The MLBPA has a new leader in Bruce Meyer. What does that mean for labor negotiations?
· Yahoo Sports
On Wednesday evening, Bruce Meyer was officially elected as the new interim executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association. The news, which comes less than 48 hours after the shocking resignation of former head honcho Tony Clark, was first reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Meyer, 64, was previously the union’s deputy executive director and chief negotiator. He will serve as executive director on an interim basis as the union prepares for a contentious collective bargaining showdown with the league this coming winter.
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Matt Nussbaum, who had been the MLBPA’s general counsel, was promoted into Meyer’s old role. However, sources indicate to Yahoo Sports that Meyer’s job will be largely unchanged. Bargaining will remain his priority, while Nussbaum is set to assume many of the day-to-day responsibilities of running the union, responsibilities that once belonged to Clark.
Meyer’s unanimous election by a committee of 72 players — 38 major leaguers and 34 minor leaguers — is the culmination of a tumultuous few days for what is considered the most powerful union in American sports. Clark, who had held the MLBPA’s top position since 2013, stepped down Tuesday after it was alleged that he had an inappropriate relationship with a union employee — an employee who, salaciously, also happened to be his sister-in-law.
The eight players on the union’s executive subcommittee — Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes, Detroit’s Tarik Skubal, Miami’s Pete Fairbanks, New York’s Marcus Semien, Baltimore’s Chris Bassitt, San Diego’s Jake Cronenworth, Los Angeles’ Brent Suter and Tampa Bay’s Cedric Mullins — found out about Clark’s misdeeds earlier in the week as part of a broader investigation into potential financial improprieties via the subcommittee’s outside counsel, Adam Braverman. Clark and the union remain under investigation by multiple federal agencies for allegedly misappropriating funds related to an MLBPA-sponsored youth organization called Players Way.
But player sources told Yahoo Sports that Braverman informed the subcommittee that — to his knowledge to this point — Meyer does not appear to have been involved in any of Clark’s potential malfeasance. The same is true of Nussbaum. While neither is completely absolved, union members clearly felt certain enough about their innocence to promote them.
This entire saga unfolds at a crucial time for the union, with the current collective bargaining agreement set to expire Dec. 1. Although the two sides will negotiate between now and then, the league and its owners are widely expected to lock out the players. Burgeoning fan frustration about small-market frugality and big-market extravagance has intensified calls for a salary cap. Major League Baseball remains the only large-scale American sports league without a cap; such a mechanism has long been opposed by the MLBPA.
Into that context steps Meyer, a career labor lawyer who joined the MLBPA in 2018 after a stint with the NHL Players Association. Brought in by Clark to bolster the union’s negotiating prowess, Meyer played a significant role in the 2022 CBA talks, an agreement generally considered to have been a win for players.
He has, however, been a polarizing figure. In 2024, a group of players attempted to have Meyer removed from his role at the moment he boarded a flight to Korea for the season’s opening series. Clark and other allies rallied to Meyer’s defense, and Harry Marino, the union lawyer behind the mutiny, threw in the towel.
Meyer lacks Clark’s charisma and playing background. Others have critiqued him for being too aligned with agent Scott Boras, though Meyer has, both on and off the record, vehemently denied such assertions. He is far from a social butterfly, and his intense, wintry demeanor does not lend itself to the hobnobbing typically associated with a top union job.
But many of those same characteristics, union sources say, make Meyer a formidable presence at the bargaining table. He is not afraid to say no. He does not cower from a fight. He is well-versed, passionate and unconcerned with how others perceive him. So while he wouldn’t be anybody’s choice to host “Saturday Night Live,” Meyer remains uniquely positioned to lead the union into the breach.
That is why he received unanimous support from the players on Wednesday. A segment of players had wanted to elect Meyer on a Tuesday night call, but others wanted to discuss things with their teammates first. On Wednesday, across spring training complexes in Florida and Arizona, that’s exactly what happened, with players at both the major- and minor-league levels holding meetings to debate next steps. In the end, Meyer emerged as the most reasonable, most logical choice.
Distracting as this entire soap opera has been, players and union officials remain resolute that Clark’s obscene exit does not threaten their position ahead of the upcoming labor battle. Some, granted anonymity to speak freely, even contended that Clark’s role in previous negotiations was more marginal than publicly understood, that it was Meyer’s show and will continue to be.
“We don't expect anything to change in terms of bargaining,” Meyer told members of the media, including Yahoo Sports, on Wednesday morning before his elevation to interim executive director. “We've been preparing for bargaining for years. Players have been preparing. Players know what's coming. At the end of the day, you know, leadership is important, and leadership comes and goes, but what remains is the players.”