 that Washington had tested positive for cocaine during the 2009 season, to which Washington admitted he had used cocaine.  He was very apologetic, even to the point of crying during the press conference, and the Rangers decided to allow him to stay as manager.

Washington has only become the second Rangers’ manager (after Johnny Oates’ 1996, 1997, and 1999 Rangers’ teams) to lead the Rangers to the postseason.  Washington became the first Rangers’ manager to successfully lead his club to a postseason series win (a 3-2 series win over Tampa Bay in the 2010 American League Divisional Series) and a World Series appearance, as well as win the first World Series game in Rangers’ history (Game 3 of the 2010 World Series against the San Francisco Giants).

Two other notable traits about Washington from watching him manage:

1.  He seems to be more emotional than many other managers.  While other managers will stay calm, cool, and collective when their teams score or when they make a great defensive play, Washington is vocally cheering on his team from the dugout.  2B Ian Kinsler likes that emotion, saying that “he likes how Washington hangs on every pitch, and it’s great knowing that your manager is in every single pitch and cares about every pitch that much.”

2.  Washington is not afraid to take out a struggling starter early as some managers are afraid to, as Texas only became the second team in postseason history (after the 1997 Cleveland Indians in that year’s ALCS against the Baltimore Orioles) to not have a starter win a game in a postseason series.  None of Texas’ starters have completed 6 innings, and RHP Colby Lewis and LHP Matt Harrison were not eligible for wins despite pitching 5 or more innings because they were either losing (in Lewis’ case) or the lead was lost later in the game (in Harrison’s case).  Yet, the heavy reliance on the bullpen has worked to this point because Texas’ bullpen shut down Detroit in the 2011 ALCS to the tune of a 2.37 ERA and a .194 Batting Average Against in 38 IP.

Washington’s managerial style and personality seem to work especially well with the 2010 and 2011 Texas Rangers’ ballclubs, being that they have made back-to-back World Series appearances.  We will soon find out if Washington’s managerial style and personality can help the Rangers take the final step to winning the franchise’s first World Series title since the franchise moved to Arlington, Texas and began play there in 1972 as they will open the 2011 World Series at Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals, on Wednesday, October 19, 2011.