MLBPA executive director Tony Clark is expected to resign: Sources

In a stunning development in the wake of a federal investigation, Tony Clark is expected to resign from his position as executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, leaving the union scrambling to find a leader heading into a lengthy labor dispute this winter, people briefed on the decision who were not authorized to speak publicly told The Athletic.

Clark, his attorney and the MLBPA did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Clark and the MLBPA were supposed to start their annual tour of spring training camps in Arizona on Tuesday. The first stop, a meeting with the Cleveland Guardians, was canceled, which the team found out from the union at 6 a.m. local time.

The union plans to announce an interim replacement, according to Los Angeles Angels pitcher Brent Suter, a member of the MLBPA’s eight-player executive subcommittee. Suter cited the upcoming bargaining sessions, which are expected to begin this summer, as the union’s priority. The MLBPA hopes to “keep everything as stable as we can this year,” Suter said. The most obvious candidate would be deputy director Bruce Meyer.

Clark, 53, has headed the union since 2013. Clark and the union have been under federal investigation since last year by the Eastern District of New York regarding using licensing money or equity to enrich themselves. The Department of Justice opened an additional investigation in October.

New York Mets infielder Marcus Semien, another member of MLBPA executive subcommittee, said Tuesday morning the group had not yet had a discussion with the 30 team reps regarding Clark’s decision to step down. Asked if he knew what led to the resignation, Semien noted “There has been an investigation going on. We still need to discuss with players why. You definitely don’t want things to be a distraction going into December.”

The resignation occurs at a time of heightened rhetoric as the owners are expected to lock out the players at the conclusion of this season when the current collective bargaining agreement expires. The owners executed the same tactic after the 2021 season, which shut down the sport for 99 days. The upcoming negotiation could last longer, as owners have become vocal about the necessity for a salary cap, as sports like the NFL, NBA and NHL use, in the wake of rampant spending by teams like the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets.

Clark oversaw the negotiations for this current CBA alongside deputy director Bruce Meyer. Both are strongly opposed to a cap, which the union believes would not help competitive balance in the sport.

Clark joined the union in 2010 at the conclusion of a 15-year playing career. He worked in player relations before becoming the deputy executive director. After the death of MLBPA chief Michael Weiner in December of 2013, Clark took over the head position. In 2018, Clark brought in Meyer, who had advised former MLBPA chief Don Fehr with the NHL Players’ Association, to aid CBA negotiations.

Discord between the owners and the players emerged before the agreement expired when the sport shut down to protect against the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. Those contentious talks foreshadowed the extended lockout in the winter before the 2022 season. The two sides struck an agreement on March 10 and managed to avoid missing games. But the specter of a work stoppage has loomed over the sport ever since.

Clark and Meyer have faced criticism from within the union even before the federal probe. The discord culminated in a push for new leadership by some players, agents and a former MLBPA attorney.

With a lockout on the horizon and unrest among some of his constituents, Clark became the subject of a second investigation in October related to Players Ways, a for-profit MLBPA arm focused on youth baseball. Since its founding in 2019, Players Way had spent close to $10 million despite holding few events, as ESPN first reported. That expenditure was more than twice the $3.9 million the organization told the outlet it had spent.

“Any suggestion that Players Way has not been supported by our elected player representatives and broader membership is patently false,” Clark said in a statement last year. “Players Way has been front and center at every annual meeting of the MLBPA Executive Board in recent memory, and our dialogue with players regarding youth development continues throughout the calendar.

This is a developing story and will be updated.