MLBPA executive director Tony Clark is resigning from his position mere months before the start of a potential lockout, according to multiple media reports.
The reports emerged Tuesday, the same day that Clark was supposed to begin his annual tour of spring training camps.
Clark, 53, has been in the position since 2013. The 15-year major league veteran has been under investigation by the Eastern District of New York since last summer for improper use of licensing money.
Clark took over as director of the MLBPA in 2013 after the death of former director Michael Weiner. He oversaw a pair of new CBA agreements, an on-time one in 2017 and another after the 2021 season which resulted in a 99-day shutdown of the sport and was resolved just in time for an on-time Opening Day.
That CBA agreement expires at the end of the upcoming season, and the two sides appear to be far apart in negotiations on a few key topics. Most notably, owners have expressed desire to establish a salary cap that exists in all other major professional American sports.
The union has said that is a non-starter, with Clark vehemently opposing the creation of a salary cap, saying it would not help the sport’s competitive balance.
It remains to be seen what timeline there could be for the election of a new MLBPA director and how that could affect the CBA negotiations, which normally carry on over the course of the season.
MLB has not lost games due to a lockout since the 1994 strike canceled that year’s World Series.
