Projo Sox Blog

By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
The New York Times

Donald M. Fehr, the executive director of the baseball players union who over 26 years presided over the game's boom in revenue and the bust of its recent steroids scandal, will announce his retirement Monday, according to a person in baseball familiar with the decision.

Speculation for years has been that Michael S. Weiner, the union's general counsel and third-ranking executive for much of this decade, would be asked to follow Fehr when he stepped down.

Often described as his industry's most powerful man through much of the 1990s and beyond, Fehr, 61, guided the players through several contentious work stoppages - none more so than the 1994 strike that canceled the World Series and lasted through the next spring training. He also led the union as it proved ownership had colluded to stifle the free-agent market in the late 1980s, and won $280 million in damages.

Player salaries increased from $289,000 in 1983 to 3.24 million this year. Fehr also represented the players in negotiations with ownership over franchise expansion, interleague play and new playoff formats, all of which helped revenue expand at fantastic rates.

But Fehr's legacy of success undoubtedly took a hit in recent years as steroids cast a cloud over the industry. The union steadfastly refused to agree to mandatory drug testing for players until 2002, citing civil-liberties concerns, but had to modify their agreement with ownership several times under pressure from Congress, before which Fehr testified several times to explain the union's stance on the issue.

After the report by George J. Mitchell was released in December 2007, detailing the involvement of nearly 100 players (including Roger Clemens) in the use of performance-enhancing drugs before and after 2002, Fehr conceded, "It turned out it was larger than we thought it was."

A Kansas City A's fan while growing up in the suburb of Prairie Village, Kan., Fehr graduated from Indiana University and Missouri-Kansas City Law School. His work in baseball began in 1976, soon after an arbitrator invalidated the reserve clause which tied players in perpetuity to their teams - forever known as the Messersmith decision.

Fehr successfully represented the players in the owners' appeal in federal court, and was hired by the union soon afterward. He was promoted to executive director in 1983, after a failed transition from Marvin Miller to the former federal mediator Kenneth Moffett.

Weiner, 47, joined the union in 1988 and has been deeply involved in all union matters. He has been credited with helping to thaw the relationship between the owners and players in recent years, highlighted by contract agreements in 2002 and 2006 that averted work stoppages. He graduated from Williams College and Harvard Law School.

 Tags  Donald Fehr Major League Baseball Players Association

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