Tony Clark is preparing to announce his resignation as the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, per a report from Evan Drellich, Ken Rosenthal and Andy McCullough of The Athletic. Clark has been in his current position since 2013.
The 53-year-old Clark and the union have been under investigation since last summer due to purported improprieties regarding the usage of licensing money. Specifically, Clark has previously been alleged to have given himself equity in OneTeam Partners — a joint venture between the MLBPA and NFLPA — and failed to have sufficiently disclosed the level of resources being dedicated to Players Way, an MLBPA-owned youth baseball initiative that is under federal investigation.
Clark had been scheduled to begin a tour of spring visits to the game’s 30 teams just this morning, but the first of those meetings (with the Guardians) was abruptly canceled. A statement is expected at some point today, per the New York Post’s Joel Sherman.
SNY’s Chelsea Janes reports that MLBPA executive subcommittee member Marcus Semien told reporters that his understanding of the resignation is that it’s related to the Eastern District of New York’s investigation into the usage of licensing money. Semien noted that the subcommittee has not yet convened in the wake of the announcement, and he thus does not have a definitive answer as to when a new director will be appointed or whether deputy director Bruce Meyer will continue on as the union’s lead negotiator.
The timing of the move is of particular note. Major League Baseball’s current collective bargaining agreement expires in just over nine months. The last wave of collective bargaining talks between the Clark-led union and the Rob Manfred-led league/owners collective was contentious enough to result in a 99-day offseason lockout and transaction freeze.
An even more vitriolic battle is expected by many this time around, with several owners publicly digging in their heels regarding their belief that the sport needs to adopt a salary cap. Any sort of cap — even if accompanied by a salary floor — has been a nonstarter for every previous iteration of the players association; Clark has made no secret of his adamant anti-cap stance at virtually every given opportunity, and Meyer has been in lockstep with that mentality as the union’s lead negotiator and No. 2 executive.
Wow
Time for the Scherzer takeover of the MLBPA
He saw the train a comin and got off the tracks 😂
He’s getting out before all hell breaks loose in the offseason he doesn’t want to be the bad guy let the new guy handle it!!
The new guy better be a labor lawyer and not a former player.
Haha you’re right about that. Watch it be CC Sabathia or Joe Mauer.
Mauer’s no genius, but he’s smarter than taking that job.
And also not have a Santa beard.
@hllywdjff
It sounds like he is already the bad guy and that is why he is getting out
What are you talking about? He’s not getting out – he was told to get out. He’s in trouble. They let him “resign”…
This. The financial fraud stuff is real and quite serious. Things like that have a way of undercutting a guy’s legitimacy.
It is difficult to imagine this is a strategic exit for Clark.
No, as the article said, it sounds like this is because he is under investigation.
I remember being excited when he signed with the Red Sox in ‘02. But he was a huge letdown.
Phantom – 14 of his 15 MLB seasons he had an OPS of at least .643
His one year with the Red Sox? .556 OPS due to shoulder, hip and ribcage injuries.
Interesting timing.
Definitely reeks of ownership meddling. They want a salary cap and know Tony won’t give it to them.
So Manfred and his goons got rid of Tony
That makes zero sense. MLB has been taking Clark out behind the wood shed the last several CBAs. Why in the world would they want him to step down?
I agree that MLB has gotten the better of him, but Clark has said repeatedly that the salary cap is a non-starter. Seems like this is a chance to roll the dice and see if they can find someone who’ll be more accomodating.
No kidding; you’d think they’d want the PA to hand him a lifetime contract. The improprieties he’s been accused of seem pretty small-potatoes… maybe they’ve just had enough of his incompetence and wanted an excuse to force him to resign.
@joe says. That does happen maybe thats why the mlb had favorable deals, because they had dirt on him. Same with politics you vote against your party, you all of a sudden have 5 interns with allegations, a lude photo, and charged with tax fraud.
Based on the article, there may be “wrong doing” with an upcoming indictment. Better for the players for him to get out now regardless how this plays out.
Isn’t it easier to not have to take anyone to the woodshed at all? MLBPA just lost 13 years of institutional knowledge going into a major CBA negotiation, and the players hate Bruce Meyer
What?? This comment doesn’t make sense.
Mariner
Welcome to MLBTR. 🤣
The MLBPA is a separate organization and has nothing to do with MLB.
@seamaholic. I get that part, still weird timing. Someone in the pa leaked it to get him out. Heck it could’ve been boras. Came from a player to boras to Heyman.
Like, from an oligarchy in control standpoint?
Everyone has written a thousand things about what the owners are facing in this CBA, but almost no one has considered what the players may need.
As obvious as the revenue quandary is, remaining issues for them might include gross percentage of revenues to players (like other leagues, especially since now there will almost have to be a real definition of what that is and how it’ll be divided), fighting against a cap, international draft, compensation for allowing teams to use deferred money, expansion plans, and possibly outlawing crappy stadiums like SAC except for limited situations like TAM.
But Tony may not be on the same page as some young firebrands, especially regarding the revenue cut vs cap/floor. It could be the licensing stuff, or there could be disagreements about how long to stay out vs how hard to avoid missed games. Not sure what’s going to emerge over the next week or so, but better now than any later at all.
Didn’t have this on my Bingo card for this Spring Training.
Especially after surviving a coup attempt recently.
Finally. Now get someone who can stand up better to crap owners and salary cap BS.
Salary cap and floor is the way to go. Players should get higher percentage of revenue than they currently get, but that can be done with a salary cap
There are other ways to go to establish parity than by limiting how much a player can earn
So long as the players collectively get 50% share of the revenue what is the difference how you get there? Works for other sports nfl,NBA etc..currently mlb players are around 42%..give the players thier 50..set spending parameters for teams then let the players union fight amongst themselves how they want to distribute the wealth
Re: ‘other ways to go’.
Yes, market dilution. NY and LA get the expansion teams. All three teams in LA and NY would still have larger markets than 20+ other teams.
No salary cap needed. Market caps.
A lot, a huge amount, everything, depends on how the owners try to define revenue as they balance the income inequities. If it’s a useful and somewhat open number then yes, a percentage can be the basis for a floor/cap. But a floor or cap is really hard without a better grasp of the cash involved, be it broadcast, ticket sales, expansion fees or luxury tax.
The money generated by the luxury tax feels huge, and growing, but in the larger scheme it’s not. It was on the order of $350m last year and will go up, but nowhere near $1bn. And $12-15m apiece is not going to move the needle for MLB owners. They will need both a new way to measure revenue and a pile of cash to make good on some franchise valuations that are about to get a kick in the nads..
I expect a lot more sharing, but I also expect that with new stadiums coming in TAM and LSV there can be expansion to 32 teams, with the lions’ share of the money going to the rich owners getting gutted in the new deal. So NYY and LAD and the rest with the old school deals can divvy up the $3-5bn and then start surrendering a lot more of their income.
Doesn’t want to deal with what’s about to come
Interesting. All I can hope is that you won’t regret the new decision and the new director will be able to negotiate a system and we don’t need a lockout.
Maybe we will lose games in 27’
I’d be shocked if we didn’t.
I hope you’re both wrong, but I fear you’re right. Both sides are dug in for a fight and are willing to slay the golden goose.
Wasn’t there some suggestion of impropriety on a youth training program (or similar)? I’m posting this before the “More to Come” is provided. But wondering if that might be at the bottom of it. Whatever it is, it’s big news.
…financial impropriety, I mean.
Something like a federal investigation into licensing fees enriching the union leaders? Yeah, that’s a thing.
Hopefully they can get someone who doesn’t wanna wait around as a negotiation tactic.
I smell a rat!
Timing seems odd,
He was fired by the players themselves. You suggesting the board (made up of players) is in league with the owners? I swear people are just dumb sometimes.
Nothing to see here, they need an actual lawyer to go into a lockout or theyre going to get pumped. Very standard.
The MLBPA is better off for it. He was in over his head. Boras Corp should take over
Federal indictments must be looming.
Finally! This guy has been a cancer
Manfred next
I heard Bryce Harper said he wasn’t elite and he took that personally.
Dude will be wearing an orange jumpsuit soon enough.
Normally I’d say yes, but with the current administration, he’s probably going to make a generous donation to a PAC, get a pardon from Dear Leader, and maybe even be an ambassador to baseball. That’s how it’s been working.
If only we could get back to trying to imprison people for posting memes and thought crimes.
Good riddance.
Negotiations were pretty contentious during the last CBA, hopefully whoever replaces him can start off on the right foot with MLB so we don’t lose games next year.
They should start now.
When someone resigns when under investigation for something it makes you go hmmmmm. He never has cared about hurting the game so it’s not like he’s suddenly leaving before a labor dispute and a potential work stoppage.
Clark always acted like he was smarter than everyone, but he directly helped steer this ship into the iceberg.
I say good riddance, the game will eventually be better for it.
Long overdue.
Someone who would not given into owners.. Baseball doesn’t need salary cap.. Billionaires owner’s can afford paying high prices, they just choose to be cheap and that there own fault.. Can’t take it with you when you died so might as well spend it
Right. So as a fan of a team with a cheap owner, how do I make said cheap owner choose to spend money? There’s cheap owners in literally every sports league, but you notice in way more in the only league without the floor/cap system.
Baseball is an entertainment business. The billionaires owners can probably afford it, but for how long? If the salaries keep going up, MLB will be down to probably 6 teams. There’s not a lot of teams that can afford 600 million payrolls a year. If salaries go up then everything surrounding that team will increase to pay the off cost of doing business..example food, parking, tickets, etc.Look at Trump’s tariffs for example… an item before tariffs would be 45 dollars then afterwards the same item would be 75 plus to pay off those tariffs to offset the cost.
It would be a stupid business model to charge the 45 dollars if it’s costing you 75 dollars to get that item.
There should be a salary cap like every other sport. If a salary cap is done the right way then MLB players will get paid and both sides will be happy. NHL and NFL have salary caps and both are doing just fine where their caps can increase or decrease depending on revenue.
NBA has a soft cap where teams have to spend 90% of the where their caps cap is set. If MLB can adopt a hybrid system of both or either one, they will be just fine. They really need to get rid of guarantee contracts and deferrals.
Would the Dodgers spend as much if they couldn’t defer contracts knowing they would have to pay the tax on whatever that tax line is set?
There shouldn’t be guarantee contracts in MLB. If a player sucks in their third year of a seven year deal then adios. I think that would make more teams spend more knowing if the player sucks after year two then no harm no foul philosophy.
Holy crap, this is the most anti-labor take in this whole comment section. Players not getting guaranteed deals is wild. If we’re trying to make the owners happy, why don’t we just go back to the reserve clause??
2 pre-arb years, 3 arb years, increase rounds to 24, players automatically recieve 10% of revenue from their merch being sold.
One less year of team control? No thanks. Small market teams already can’t compete with large market payrolls. Now you want to poach their players one year earlier?
Read my other comment.
Yes, I hope the players union doesn’t strike either.
Can’t blame him. I don’t want to deal with the upcoming labor negotiation and I am not even part of it. He has enough money to just throw away his phone and go relax on a beach for a year or two.while someone else deals with this. I honestly don’t see why any former player would want the job. It just doesn’t seem worth the hassle for anyone with millions in the bank already.
As with a lot of unions upper management. An Impropriety of money.
Clark is stepping away to spend more time with his family and the Eastern District of New York. Law of parsimony.
Clark’s legal problems must be worse than I thought. He did survive the mutiny in 2024 and the enormous split in the union between the (relative) have-nots and haves in 2021. (Union shill Bobby Nightengale calls it a “moderate rift” in the union. Yeah, right. Like there was a “moderate rift” between the U.S. and Japan from 1941 to 1945.)
But I guess Clark couldn’t survive the Feds. Anyway, the owners will get a new CBA through the same way they did last time, by showering the grunts with money. I look for another 50%+ increase in the minimum salary and at least as big an increase in the early-career performance pool (and maybe the postseason player pool). That’ll get the grunts onboard with anything the owners want. And there are a lot more grunts than elite players, as the union found out to its chagrin in 2021.
Also, I don’t think that most of the owners are all that interested in a cap-and-floor system. They like the current luxury tax system which has put hundreds of millions of dollars in their pockets. Sure, the wild spenders like the Dodgers and Yankees want a cap to save themselves from spending. But the majority of owners like that sweet luxury tax money. Look for sky-high penalty percentages under the new CBA but no cap-and-floor.
A lot strong feelings on Clark here, but I’d say he’s been a good leader for the MLBPA for the players. Maybe he didn’t play ball well with ownership, but I’d think players would be happy overall about that. Maybe I’m wrong there, I dunno, but I think that’s who’s opinion matters most.
Clark worked for the players. Commissioner works for the owners. I think Clark has helped the players.
How To Fix Revenue Sharing Problem Without Salary Cap
1. No deferred money for contracts underneath $250 million, at most, 30% of the contract may be deferred. A team may also not have over 5 deferred contracts on their roster, and a tax for 250% will be charged on luxury tax exceeding teams, 100% for non-revenue sharing recipents, and 50% for revenue sharing recipents.
2. Make a soft cap of $250 million. Exceeding it will require you forfeit your 3rd pick and 500K from international bonus pool, in addition to a 50% tax and extra 100% for each year exceeded. The second threshold I $275 million, where you will lose your 2nd, 5th, and 4th pick and lose 1M of international bonus pool. You will get taxed 200% and extra 100% for each year exceeded. Exceeding the third threshold of $290 million will forfeit all your international bonus pool and 1st, 2nd, and 5th picks. $300 million means you cannot sign international free agents, loses 1st, 3rd, 5th and 2nd and 4th picks are delayed by 15 slots, and are taxed at 500% and 100% beyond. Picks and money are redistributed.
3. Make a soft floor of $100 million. You will lose your “special” picks like compensation or PPI if you fall underneath the threshold. If you the 90 million threshold, you lose $2M in international bonus pool as well, special picks, and 3rd and 4th picks after that. You also cannot draft in the Rule 5 phase and your prospects are one year earlier exposed. If you fall beneath the 80 million threshold, it’s all the earlier penalties and taxed 75% for each consecutive year. If you fall beneath the $75 million, all penalties stack, but you lose $5 million of your international bonus pool and cannot give out bonuses worth more than 100K. You also lose your 1st, 3rd, and 4th round pick and all the special picks. (If you fall beneath any of the floors, you cannot get money in revenue sharing process.
4. New acquistions cannot in total earn $125 million, players making less than 1M does not count. It’s a hard cap, but if a player signs a superstar but goes over the 125 million mark, both MLB and MLBPA must agree for the player to be a special exception, but cannot make any more adds over 1 million.
It’s a good thoughtful effort, but in practice basically just squeezes the players–the vast majority of teams would take it, as it would reduce their overall expenditures significantly. There’s one thing that’s interesting. Your aggregate top salary $125M is going to lead to a different kind of market—the top tier players will sign short term contracts.
Scandalous!
Uh oh. He knows what’s coming up and doesn’t want to deal with it. How are the players gonna stop the owners trying to stop themselves? Now the union is going to have a new guy in charge? Doesn’t bode well.
He may be a Tiger, but he’s also a Snake. And not a wartime consigliere.
I never thought that Tony Clark was a good choice, never!
Players would be smart to seek a one or two year extension of the current pact.
Scott Boras is on deck!
His motto would be:
What Salary Cap?
Such
Approval
Leaves
Another
Rough
Year
Cashing
All
Players!
The players should have never unionized.in the first place. They have caused nothing but problems for this great sport. Fans attend games for the festive atmosphere and the stadium experience. We want to feel part of something grand and there are 30 monuments that give us joy summer after summer. The owners built baseball, not the players.
Ultimately, it doesn’t change the shape of the upcoming CBA negotiation because the issues remain the same. You might benefit from a
fresh start, but we are talking about many billions of dollars, and MLBPA isn’t going to hire someone without knowledge of the game.
Sounds like he plans on going into politics soon….where the real money is. Book ‘im Dano!
It’s funny to see post nowadays of cheap owners when teams are spending $400 million, five current teams over 300 million and 9 teams over $200 million, you have a few owners not spending like the others but some teams don’t have the television streaming revenue and marketing.
MLB should work harder on getting television services for every team . One that pays teams substantially, Texas is a prime example of this, starting their own RSN due to the downfall of cable rights and streaming taking the forefront everywhere now. Texas has been said to be a large market team, NOT TRUE. Football is the larger market in Texas. We are fortunate enough to have an owner that has been spending recently but is now cutting back and possibly getting ready for a cap and floor.
Baseball needs to be on even ground for every team when it comes to spending and the only way is a floor and a cap. Players making the enormous figures that are being seen today is ridiculous and has hurt the game $700 million for 10 years really.
It means he’s guilty and quitting before it’s made public.
Now if only Manfred would resign then maybe we could have two competent people handling the CBA negotiations instead of two buffoons (now one) like last time
1. Open up the books, ownership
2. 50/50 split between players/owners. Up from current share of 43% for players.
3. Owners agree to a floor, putting pressure on players to agree to a cap
4. Improve revenue sharing between clubs
5. Play ball
Good. Tony Clark’s firing is long overdue. They should bring in Harry Marino who helped unionize the minor leaguers and grew the union membership exponentially
Something going on behind the scenes