This morning, ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Don Van Natta Jr. reported that Players Way, a company owned by the Major League Baseball Players Association, is under federal investigation. The MLBPA is already under investigation for its association with OneTeam Partners, which Passan and Van Natta reported on back in May.
Players Way is a youth baseball company founded in 2019. The Union purports to have spent $3.9MM on the venture, though Passan and Van Natta cite multiple sources who have pegged the figures closer to $10MM. “I don’t think any of us realized it cost as much as it did,” one anonymous player told ESPN.
An anonymous whistleblower complaint from November 2024 cited Players Way, which led to a criminal investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Brooklyn. The complaint lodges multiple accusations against MLBPA executive director Tony Clark, including nepotism related to hiring decisions involving Players Way.
“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 to ESPN. “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.”
Readers are encouraged to check out Passan and Van Natta’s full story on the investigation, which contains more info on Players Way and MLBPA’s connection to it. Details include the company headquarters being a mailbox at a UPS Store in Florida and a YouTube channel with one subscriber. Allegations against Clark include abuse of power and improper usage of the union’s resources.
OneTeam Partners is a joint venture between the MLBPA and the NFL Players Association, along with a private equity firm, focused on player-related issues outside the collective bargaining agreement. That investigation stemmed from an anonymous complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board that included accusations against Clark regarding “improperly (giving) himself and other executives equity” in OneTeam, according to the May report from ESPN, cited above.
Clark has led the MLBPA since 2013. He had previously been the organization’s director of player relations, beginning in 2010. Clark faced internal pressure to replace deputy director Bruce Meyer back in March of last year, a change that could’ve also resulted in his own departure. Clark and Meyer ultimately survived the attempted ousting.
The allegations surrounding the MLBPA come at a crucial time for the players and the league, with the current collective bargaining agreement set to expire in December 2026. The CBA and a potential lockout will be hot topics over the coming 13 months.
People with power and money doing crooked things….shocking.
15 year big leaguer and still just as crooked as the slimiest politicians
Tony Clark’s translator is sweating bullets right now.
Rob manfred is going to get a translator so he doesn’t have to comment on any corruption he knows about
Man for a bunch of “smart” guys they all did some stupid stuff. This will cost Clark his job.
Greed always overpowers intellect.
I don’t know, if I’ve learned anything from this current administration, doing stuff like this gets rewarded. Pretty sure if he asks the Orange Man nicely, he can make these federal charges go away.
Sorry bro. The Autopen is on vaca now.
Your fuhrer uses the autopen
Only in baby orange hues
Yes, 1600 criminals were pardoned on Trump’s first day in office without an autopen. He just sat there all day writing and writing…
Regardless of one’s politics critical thinking skills go a long way. So when people whinge one about an autopen knowing full well their guy uses an autopen maybe ask yourself why are they distorting the truth and trying to distract from real issues? Imagine as prices increase and the job market shrinks people spend time having deep concerns about with what instrument a president signs legislation. I’d say it was absurd but these are the very stupid times we live in.
Waa no kings! Waaa
MuleorAstroMule
people spend time having deep concerns about with what instrument a president signs legislation.
======================
It has absolutely nothing to do with the pen, and everything to do with who was making the decisions. If I was on his staff, I’d be inventing laws and using the autopen to put them into effect.
There has to be some control over the process. This is way beyond debatable. Watch the great movie Dave, and pretend as if it is a documentary.
Joe: And yet you have no evidence this happened which is odd because new federal laws just appearing out of the blue would tend to stand out. Especially since Congress drafts laws and you’d think at least one of the 435 members would notice laws getting somehow passed without their approval.
But again, why let five seconds of rational thought and a droplet of knowledge about how legislation is drafted get in the way of a good conspiracy theory? Especially one there is no evidence for. But I’m sure the TV folks who are paid to make you afraid made it sound really scary. They’re good at what they do.
Acoss freedom is definitely for sale now. A nice little donation to the presidential library should do the trick.
Didn’t the former guy hire his drug addicted cracked our teeth hooker banging son to attend presidential meetings overhearing classified and national security stuff?
Don’t see what that has to do with this but I know it’s the battle cry of the indefensible to do that. That is the argument of a child.
A tiger, an elephant, and a giraffe walk into a bar…
Ask me about my winner! Whataboutism is the president’s middle name.
He can justify anything by saying “What about some guy this or that?”
Or someone approaching him, with tears in their eyes, calling him ‘sir’.😂
This situation just happened with the NFLPA’s prez, of course union bosses are linked to this stuff
Players getting paid off by gamblers, Clark getting equity in this venture… Most of them will be wealthy, and good for them, but why cheat? I know, greed knows no bounds.
Nothing in the report read as slam-dunk illegal—the real estate dealing referenced in passing seemed like the highest potential avenue for prosecution, but scant details were provided. It seems like a stretch, but I do wonder if MLB got some help from their political friends.
Bottom line, the current report offers no smoking gun—but that might not be necessary to oust Clark.
Fraud is illegal, yeah. If they raised money for this company under false pretenses of what it was going to do, that would be fraud,
That’s not really alleged in the article. It sounds like they just made bad hires and threw more money after it.
We’ll see how it shakes out. Didn’t sound like fraud to me. Nepotism and incompetence, yes.
If you hire your own family to do a service and pay them money to do so you can still face fraud charges, especially if the value and job don’t align.
Seems like money that came from players
was invested in some people related to union heads
via player way
someone found out
and its a money loitering scheme or something
I picture dollar bills with bad haircuts hanging around outside a 7/11 drinking from paper bags… money loitering.
“Money loitering” is a very different thing than money laundering.
“Money loitering” only lasts awhile when it’s just small sense, dollahs always get scooped up quickly
Sounds like someone is familiar with the champagne room.
I am guessing he either was stupid and just thought he could get away with it, or he figured he would eventually get caught but would be able to weather the storm and be richer on the other side.
Tony Clark looks more like some sort of wizard every time I see a new picture of him.
He’s certainly a wizard with money! He’s got that Harry Potter money duplicating spell lol
How does Tony still have a job?
He has the support of the Boras clients in the players association.
Because he’s GRRRRRRRRREAT!
Tony Clark needs to be fired before the inevitable lockout begins. He is a corrupt moron who needs to be in prison.
Seems like a low-IQ comment. These are allegations – in an era of union-busting. Perhaps reserve some judgement until this “administration” completes their strange brand of investigation that ignores all the “administration’s” own crimes.
Did it ever occur to you that unions are every bit as capable of doing unethical, illegal, and immoral things as anyone else? The big labor unions were formed to “protect” white workers from having to compete with immigrants, females, and black freemen who were flocking to cities like Philadelphia, Chicago, and Detroit in the early 1900s. After the civil rights era most of them just became racketeering fronts controlled by the Mafia. So you can spare us the hand wringing about “union busting”, frankly any efforts to do so are long overdue and ought to be welcomed.
…”it’s long overdue”. Not when you have people in power who at any time can declare an emergency and rid the American workers of rights they only won due to unions a hundred years ago.
Like the right to make your own healthcare decisions? That kind of right?
I hate to break it to you, but unions achieving good things a hundred years ago does not and should not grant them license to operate indefinitely as a front for organized crime. They have outlived their useful purpose, it’s time to go.
And the answer to an overly intrusive government that abuses its powers is to reduce the powers afforded to it, not to force tradesmen into belonging to racketeering organizations.
You’ve won me over DirtyWater…I’d much rather fight the billionaire business owners, and their pocketed politicians, all by my lonesome than join a union that supports myself and all of my colleagues.
Why do you need to fight billionaire business owners?
And once again, hate to break it to you, but those unions you’re infatuated with aren’t doing a damn thing for you. That’s adorable you think they are, though.
Run Clark out and then MLB Owner’s Association aka Manfred can argue for more oversight, help install his guy in there, and then boom salary cap and then the owners can sit there and rake in the money and tell the players too bad. Sounds like a nice plan for the bad guys
The government accusing people of nepotism? I had to laugh. 😂
That is indeed rich.
I guess I need to read up on this. Baseball reference shows him making over $22M in his MLB career. I mean it’s not Elon Musk money, but should provide a comfortable life, one where you wouldn’t need to sneak your way into creating more income. You should be able to volunteer for the rest of your life with that much banked.
Tell that to Rozier and Billups.
Feels like people lose sense of scale when they’re regularly making millions. The rich are constantly after more and more and more that they don’t even need 🤷♂️
A corrupt union representative?! Say it ain’t so!
And slimy too!
As Montgomery Burns once said when asked about his millions, “Ah, yes. But I would trade it all for a little more”.
Rendon makes over 200 million dollars a year for sitting on his couch and eating potato chips. Stephen Strastberg pitched around 30 innings and got 250 million dollars, complained his poor hand hurt, and now sits at home and does nothing. Jed Lowre sat out for 2 years for his contract with the Mets and got around 20 million. Why aren’t these dogs under federal investigation?
Let me take a wild guess. They didn’t do anything illegal.
200 million a year? That’s a lot.
Strasburg pitched his arm off for the team. His body just gave up after awhile and he earned his money through all the underpaid years he gave his team. He doesn’t belong in the same breath with Rendon.
Strasburg also isnt sitting at home doing nothing. He’s heavily involved as advisor/coach/fundraiser for SDSU baseball program
Rendon excluded, could be because they signed contracts and got injured. What is there to investigate, exactly? This may win the award for the most ridiculous comment of the day.
Prelude to the coming strike.
I am about at the point where I am starting to question the need for pro sports in this country at all. 90% of it is either involved with gambling or corruption and more money than anyone needs. If I sound cynical, it is because I am cynical. It’s just like politics, I am almost at the breaking point where I want nothing to do with it anymore..
You can’t stop the circuses! They are already stopping the bread.
Gambling has been involved in sports ever since the first ape got another to foot race him. It’s not going away. Same for politics.
Oh I know it is not new, but it is far more open now. Before it was behind the scenes and if you didn’t look for it, you could remain blissfully ignorant. That is not possible anymore.
After reading, it looks like he took a page from the homeless industrial complex playbook. The youth org looks like a kickback scheme. They also set up Players Inc. a for profit company to handle MLBPA marketing and other stuff. Players inc doesn’t have to publicly show their finances, so they can move around union money with little oversight.
Shocking a doj investigation by another unqualified Trump crony. Criminals in charge lead to this crap
Another attempt by the government to decrease the power of unions. Fights by to bring back company towns and indentured servitude.
Yes, free a man who killed an innocent civilian.
Sorry, I thought innocent until proven guilty
In the USA? Or has that gone out the window with the admin?
Also look at your name, genius.
That’s for the court system. Also for commies like urself should be in love with el chapo he supported improvised communities in Mexico.
lol “commies”. Nice deflection. Keep fighting the good fight for capitalism, comrade. 🤙
Ironic for you to be out here simping for labor unions, they wouldn’t have let your hero Luigi join on account of being Italian and all….but that’s child’s play compared to how they treated black people trying to escape the Jim Crow South. the AFL was the North’s version of the Klan, no wonder you guys love them so much.
And Lincoln was a republican, the past does not mean present.
What?? Unions like society changed over time. Are you suggesting unions are currently racist and hate Italians? I don’t think you understand irony
Do you smell toast???
Sounds like a federal hit job intended to cripple another union. No surprise, under the king of corruption. This reeks of a setup.
Two things can be true. This investigation started under the last administration. And union members helped to elect someone who actively and openly opposes unions.
That’s true… but it’s hard to take anything the 2025 DOJ does seriously. Especially with 2027 CBA pending. Smells like a hit job, regardless of when it started. Now, if these allegations prove worthy of indictment, the fuhrer will claim to have saved baseball. It’s a sham.
Dude u need meds for your tds.
I guess Tony Clark will have to forego his Weekly Kielbasa Delivery during this financial crisis!!
Tony Clark looks like he dipped his chin in bubble bath.
Fbi has been busy crackin down on sports!
Cant watch sports anymore
Cant trust anyone anymore
Sad
Manfred v Clark is like Xi v Trump.
How dumb is he. He knows Manfred is gunning for him. You would think everything would be buttoned down nice and tight and legal.
Did you even read the ESPN article? They’re nothing alike.
ESPN has an article on Xi and Trump?
/s
Ohtani Clark.
Follow The Money via a comprehensive audit by an independent auditor.
If Nepotism in Hiring were a crime, then every single ownership group could be arrested.
Hi, this is MLB, we’d like to anonymously report a potential issue with the MLBPA and their chief negotiator…
Couldn’t have happened to a better guy!! TC karma is a B!+@$..
Unions leaders always find a way to screw their own members.
It’s more a symptom of unions than the leader’s themselves..
MLBPA will never be equal to MLB in negotiations with Clark as its leader. Should have been replaced years ago. I am not a fan of Manfred, who is? Clark simply has been over-matched as MLBPA leader.