MLB Managers With The Most Career Ejections In The Modern Era
The manager versus umpire argument is a cherished tradition in baseball. If a team's bench boss takes exception to a call on the field, the game is temporarily delayed so the manager can come out and give the ump a piece of his mind.
More often than not, these arguments wind up with the manager getting kicked out of the game. Some of the greatest managers in baseball history also have the most ejections. Let's look back at some of the managers who just couldn't stop getting kicked out of games.
Earl Weaver: 96 ejections
It's a little bit surprising that Earl Weaver isn't the all-time leader in ejections considering how fiery and combative the Orioles manager was throughout his 17-season managerial career with the O's.
Weaver didn't take fools gladly, and in his estimation, most umpires were fools. Weaver didn't win too many arguments with umps, but he always made sure to tell them exactly where to stick it. He was kicked out of nearly a hundred games in his career.
Phil Garner: 44 ejections
This scrappy infielder parlayed his baseball acumen into a managerial role with the 1992 Brewers, and Garner was a mainstay in MLB dugouts until 2007. As gritty a manager as he was a player, Garner managed to get kicked out of 44 games throughout his career.
Garner was never known as the angriest manager, but he had a way of getting involved with umpires to motivate his team. He's among the top 50 all-time in managerial ejections.
Tony La Russa: 93 ejections
As the only manager on this list who's also an accredited lawyer, Tony La Russa has managed four teams over six separate decades. He always found a way to get kicked out of games in each decade along the way.
La Russa was not generally an animated manager, but when a call went against his team, he could go from zero to a hundred in the blink of an eye. His managing days are likely done, but never rule him out.
Bruce Bochy: 82 ejections
Bochy followed up a decent playing career with an impressive managerial career, winning four world championships in a 15-year span. The physically imposing manager is known for a quick temper when umpires fall below his standards.
Three decades after his managerial career began, Bochy is still going strong with the Texas Rangers. His ejection total is already at an impressive number, but this will almost certainly go up as the baseball season continues.
Bobby Valentine: 44 ejections
Other managers on this list may have racked up more career ejections than Bobby Valentine, but it's safe to say that Valentine is the only manager who donned a fake disguise in order to get back into a game he'd already been kicked out of.
While managing the Mets, Valentine was kicked out of a game against the Blue Jays. Not wanting to hit the showers just yet, he literally donned a fake mustache and glasses to try to get back into the dugout. The ruse did not work.
Jim Leyland: 73 ejections
Leyland managed four teams—the Pirates, Marlins, Rockies, and Tigers—during his career, racking up ejections at every stop. He was equally adept at antagonizing his own players, particularly superstars like Barry Bonds.
The chain-smoking, sarcastic, hot-tempered Leyland was somewhat of a throwback to old-time managers like Earl Weaver. It worked for Leyland, though, as he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2024.
Clint Hurdle: 64 ejections
Hurdle had a so-so playing career but became a successful manager, winning NL Manager of the Year in 2013 for the Pirates. During his 17-year managerial career with the Pirates and Rockies, he slowly but steadily crept his way up the all-time ejections list.
His style of arguing was never particularly bombastic, but Hurdle was known for his beet-red face whenever he did take exception to a call. With 64 ejections, he's comfortably in the top 15 all-time in managerial ejections.
Lou Piniella: 64 ejections
During his playing days, "Sweet Lou" developed a reputation for getting downright sour when he didn't like a call. This trend continued into his lengthy managerial career, split between the Yankees, Reds, Mariners, Rays, and Cubs.
Piniella's ejections were particularly entertaining, as he'd frequently incorporate props like a thrown hat or an uprooted base into the argument. While some ejections are relatively sedate, it was always worth watching anytime Piniella stormed out of the dugout.
Bob Melvin: 61 ejections
Melvin had a steady playing career as a catcher for various teams and has been managing in the big leagues more or less continuously since his first managerial gig with the 2003 Mariners.
A relatively low-key and calm manager, Melvin still doesn't hesitate to give an umpire a piece of his mind. He's been involved in Major League Baseball for close to 40 years, and this wealth of experience enables him to go after umps with surgical precision.
Joe Maddon: 59 ejections
Joe Maddon and his trademark thick-rimmed glasses were a mainstay on MLB benches throughout the 2010s, first with the Angels, then the Rays, then the Cubs, and then back to the Angels for a couple of seasons.
Maddon had a fairly hot temper, but his ejections generally consisted of more than just white-hot rage. Maddon's facial expressions, appeals to other umpires, and candid post-game interviews made him an immensely entertaining manager to watch.
Sparky Anderson: 56 ejections
George "Sparky" Anderson couldn't hit well enough to stick around in the big leagues, but his baseball acumen made him one of the best managers of all time, leading the Reds and Tigers to world championships.
Anderson always looked much older than he was, so it was somewhat of a surprise to see the white-haired manager burst out of the dugout and go after an umpire with manic energy. His 56 career ejections place him at number 19 all-time.
John Gibbons: 53 ejections
Gibbons might be the most surprising inclusion on this list, given that he only managed one team, the Toronto Blue Jays, for a relatively short period of time — 11 seasons altogether.
Gibbons was generally well-liked but also notorious for getting into feuds with his own players. He was also defensive of his players, which led to a number of his ejections during his time managing in Toronto.
Joe Girardi: 43 ejections
Catchers are often regarded as field generals, so it stands to reason that Joe Girardi got into managing after his catching days were over. Girardi found plenty of success as a manager, winning NL Manager of the Year in 2006, along with the 2009 World Series with the Yankees.
While he was never overly animated during most games, Girardi would quickly rise to the occasion any time he thought one of his players was getting a raw deal.
Terry Francona: 50 ejections
Terry Francona, known as "Tito," managed Cleveland for eleven seasons following eight successful years in Boston (including the first BoSox World Series title in 86 years). Tito's personable, cheerful style was a marked contrast to his conduct with umpires during heated moments.
Francona hasn't managed in the big leagues since 2022, and baseball fans likely miss seeing him in dugouts, chewing an enormous wad of tobacco, ready to jump down the throat of any umpire who wronged him.
Tommy Lasorda: 48 ejections
Any baseball fan will tell you that Tommy Lasorda was famously hot-tempered. He got into it with opposing players, fans, umpires, and even mascots — he had separate feuds with the Phillie Phanatic in Philadelphia and Youppi in Montreal — and these were real beefs, not playful joking around.
Whether he was getting kicked out of games or regaling reporters with decidedly NSFW stories after the games, Lasorda was always a delight to watch.
Mike Scioscia: 47 ejections
Scioscia's hard-nosed MLB playing career was cut short by injuries, but the brainy catcher found quick success as an MLB manager, sitting at the helm of the Los Angeles Angels for 19 seasons and winning a World Series along the way.
Scioscia wasn't particularly combative on a regular basis, but his longevity ensured that he steadily accumulated ejections throughout his career. He's tied for 28th place on the all-time list of managerial ejections.
Jim Fregosi: 46 ejections
An underrated star during his playing days in the '60s and '70s, Fregosi was a successful big-league manager for the Angels, White Sox, Phillies, and Blue Jays. Still, World Series glory always eluded him.
Fregosi was a popular and personable manager who generally got along well with his players and provided good soundbites to members of the media. But after a bad call, he would never hesitate to tell the umpire exactly what he thought.
Ned Yost: 47 ejections
Yost was a bench coach for the Braves for more than a decade. We couldn't find statistics on how many times he was ejected as a coach, but it was likely more than a few times.
When he got his first managerial gig in 2003 with the Milwaukee Brewers, Yost made up for lost time by getting ejected at an impressive rate. His 47 career ejections tie him with Mike Scioscia for 28th all-time.
Billy Martin: 48 ejections
Billy Martin deserves a spot alongside Earl Weaver on the Mount Rushmore of angry baseball managers. Martin was famously fired and re-hired by Yankees owner George Steinbrenner multiple times throughout his managerial career.
While Martin's number one nemesis may have been Steinbrenner — and various players occupied the second spot — umpires were generally also high on the list of people that Billy Martin disliked. Considering his fiery nature, 48 ejections is a surprisingly low number.
Mike Hargrove: 50 ejections
Known as the "Human Rain Delay" as a player for his leisurely pace in the batter's box, Hargrove may as well have been known as the "Human Ejection Machine" during his lengthy MLB managerial career.
Between his long stint in Cleveland, along with stops in Baltimore and Seattle, Hargrove accumulated 50 ejections. Hargrove's managerial days are behind him, but he's still involved in baseball. The potential still exists for him to get kicked out of more games.
Charlie Manuel: 52 ejections
Manuel was one of the earliest U.S.-born players to play ball in Japan, and he got back into Major League Baseball as a coach and then manager after coming back from Japan.
He found his greatest success, and his most ejections, with the Philadelphia Phillies, where he won the 2008 World Series. In just 12 years as an MLB bench boss, Manuel was tossed 52 times — good enough for the number 22 spot on the all-time list.
Gene Mauch: 54 ejections
Gene Mauch had an unspectacular playing career in the 1940s and '50s and an equally bland career as a manager between 1960 and 1987, managing the Phillies, Expos, Twins, and Angels to a .483 career winning percentage.
One area where Mauch did stand out was in his ability to get kicked out of games. Perhaps it was his temper — or maybe just frustration with his middling teams — but he was prolific when it came to getting tossed.
Dick Williams: 57 ejections
Dick Williams saw his greatest success as a manager come with the Oakland A's, where he won two World Series titles in just three years of managing the team. But his journeyman career also saw him manage the Red Sox, Angels, Expos, Padres, and Mariners.
Williams was involved in baseball for a long time, and it's hard to assess whether his 57 ejections owe more to a hot temper or simply to his longevity in the game.
Buddy Bell: 42 ejections
David Gus Bell is known as "Buddy" to just about everyone — except for umpires. A solid player and five-time all-star in the '70s and '80s, Bell managed in the big leagues for the Tigers, Rockies, and Royals.
While his teams never won a championship, Bell managed to get tossed out of 42 games along the way. Considering the relative brevity of his managerial career — just nine seasons altogether — that's a pretty impressive number.
Joe Torre: 70 ejections
Torre most famously managed the Yankees to four world championships in a five-season span, but he also served as bench boss for the Mets, Braves, Cardinals, and Dodgers.
He'll go down in history as one of the best managers to ever wear a uniform, along with an impressive playing career with nine all-star nods. But Torre's 70 ejections is also an impressive stat. It places him just outside the top ten all-time, at number 12 on the list.
Whitey Herzog: 42 ejections
Herzog had brief managerial stints for the Rangers and Angels in the early '70s before spending five seasons with the Royals. He's best remembered for his time managing the Cardinals, though, where he won the 1982 World Series.
The feisty Herzog never hesitated to leave the dugout and give umpires a piece of his mind, and that's what earns him a spot on this list. He moved on to the general manager role later in his career, the one role where he couldn't get ejected from games.
Ron Gardenhire: 84 ejections
Gardenhire was a long-time coach — and then long-time manager — of the Twins. He was a bench coach between 1991 and 2001, then took over the managerial role in 2002 and stuck around for the next 13 seasons.
While he likely got tossed from a few games during his coaching days, his official ejection record didn't start until he took over as Twins manager in 2002. The hot-tempered Gardenhire was tossed 84 times, good enough for the seventh spot on this list.
Terry Collins: 40 ejections
Collins spent a few years managing the Astros and then the Angels in the '90s then moved on to manage in Japan's top league. But it was after taking the Mets' managerial role in 2011 that he truly became a household name.
Collins was captured on a hot mic during a profanity-laced tirade during one of his ejections with the Mets, and it's representative of his style with umpires: Argumentative, aggrieved, and about to be tossed from the game.
Pat Corrales: 38 ejections
Corrales found most of his success as a capable assistant with the Braves, but he also had less successful stints managing the Rangers, Phillies, and Cleveland. While 38 ejections might not sound like much, he accomplished this in just nine seasons.
No stats exist on how many times Corrales was ejected while serving as Braves bench coach, but it's virtually irrelevant, considering who the team's manager was during this time period.
Bobby Cox: 162 ejections
Bobby Cox is the undisputed king of getting kicked out of baseball games. His 162 career ejections are the perfect number, as there are 162 games in a Major League Baseball season. This means that Cox managed the equivalent of a full season in which he was kicked out of every single game.
Cox was never particularly showy or demonstrative during his arguments. He was just relentlessly argumentative, outpacing all other managers to become the most ejected manager in baseball history.
Don Mattingly: 38 ejections
Donnie Baseball could easily go by the alternative nickname of Donnie Ejection, based off of how frequently he's been tossed during his managerial career. Following an even-tempered playing career, Mattingly has made up for lost time with his adversarial relationship with umpires.
Mattingly has had two managerial stints in his career thus far, first with the Dodgers and then the Marlins. While he's currently a coach, his next ejection can never be too far off.
Chuck Tanner: 38 ejections
Tanner spent his early managerial career in relative obscurity with the Chicago White Sox and Oakland A's before making his name with the Pirates of the late '70s, where he managed the team to the 1979 World Series.
The Pirates' motto at the time was "We are family," and while Tanner may have felt this way about his players, he didn't extend this to umpires. His 38 career ejections tie him for 40th on the all-time list.
Bud Black: 36 ejections
Harry Ralston "Bud" Black is not an angry manager in general, but his long career at the helm of two teams — first the Padres and currently the Rockies — ensures that he's been tossed from enough games to earn a spot on this list.
The 2010 NL Manager of the Year has a losing record thus far in his career, owing to the relatively weak teams he's managed. But as an ejection tactician, he's one of the best.
Davey Johnson: 36 ejections
Davey Johnson had a decent playing career in the '60s and '70s, and he parlayed this into a coaching and managerial career. Johnson managed teams between 1984 and 2013, ensuring that he got the opportunity to be ejected from games in four separate decades.
Johnson managed the mercurial Mets, who were World Series winners in 1986. Between his explosiveness and the volatility of his players, that Mets clubhouse must have been quite an experience to be a part of.
Buck Showalter: 36 ejections
A baseball lifer, Buck Showalter famously featured on Seinfeld while he managed the Yankees, and also went toe-to-toe with team owner George Steinbrenner (who one of his predecessors, Billy Martin, also had beef with).
The stooped, unassuming Showalter has probably forgotten more about baseball than most umps remember. So, when a call goes against him, he doesn't hesitate to explain — usually calmly — why that umpire was wrong in their judgment.
Aaron Boone: 35 ejections
Aaron Boone is a manager to watch, as his 35 ejections (and counting) have come in just 914 career games. This is an impressive tally, considering it took Buck Showalter 3,393 games just to get ejected 36 times.
Boone may be a manager to watch for his managerial skills too, of course. Rest assured, if he's able to lead the Yankees to the promised land, he'll have some entertaining arguments along the way.
John McNamara: 33 ejections
McNamara couldn't crack the big leagues as a player, but went on to manage the A's, Padres, Reds, Angels, Red Sox and Cleveland during an eventful 20-plus year career as manager.
McNamara won AL Manager of the Year with the Red Sox, and if not for Bill Buckner's iconic World Series error, likely would have a championship to his name. McNamara's 33 career ejections place him in a three-way tie for 51st all-time.
Eric Wedge: 33 ejections
We haven't seen Eric Wedge behind an MLB bench in more than a decade, but between 2003 and 2013, he was a mainstay. He spent seven years with Cleveland, took a year off, and then had a three-year stint as Seattle's bench boss.
Wedge later went on to manage the Wichita State Shockers NCAA baseball team. We don't have statistics on how many times he was tossed from college games, but it was likely more than a few.
Jimy Williams: 33 ejections
Jimy Williams has one M in his first name, two World Series W's on his resume, and 33 ejections during his managerial career. After a four-year stint with the Blue Jays in the '80s, Williams went on to manage the Red Sox and then the Astros later in his career.
He was always an entertaining manager to watch, particularly during Boston's repeated playoff meltdowns against the Yankees in the late '90s and early 2000s.
Darrell Johnson: 31 ejections
Johnson's journeyman playing career saw him play for seven teams during an eleven-year playing career. As a manager, he ran three teams: The Red Sox, Mariners, and Rangers, mostly during the '70s.
The peak of his career came in 1975, when Johnson's Red Sox fell short of Sparky Anderson's "Big Red Machine" Cincinnati Reds. This was also the peak of Johnson's managerial arguments, as he got into several debates with umps during that year's World Series.
Jerry Manuel: 30 ejections
Manuel managed the White Sox between 1998 and 2003, and then the Mets from 2008 to 2010. It isn't a particularly long managerial career, and to his credit, Manuel put up a .507 winning percentage.
His teams were never particularly strong, though, and Manuel frequently took his frustrations out on umpires. His 30 career ejections place him in a tie with the next man on this list for 58th on the all-time list.
Rick Renteria: 30 ejections
The animated Renteria got into many debates with umpires during his managerial career, which was spent in Chicago. Renteria was bench boss of the Cubs in 2014, then moved to the south side to run the White Sox from 2017 to 2020.
Renteria didn't manage for long, and in fact had less than a thousand games managed to his record. Impressively, he packed a lot of ejections into those years.
Larry Bowa: 29 ejections
It felt like Larry Bowa was in baseball forever, and he kind of was. His playing career lasted from 1970 to 1985, and then he stayed in baseball as a manager and coach until 2017.
The 2001 NL Manager of the Year with the Phillies, Bowa made his biggest mark in the City of Brotherly Love. He managed the team for four seasons, had two separate stints as coach, and a couple dozen ejections.
Craig Counsell: 29 ejections
A young upstart on this list, the wiry, animated Counsell followed up an effective playing career with a successful stint as manager of the Milwaukee Brewers. He's the all-time wins leader among Brew Crew managers.
Counsell now manages the Chicago Cubs, and he's been voicing his displeasure with umpires at every step of the way. While his 29 ejections don't place him among the all-time greats, he has a lot left in the tank.
Ozzie Guillén: 29 ejections
Considering Guillén's combative, controversial personality, it's a little surprising not to see him with a few more ejections. He hasn't been seen on an MLB bench since the 2012 season with the Marlins, which is a shame, because Guillén ejections were always must-watch TV.
It seems likely that we won't see Guillén add to his career total of 29 ejections, but it's still a reasonably impressive number — good enough to tie him for 60th all-time.
Frank Robinson: 29 ejections
Robinson's legendary playing career, with 14 all-star game selections and MVP awards in both leagues, speaks for itself. He wasn't particularly combative as a player, and we don't have statistics on how many times he was tossed during his playing days.
As a manager, Robinson made up for lost time by getting kicked out of games at an impressive rate. Between managing Cleveland, San Francisco and Baltimore in the '70s and '80s, and then Washington later in his career, Robinson was tossed 29 times.
David Bell: 28 ejections
Bell had a productive playing career between 1995 and 2006, and parlayed his aptitude and intelligence into roles as a coach and manager. Along the way, he's gotten into it with a great many umpires.
Bell hasn't even managed a thousand games at the big league level, but he's been kicked out of 28 of them. Managers with similar ejection totals have managed two or even three times this many games.
Lloyd McClendon: 28 ejections
McClendon spent eight years playing big league baseball, and then another eight as a big league manager - first with a five-year stint in Pittsburgh, followed by time with the Mariners and Tigers as well.
McClendon hasn't found much playoff success in his managerial tenure, which might explain why he's spent so much time getting exasperated with umpires. Over the course of his career, McClendon's 28th ejections are good enough for 65th all-time.
Jim Riggleman: 28 ejections
Riggleman never played Major League Baseball, but his baseball acumen eventually saw him reach the top of the game as a coach and manager. He split the better part of three decades managing and coaching various MLB teams.
Along the way, Riggleman was tossed a total of 28 times. Most of these likely came during his longest two managerial stints with the Padres and Cubs back in the '90s.
Cito Gaston: 27 ejections
The only manager to lead the Blue Jays to World Series glory (doing so twice), Cito Gaston was generally a calm and collected bench tactician. While he rarely showed anger, Gaston was no stranger to ejections.
Between his two stints with the team - first starting in 1989 and spanning the early '90s, and then again in the new millennium - Gaston was kicked out of the game a total of 27 times.
Jim Tracy: 27 ejections
Jim Tracy's playing career never amounted to much, fizzling out after a couple of years with the Cubs and in Japan. He got his managerial start in the minor leagues in the late '80s, and broke into the big leagues in 2001.
As manager of the Dodgers, Pirates, and Rockies between 2001 and 2012, Tracy racked up 27 ejections. This ties him with Cito Gaston for 68th place on the all-time list.
Dusty Baker: 26 ejections
Dusty Baker is a mainstay on MLB benches, after first taking over the reins of the San Francisco Giants more than three decades ago. Considering this longevity, along with how often he goes toe-to-toe with umpires, it's a bit surprising that he hasn't been ejected more.
Across his 30-plus year career as an MLB manager (in which he's taken only a few seasons off), Dusty Baker has been kicked out of 26 games.
Fredi González: 26 ejections
The Cuban-born González has a .506 career winning percentage between his four seasons managing the Florida Marlins, followed by six seasons with the Atlanta Braves. His overall record is fairly pedestrian, but he was never afraid to give umpires a piece of his mind.
González is now a bench coach, not a manager, so his modern-day ejections don't count towards this overall total. But as a manager, he managed to get ejected 26 times.
Art Howe: 26 ejections
Art Howe was the Oakland A's bench boss during the peak of their Moneyball era. Getting kicked out of games wasn't an official tenet of the Moneyball philosophy, but it's a skill that Howe truly made his own.
Howe's been kicked out of 26 games over the course of his career, which spans stints with the Houston Astros (five seasons), Oakland (seven seasons), and New York Mets (two seasons).
Buck Rodgers: 25 ejections
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century is an old-time science fiction novel, but the story of "Manager Buck Rodgers in the 20th Century" would be mostly about this venerable MLB skipper getting ejected.
Rodgers won NL Manager of the Year with the 1987 Expos, and he also spent time managing the Brewers and Angels over the course of his career. His 25 ejections is good enough for a tie for 76th on the all-time list.