The Big Lead

Tributes pour in as MLB's oldest manager goes on medical leave for rest of 2025 season

After initial optimism around when he would return, the 73-year-old was placed on medical leave Friday, leaving his future in the dugout in doubt.

By J.P. Hoornstra

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and Angels manager Ron Washington during the game at Angel Stadium on March 25.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and Angels manager Ron Washington during the game at Angel Stadium on March 25. / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
facebooktwitter

Seven days ago, the Los Angeles Angels returned home from a road trip, about to enter the halfway point of the Major League Baseball season still in the thick of the American League Wild Card race.

Friday, the standings were a distant concern. Ron Washington, the oldest manager in Major League Baseball, was placed on medical leave for the remainder of the 2025 season.

MORE: MLB News: Disgraced $182 million star convicted in Dominican court 

Bench coach Ray Montgomery will serve out the rest of the season as interim manager of the Angels, who are 40-40 and looking to end the majors' longest postseason drought.

"We’re starting to see the personality of the team take the personality of [Ron Washington]," Angels general manager Perry Minasian said Friday. "There’s some resiliency, there’s some toughness, and that’s exactly what Ron is… [The players] are going to go out there and play as hard as they play for Ron day in and day out."

After expressing initial optimism that he would return soon, Washington ostensibly got some news that changed his outlook. Without revealing the exact nature of the diagnosis, Minasian told reporters in Anaheim that Washington, 73, "knows what he needs to do to get healthy."

Complicating Washington's future, he's halfway through the final guaranteed year of his contract, which includes a team option for 2026.

Meanwhile, tributes poured in from around baseball for Washington, who has been active in professional baseball as a player, coach, or manager since the 1970s.

"You bring so much joy to the game and we’re all pulling for you," was the message from the official Twitter/X account of the Atlanta Braves, who Wasington coached to a World Series championship in 2021. "Get well soon, Wash!"

"We're all praying for him and pulling for him during this fight he's in right now," Angels broadcaster and former major league pitcher Mark Gubicza told Foul Territory. "It is difficult not having him on the bench."

"When I think of Ron Washington, I think of more a teacher than a manager — and I mean that in a positive way," MLB Network analyst and retired pitcher Dan Plesac said. "Like, he's just infectious. He'll go out there and work. We do the 30 teams in 15 days ... he beats us to the field every day. The sun is barely out in Arizona and he's out there on the field working with some infielders."

GET MORE TOP STORIES from The Big Lead by subscribing to TBL YouTube channel

NBA DRAFT RESULTS: Full list of picks from Round 2 in 2025 NBA draft

MLB: Disgraced $182 million star convicted in Dominican court

SPORTS MEDIA: 2025 ESPYs nominations led by Josh Allen, Shohei Ohtani, Simone Biles

WNBA: Washington Mystics player Jade Melbourne loses tooth after elbow to face in game against Aces

VIRAL: ESPN's NBA Draft coverage dragged as network limps into NBA offseason

Home/MLB