{"id":557217,"date":"2026-04-01T01:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T01:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/557217\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T01:00:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T01:00:11","slug":"mlbpa-shuts-down-embattled-players-way-program-amid-probe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/557217\/","title":{"rendered":"MLBPA shuts down embattled Players Way program amid probe"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Major League Baseball Players Association has shut down Players Way, the youth-baseball initiative currently being looked into by federal investigators as part of a wide-ranging probe into the union’s finances, a union official told ESPN on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Founded by former MLBPA executive director Tony Clark, Players Way sought to provide clinics, camps and showcases to amateur baseball players. But scant attendance and high salaries for a number of employees and contractors put the organization in the crosshairs of the federal probe currently being conducted by the Eastern District of New York.<\/p>\n

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The investigation into Players Way, first reported by ESPN in October<\/a>, came in the wake of a whistleblower complaint that accused Clark of self-dealing, misuse of union resources, abuse of power and nepotism. Clark resigned in February after an internal union investigation revealed an inappropriate relationship with his sister-in-law, who is an employee at the union.<\/p>\n

Clark, one source told ESPN, personally approved transfers of union funds, typically in six-figure chunks, to help keep Players Way afloat amid limited revenues generated by the company. In a statement to ESPN in October, he stood by Players Way and suggested it would continue as a union priority: “The goal — informed by Players themselves — isn’t to become just another cog in the youth sports machinery, putting profits over players. It aims higher: to meet players where they are, teach the game the right way, and to foster lifelong lessons creating lifelong fans. Future generations deserve nothing less.”<\/p>\n

Though the MLBPA told ESPN it invested around $3.9 million into Players Way, two sources with knowledge of the union’s finances who had spoken with investigators told ESPN the number was closer to $10 million. One former senior union official called Players Way’s finances a “black box.”<\/p>\n

The union nevertheless has built up a sizable war chest in preparation for a potential lockout upon the expiration of the current collective bargaining agreement Dec. 1. Among United States treasuries, investments and cash, the union has more than $400 million in liquid reserves, according to its latest LM-2 report, which unions must file annually with the government.<\/p>\n

The LM-2 mentioned Players Way on the second to last of its 209 pages, saying: “Players Way LLC was focused on youth sports initiatives.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Major League Baseball Players Association has shut down Players Way, the youth-baseball initiative currently being looked into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":557218,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[363,99],"class_list":["post-557217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557217","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=557217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/557217\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/557218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=557217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=557217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=557217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}