02/18/26 06:58:00
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02/18 18:56 CST Bruce Meyer elevated to players' association interim executive
director
Bruce Meyer elevated to players' association interim executive director
By RONALD BLUM and DAVID BRANDT
AP Baseball Writers
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, the effort failed and those three players were dropped off
the subcommittee that December.
The subcommittee voted 8-0 against approving the 2022 labor contract 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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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
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