{"id":475850,"date":"2026-02-18T12:51:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T12:51:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/475850\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T12:51:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T12:51:08","slug":"qa-whats-next-for-mlb-players-after-union-chief-tony-clark-quit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/475850\/","title":{"rendered":"Q&A: What’s next for MLB players after union chief Tony Clark quit?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On the cusp of what promises to be a bitter showdown with major league owners, the players\u2019 union has no leader. Tony Clark, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Assn., resigned under pressure<\/a> Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Why did Clark resign?<\/p>\n

Clark and the union had engaged separate attorneys as federal authorities investigated alleged financial improprieties within the MLBPA, an affiliated licensing company and an affiliated youth sports venture.<\/p>\n

The union also commissioned an investigation, initially focused on those allegations, that uncovered an \u201cinappropriate relationship\u201d between Clark and an employee, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to The Times, with the eight-man MLBPA player leadership team advising Clark that he should depart. The employee was his sister-in-law, the person confirmed.<\/p>\n

The allegations remain under federal investigation, meaning that player leaders determined Clark could have been a liability on at least two fronts as players and owners head toward what is expected to be the most contentious collective bargaining in the sport in 31 years.<\/p>\n

The Athletic first reported Clark had resigned; ESPN first reported on the relationship.<\/p>\n

Who will replace Clark as the union leader?<\/p>\n

The MLBPA issued a statement late Tuesday saying player leaders had met Tuesday. Players planned to canvass their peers scattered across spring training camps, then meet again Wednesday, with the possibility of voting on a new executive director then.<\/p>\n

That could be either a permanent hire or an interim hire; the latter would reflect the urgency of the upcoming labor negotiation. Although the collective bargaining agreement does not expire until Dec. 1, Commissioner Rob Manfred<\/a> said last week he expected talks on a new deal to start soon after opening day.<\/p>\n

Bruce Meyer, the union\u2019s deputy executive director and lead negotiator, would be the most logical successor. The MLBPA hired Meyer away from the NHLPA in 2018, one year into a bargaining agreement in which Clark and union negotiators were widely viewed as being badly beaten by Manfred and league negotiators.<\/p>\n

No. It just acknowledged his resignation.<\/p>\n

Is Meyer\u2019s ascension a foregone conclusion? \"Bruce <\/p>\n

Bruce Meyer in 2022<\/p>\n

(Richard Drew \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n

Likely, yes, but not foregone. In 2021, with Meyer as lead negotiator and pushing for a better deal even as a 162-game season was threatened, players voted to accept the deal on the table. The union promoted Meyer into his current position in 2022.<\/p>\n

In 2024, ESPN reported a majority of player representatives supported the replacement of Meyer with Harry Marino, who had unionized minor league players. Ultimately, Clark stuck with Meyer.<\/p>\n

At this late date, however, internal bargaining preparations are underway, and Meyer is now a veteran of MLB negotiations. The goal is to \u201ckeep everything as stable as we can this year,\u201d Angels pitcher Brent Suter<\/a> told reporters. Suter is one of eight players on the union\u2019s player leadership team.<\/p>\n

Does this mean the players are divided and the owners are united?<\/p>\n

No, and not that simple in any case.<\/p>\n

On what looms as the core bargaining issue \u2014 the potential adoption of a salary cap \u2014 Clark and Meyer were aligned. Clark was the union voice calling a cap \u201cinstitutionalized collusion,\u201d with Meyer filling in the details of why the MLBPA believed a cap would not necessarily enhance parity and could leave players liable to receive a shrinking percentage of revenue over time.<\/p>\n

Manfred has argued the current system helps elite players while squeezing the salaries and the jobs of the so-called middle class.<\/p>\n

The owners currently appear united on pushing for a salary cap. If at some point they believe they have to do what the NHL did to get a cap \u2014 that is, lose an entire season \u2014 the interests of the large-market owners and the small-market owners could diverge.<\/p>\n

What does this mean in terms of a potential lockout?<\/p>\n

Nothing, really. Within the game, a lockout is considered all but inevitable.<\/p>\n

Manfred has said he views a lockout as a negotiating tool. If MLB locks out players Dec. 1, no games are lost. If a lockout remains in place April 1, regular-season games could be lost.<\/p>\n

In the last collective bargaining negotiation, owners locked out players in December, and a new deal was reached in March, preserving a 162-game season that started one week late.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the cusp of what promises to be a bitter showdown with major league owners, the players\u2019 union…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12845,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[219862,6101,32120,220329,137031,363,157732,37870,15554,15553,220328,15240,5190,99,13192,15557,2394],"class_list":{"0":"post-475850","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-bruce-meyer","9":"tag-executive-director","10":"tag-leader","11":"tag-lockout","12":"tag-manfred","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-mlbpa","15":"tag-new-deal","16":"tag-owner","17":"tag-player","18":"tag-pressure-tuesday","19":"tag-salary-cap","20":"tag-season","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-tony-clark","23":"tag-union","24":"tag-year"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475850","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=475850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/475850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=475850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=475850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=475850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}