Texas Ranger's manager tested positive for cocaine use in 2009

Bfgrn

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Apr 4, 2009
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Ron is such a great teacher. I hope he can stay clean. And I applaud the Ranger's organization for giving this guy a second chance...


Ron Washington Tested Positive for Cocaine in 2009


We've become accustomed to reading stories about failed drug tests in Major League Baseball over the last few years. We haven't been accustomed to stories like this, however.

Rangers manager Ron Washington tested positive for cocaine during the 2009 season. The manager confirmed the positive test in an interview with Jon Heyman of SI.com on Tuesday night.

"I did make a mistake and I regret that I did it," Washington told SI.com. "I am really embarrassed and I am really sorry."

Washington spoke with the media at length Wednesday, but the news didn't come as a surprise to the Rangers. After he took a random drug test last season, Washington contacted his bosses as well as the commissioner's office to let them know that there was a good chance he was going to fail the test. He apologized and the Rangers elected not to make a change in the dugout.

Since failing, Washington has passed every subsequent drug test. He's subject to more frequent testing as a result of failing the test and was subject to testing in the first place as a result of a recommendation in the Mitchell Report that managers and other staff be part of the testing process. Those who fail a test or admit drug use are placed in counseling and/or a treatment program by MLB's mandate.
 
So what.

So the guy snorts a little yayo in his free time. As long as he's not under the influence during games, who the fuck cares?
 
Ahh he got the celebrety exemption.

A regualr middle class worker would have lost his job.

Now this is a more appropriate response to a story like this.

Who really cares if he snorts blow in his free time...I bet most of you would be pretty surprised to know how many people actually do...but what's shocking about it is that he gets off scott free when, like uscitizen said, the average joe would have been shit canned.
 
He should have been fired on the spot.

The last thing MLB or the Rangers need is drugs coming from managers.

I'm sure Josh Hamliton will take what this guys says to heart now...
 
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Players react to manager's positive test


SURPRISE, Ariz. -- If anyone can understand what Ron Washington is going through, it's Josh Hamilton.

The Rangers slugger, who has dealt with drug and alcohol addiction problems, found out with the rest of his teammates Wednesday morning that Washington had used cocaine during the first half of last season. Players said they support their manager and have vowed not to let the issue distract them from preparing for a season with high expectations.

"I told him I loved him," Hamilton said. "Everybody makes mistakes. I respect him as a man, as a coach and as a man of high integrity. When he was speaking to us in here, you could tell he was broken and really felt remorse about it."

Hamilton, who was suspended for violating Major League Baseball's drug policy while with Tampa Bay in 2004, said his situation differs completely from what Washington did.

"I was addicted," Hamilton said. "I was trying to get after it, 'How much can I get? How much can I use?'" Hamilton said. "I didn't care about anybody else when I was going through things. Wash cares about people. He has a vested interest in how he comes off to him, being the manager and the man that he is. I think it was a weak moment, like he said. He made a mistake and he didn't try to hide it. He just said, 'I made a mistake and here it is.'"

Rangers third baseman Michael Young, a key leader in the clubhouse, said Washington's apology was "well received."

"Going forward, I don't see it being a big issue at all," Young said. "He made a mistake. He admitted it. He talked to the team about it. Guys were able to say their piece. He gave an open-door policy for guys to answer whatever question they wanted. You can't ask for much more than that. It won't be a distraction for the guys. We'll get ready for the season."
 
Unless there's more to this I don't know, Washington is not "going through" anything even close to what Hamilton went through. Hamilton is an addict, who will forever be in recovery because of it. Washington snorted some blow and pissed hot.

Does anyone know if Washington has a problem with drugs, or did he just party one night and have the extreme bad luck of having a piss test within 48 hours of ingesting coke?
 
He probably learned when to do the coke so he would pass, and how to use a clean out kit. It only takes 2 to 3 days for it to leave your system.
And like someone else said, he would have been fired if he had not been a celebrity.
 
So it is not the act of using an illegal drug but the fact that he got caught?

Maybe they should just shoot him you idiot

Nope, that would be too harsh of a penalty.

I don't subscribe to throwing a good person away, we're all human. That means we ALL make mistakes.

This country is turning into a fucking police state.


Under the pressure of the cares and sorrows of our mortal condition, men have at all times, and in all countries, called in some physical aid to their moral consolations - wine, beer, opium, brandy, or tobacco.
Edmund Burke
 
Unless there's more to this I don't know, Washington is not "going through" anything even close to what Hamilton went through. Hamilton is an addict, who will forever be in recovery because of it. Washington snorted some blow and pissed hot.

Does anyone know if Washington has a problem with drugs, or did he just party one night and have the extreme bad luck of having a piss test within 48 hours of ingesting coke?

The man has money, do you really think he is an occasional coke user?
I had a problem, and I sure as hell didn't make the money he does.
 
Maybe they should just shoot him you idiot

Nope, that would be too harsh of a penalty.

I don't subscribe to throwing a good person away, we're all human. That means we ALL make mistakes.

This country is turning into a fucking police state.


Under the pressure of the cares and sorrows of our mortal condition, men have at all times, and in all countries, called in some physical aid to their moral consolations - wine, beer, opium, brandy, or tobacco.
Edmund Burke

Until regular Joe stops getting fired for pissing dirty, this man should have been fired.
 
Maybe they should just shoot him you idiot

Nope, that would be too harsh of a penalty.

I don't subscribe to throwing a good person away, we're all human. That means we ALL make mistakes.

This country is turning into a fucking police state.


Under the pressure of the cares and sorrows of our mortal condition, men have at all times, and in all countries, called in some physical aid to their moral consolations - wine, beer, opium, brandy, or tobacco.
Edmund Burke

Yep but the average Joe is fired on the spot.
Would they have fired the janitor that cleans up the mess after the games?

Selective enforcement SUCKS.
 
Nope, that would be too harsh of a penalty.

I don't subscribe to throwing a good person away, we're all human. That means we ALL make mistakes.

This country is turning into a fucking police state.


Under the pressure of the cares and sorrows of our mortal condition, men have at all times, and in all countries, called in some physical aid to their moral consolations - wine, beer, opium, brandy, or tobacco.
Edmund Burke

Until regular Joe stops getting fired for pissing dirty, this man should have been fired.

A drowning victim sees another human being only as land...learn to swim...
 
I don't subscribe to throwing a good person away, we're all human. That means we ALL make mistakes.

This country is turning into a fucking police state.


Under the pressure of the cares and sorrows of our mortal condition, men have at all times, and in all countries, called in some physical aid to their moral consolations - wine, beer, opium, brandy, or tobacco.
Edmund Burke

Until regular Joe stops getting fired for pissing dirty, this man should have been fired.

A drowning victim sees another human being only as land...learn to swim...

What the heck does that mean?
Please elaborate.
 
Washington was popular with Oakland players, many of whom wanted him to be their new manager. He was instrumental in the development of six-time Gold Glove third baseman Eric Chavez and making the A's consistently one of the AL's top fielding teams.

Two years ago, Chavez gave Washington one of his Gold Glove trophies with the inscription, "Wash, not without you."
Rangers hire ex-A's assistant Washington as manager



Ron Washington’s type of apology should get noticed in MLB

Remarkably, Washington admitted his mistake even before his drug test, which he was randomly selected for by MLB, took place. He offered his resignation right then and there last summer — which the Rangers didn’t take him up on — and he admitted his wrongdoings in a public manner multiple times on Wednesday.

There was no finger-pointing denial followed by a subsequent failed test. There was no sudden lack of speaking ability. There was no Ari Fleischer-coached tear-enhanced, rhetoric-laced sit-down with Bob Costas.

Instead, the 57-year-old manager — a career baseball guy who made his big-league debut as a Los Angeles Dodger nearly 33 years ago — doffed his cap and addressed his family, the media, his bosses, the fans and all of baseball. He wasn’t hiding behind prepared phrases, he wasn’t hiding behind a pair of designer sunglasses like some star slugger.

“I’ve learned a lot about myself personally, and I recognize that this episode was an attempt to dodge personal anxieties and personal issues I needed to confront,” he said. “That was the wrong way to do it. It was self-serving, and believe me, not worth it. I know you will ask, and so here’s the answer: this was the one and only time I used this drug.

“I made a huge mistake, and it almost caused me to lose everything I have worked for all of my life.”

“I am not here to make excuses. There are none,” he said. “I am not here to ask for sympathy. That would be asking too much.”

This was the textbook apology that baseball has been missing for years as many of its stars have had to address problems with performance-enhancing drugs — mistakes which often get discounted as surprises as a result of tainted supplements, lies, conspiracies. Or, we get doubletalk or comments about nothing specific … spin. (As a long-time Jose Canseco fan, I’ve read plenty on the issue of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.)

Rarely do baseball fans get the truth. Rarely do they get an admission of guilt and a chance to allow the player, the person, who made the mistake to atone for it and move on. Washington remains on contract with the Rangers through the end of this season, having added scrutiny on his team’s performance and, of course, every rise and fall in the standings will be (fairly) under a microscope.
 

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