Longtime MLB exec Bob Boone -- Aaron Boone's famous father -- is leaving his job with the Washington Nationals ... and it's all 'cause the team has made COVID vaccines mandatory.
ESPN reported the news Wednesday ... explaining Bob -- a key front-office advisor for the team for YEARS -- is not willing to comply with the Nats' new policy that all non-playing employees must get the vaccine.
It's a huge deal -- 73-year-old Bob has been with the org. since 2005 ... and was most recently serving in a role as a senior adviser to Washington GM Mike Rizzo.
The Nats have said, according to The Washington Post, employees have until Sept. 15 to get the COVID vaccines ... otherwise, their contracts will be terminated.
Players, however, will still be allowed to remain with the organization even if they refuse to get the vax.
"As a company," the Nats said in a statement regarding the policy last week, "we have a responsibility to do everything we can to keep one another safe and felt that mandating vaccines was the absolute right thing to do for our employees and our community."
FYI, Bob's son, Aaron -- the New York Yankees manager -- has said he got the vaccine in March.
The shots have been a hot-button issue in MLB circles the past few days ... with MLB Network stars John Smoltz and Al Leiter working remotely instead of in-studio after refusing the vax -- according to the New York Post.