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Washington Returns To Oakland, A’s Win

Published

10 years ago

May 25, 2015

Oakland, CA – It’s no coincidence the A’s ended their four-game skid upon his arrival. Back in a uniform after retiring in 2014, he’s ready to help get Oakland back on track. Ron Washington was recently hired as the A’s infield coach, a position that’s very familiar to him. Washington was the manager for the Texas Rangers for seven years but before that he was a coach with Oakland for ten.

“I’m here and I’m enjoying myself, trying to instill the game of baseball to as many people as I possibly can,” said Washington. “My main goal is to help these infielders as best as I can as well as Mike Gallego [third base coach].”

It was with the A’s that Washington served as both the third base and infield coach. His expertise changed the cultural of the infield, developing much of Oakland’s talent in the last decade. He worked with six-time Gold Glove winner Eric Chavez and shortstop Miguel Tejada. Chavez was so impressed by Washington that he gave him one of his Gold Glove trophies, signed “Wash, not without you.”

There was something about the success of Washington that led to General Manager Billy Beane giving him a call asking him to rejoin the team. The A’s currently hold the worst record in the American League at 17-30 despite winning their last two games. They begin a nine-game homestand today and look to turn things around.

“Got a call from Billy Beane, the conversation was quick and my arrival was quick,” he explained.

“With some of the defensive issues we’ve had, to add another resource like that is terrific,” said Oakland’s manager Bob Melvin. “He is a very high energy guy, loves to work, so its to nice have him back. To have two guys like he and Mike Gallego, being able to help out with infield drills, we think we’ll benefit by it.”

Washington returned to O.co for the first time as a coach today and immediately got back to work. He took the field early working with players especially Marcus Semien, who alone holds the record for most errors in the Majors. Never one to back down from challenge, Washington didn’t hesitate accepting the offer from Beane and feels good about the future of this team.

“There’s no formula to being consistent, it’s a grind and I think these guys are grinding. But it’s May, they have to continue to feed off what they’ve done to win those last two games, I think they will. The process of playing a Major League season is grinding, caring about each other and going out there getting the job done. It does’t matter who gets the job the done as long as its done and I see that in this clubhouse.”

During his time in Texas he was the first manager in franchise history to win a playoff series back in 2010. The Rangers advanced to the Worlds Series that same year before losing to the San Francisco Giants in five games. Washington was also the first African American to manage a team into the World Series along side Cito Gaston who managed the Toronto Blue Jays in 1992 and Dusty Baker who managed the Giants in 2002.

His prediction proved to be true before the game, the A’s extended their winning streak to three games after shutting out the Detroit Tigers 4-0 today. Jesse Hahn delivered his first shutout of his career, striking out five allowing just four hits. Oakland scored four runs in the sixth off Tigers starter Shane Greene who exited the game after 5 2/3 innings scattering eight hits, striking out four and walking none.

Hahn breezed through nine frames, fanning five and walked none. The A’s provided excellent defense backing their ace and turned over three double plays. Hahn earned his second win in nine attempts this season. He pitched around three Oakland errors, including his own wild pitch that allowed a runner to reach on a strikeout. Hahn finished with a career-high 112 pitches.

“It’s just like Bob always tells us, ‘It’s going to turn. It has to at some point,’“ catcher Stephen Vogt said. “Hopefully this is it. Hopefully we keep playing the way we have the last three days because that’s the team we know we have.”

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Oakland Post: Week of April 30 – May 6, 2025

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 30 – May 6, 2025

Published

16 hours ago

May 4, 2025

Oakland Post

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Gov. Newsom Approves $170 Million to Fast Track Wildfire Resilience

AB 100 approves major investments in regional conservancies across the state, including over $30 million each for the Sierra Nevada, Santa Monica Mountains, State Coastal, and San Gabriel/Lower LA Rivers and Mountains conservancies. An additional $10 million will support wildfire response and resilience efforts.

Published

1 week ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

Courtesy of California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Facebook page.

By Bo Tefu
California Black Media

With wildfire season approaching, last week Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 100, unlocking $170 million to fast-track wildfire prevention and forest management projects — many of which directly protect communities of color, who are often hardest hit by climate-driven disasters.

“With this latest round of funding, we’re continuing to increase the speed and size of forest and vegetation management essential to protecting communities,” said Newsom when he announced the funding on April 14.

“We are leaving no stone unturned — including cutting red tape — in our mission to ensure our neighborhoods are protected from destructive wildfires,” he said.

Newsom also signed an executive order suspending certain regulations to allow urgent work to move forward faster.

This funding builds on California’s broader Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, a $2.7 billion effort to reduce fuel loads, increase prescribed burning, and harden communities. The state has also launched new dashboards to keep the public informed and hold agencies accountable.

California has also committed to continue investing $200 million annually through 2028 to expand this effort, ensuring long-term resilience, particularly in vulnerable communities.

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California Rideshare Drivers and Supporters Step Up Push to Unionize

Today in California, over 600,000 rideshare drivers want the ability to form or join unions for the sole purpose of collective bargaining or other mutual aid and protection. It’s a right, and recently at the State Capitol, a large number of people, including some rideshare drivers and others working in the gig economy, reaffirmed that they want to exercise it.

Published

1 week ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

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By Antonio‌ ‌Ray‌ ‌Harvey‌
California‌ ‌Black‌ ‌Media‌

On July 5, 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into federal law the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Also known as the “Wagner Act,” the law paved the way for employees to have “the right to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations,” and “to bargain collectively through representatives of their own choosing, according to the legislation’s language.

On April 8, the rideshare drivers held a rally with lawmakers to garner support for Assembly Bill (AB) 1340, the “Transportation Network Company Drivers (TNC) Labor Relations Act.”

Authored by Assemblymembers Buffy Wicks (D-Oakland) and Marc Berman (D-Menlo Park), AB 1340 would allow drivers to create a union and negotiate contracts with industry leaders like Uber and Lyft.

“All work has dignity, and every worker deserves a voice — especially in these uncertain times,” Wicks said at the rally. “AB 1340 empowers drivers with the choice to join a union and negotiate for better wages, benefits, and protections. When workers stand together, they are one of the most powerful forces for justice in California.”

Wicks and Berman were joined by three members of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC): Assemblymembers Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood), Sade Elhawary (D-Los Angeles), and Isaac Bryan (D-Ladera Heights).

Yvonne Wheeler, president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor; April Verrett, President of Service Employees International Union (SEIU); Tia Orr, Executive Director of SEIU; and a host of others participated in the demonstration on the grounds of the state capitol.

“This is not a gig. This is your life. This is your job,” Bryan said at the rally. “When we organize and fight for our collective needs, it pulls from the people who have so much that they don’t know what to do with it and puts it in the hands of people who are struggling every single day.”

Existing law, the “Protect App-Based Drivers and Services Act,” created by Proposition (Prop) 22, a ballot initiative, categorizes app-based drivers for companies such as Uber and Lyft as independent contractors.

Prop 22 was approved by voters in the November 2020 statewide general election. Since then, Prop 22 has been in court facing challenges from groups trying to overturn it.

However, last July, Prop 22 was upheld by the California Supreme Court last July.

In a 2024, statement after the ruling, Lyft stated that 80% of the rideshare drivers they surveyed acknowledged that Prop 22 “was good for them” and “median hourly earnings of drivers on the Lyft platform in California were 22% higher in 2023 than in 2019.”

Wicks and Berman crafted AB 1340 to circumvent Prop 22.

“With AB 1340, we are putting power in the hands of hundreds of thousands of workers to raise the bar in their industry and create a model for an equitable and innovative partnership in the tech sector,” Berman said.