SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) — Bruce Meyer was promoted to interim executive director of the baseball players’ association on Wednesday, a day after Tony Clark’s forced resignation, a person familiar with the decision told The Associated Press.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the move had not yet been announced.
Matt Nussbaum was promoted to interim deputy executive director from general counsel.
The decisions by the Major League Baseball Players Association executive board during an online meeting was a move for continuity ahead of the likely start in April of what figures to be contentious collective bargaining.
Meyer, a 64-year-old veteran labor lawyer, joined the union staff in 2018 and led negotiations through a 99-day lockout that led to a five-year agreement in March 2022. The deal barely avoided what would have been the first loss of regular-season games since 1995.
Meyer spent 30 years at Weil, Gotshal & Manges before joining the NHL Players Association in 2016 as senior director of collective bargaining, policy and legal.
Three members of the union’s eight-man executive subcommittee, Jack Flaherty, Lucas Giolito and Ian Happ, were among the players who in March 2024 advocated for the ouster of Meyer in an effort led by former union lawyer Harry Marino. Clark backed Meyer, and that December.
and Meyer had advocated pushing management for a deal more favorable to the union. Team player representatives, the overall group supervising negotiations, voted 26-4 in favor, leaving the overall ballot at 26-12 for ratification.
The current subcommittee includes Chris Bassitt, Jake Cronenworth, Pete Fairbanks, Cedric Mullins, Marcus Semien, Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal and Brent Suter.
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Blum reported from New York.
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