Tony Clark, executive director of the MLB Players Association, is expected to resign, The Athletic reported Tuesday. The stunning news comes just months before the current collective bargaining agreement is set to expire on Dec. 1.
“You definitely don’t want things to be a distraction going into December,” Marcus Semien, a member of the MLBPA’s executive subcommittee, told reporters, including the New York Post, on Tuesday, adding Clark did not discuss his resignation with union leadership ahead of time. “So that’s all I can really say. Maybe (that is) why this is happening now.”
Clark and the MLBPA are under federal investigation by the Eastern District of New York. Prosecutors are looking into whether a licensing company co-founded by the MLBPA and the NFL players union, OneTeam Partners, was being used to financially enrich the union leaders. The full scope of the investigation into the company is unclear.
An MLBPA-owned youth baseball company, Players Way, is also under investigation for alleged financial impropriety. The company is said to have held few live events for kids even though the MLBPA put $3.9 million into the company. Players Way executives and consultants reportedly received six-figure salaries despite the company’s lack of events.
“I think so,” Semien added when asked whether Clark is resigning due to the investigations. “Because up to this point, before any investigations, I’ve had the ultimate confidence in Tony Clark to lead this player group. I’ve had the ultimate confidence in Bruce Meyer to be the lead negotiator for this player group.”
Three former members of the MLBPA’s executive subcommittee — Jack Flaherty, Lucas Giolito, and Ian Happ — attempted to remove Meyer as the union’s deputy director in December 2024. Flaherty, Giolito, and Happ were then voted out of the subcommittee. There are eight players on the subcommittee: Semien, Chris Bassitt, Jake Cronenworth, Pete Fairbanks, Cedric Mullins, Paul Skenes, Tarik Skubal, and Brent Suter.
CBA negotiations typically begin during the spring and get serious in April and throughout the summer. Clark’s expected resignation comes at a precarious time for MLB, as the upcoming labor negotiations are expected to get ugly. Both sides, in fact, have warned of the likelihood of a labor stoppage, though each blames the other, of course.
“In a bizarre way, it’s actually a positive,” commissioner Rob Manfred said last year of a lockout. “There is leverage associated with an offseason lockout and the process of collective bargaining under the (National Labor Relations Act) works based on leverage. The great thing about offseason lockouts is the leverage that exists gets applied between the bargaining parties.”
The salary cap — proposed by the owners — is again the biggest sticking point, as the league presents the idea of teamwide payroll minimums and maximums under the guise of parity. The union has always held that it will never accept a salary cap. Other issues expected to come up for debate include playoff expansion and an international draft.
Clark, 53, joined the MLBPA in 2010 following a 15-year playing career. He was unanimously approved as the union’s executive director in December 2013, following the death of Michael Weiner. Clark has overseen the last two CBA negotiations.
It’s unclear who will take over Clark’s role in the players’ union. He was scheduled to begin his annual spring training tour Tuesday, though his meeting with the Cleveland Guardians has reportedly been canceled already.
