After the Cincinnati Reds announced in October that they had reached an agreement on a three-year contract with a club option for a fourth season, Terry Francona came out of retirement to manage the team. After his 23rd season as an MLB manager, Francona retired and returned a year later.
A year after leaving the Cleveland Guardians, where he had managed for the previous 11 seasons, the 65-year-old took over a youthful Reds squad. After winning two World Series as manager of the Boston Red Sox, including the 2004 season that ended an 86-year title drought, Francona also won about 55% of his games with Cleveland.
Terry Francona Is on the Verge of an Unwanted Feat
With many years of managing teams under his belt, Francona is no stranger to ejections. However, his latest ejection marked the 52nd time in his entire career. In the tense last innings of a hotly contested game against the Royals, the Cincinnati Reds manager was removed, and his team lost 3-2.
Cincinnati Reds manager Terry Francona was ejected for the 52nd time in his career tonight. He is one of 25 managers to be ejected 50 or more times, and third on the active list behind Bruce Bochy (87) and Bob Melvin (66).
Bobby Cox is the all-time leader with 162 ejections.— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) May 29, 2025
This wasn’t the first time in May that Francona was ejected. Three weeks ago, in the top of the eleventh inning of Cincinnati’s disappointing 5-4 walk-off loss to the Braves, which featured numerous late errors, Francona was tossed along with first-base coach Collin Cowgill.
With Santiago Espinal on second base at the start of the eleventh, Blake Dunn squared to sacrifice bunt, but it went straight to Matt Olson, the charging first baseman. Espinal was out after the fielder’s choice throw traveled to third base.
Dunn tried to steal second base with Rece Hinds batting with two outs. Umpire Alex McKay called him out to finish the inning because he was unable to keep his hand on the base. Cowgill countered that Ozzie Albies, the second baseman, used his knee to obstruct the bag.
Cowgill was swiftly dismissed by McKay. Francona also objected and asked for a replay review of the tag itself, even though the blocking situation was not reviewable. Dunn was declared out, and the call remained because the replay official was unable to confirm that he kept in touch with the base.
Francona wanted to dispute further with McKay, so he headed to second base when crew chief Alan Porter explained the review. Porter ejected him with his back to him. Francona, however, was still on the bench for two plate appearances when the bottom of the 11th inning started.
But Francona still has a long way to go before he records and makes history for the most ejections; that record is held by Bobby Cox with a staggering 162 all-time ejections! That is literally getting thrown out of every single game for a full season.
John McGraw, who had 41 fewer ejections, is ranked second on the list. Even though Tony La Russa retired two seasons ago, he was still 69 ejections behind Cox. Bruce Bochy, who has 78 ejections—less than half of Cox’s total—is the active leader.