Weiner likely to succeed Fehr with MLBPA
November 30, 2009
NEW YORK (AP)—The man poised to become the first new leader of baseball’spowerful union in more than a quarter-century is a ballplayer’s lawyer.
Michael Weiner speaks plainly, wears jeans and sneakers to work—and aftermore than 20 years with the Major League Baseball Players Association, knows hisstuff.
“Michael has the ability to break things down to the players,” pitcher TomGlavine(notes) said. “He speaks English. He doesn’t speak lawyer talk.”
Michael Weiner, general counse… AP – Nov 30, 3:24 pm EST MLB Gallery function prev_photo() { if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index > 0) { goto_photo(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index – 1); } else { goto_photo(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_last_index); }}function next_photo() { if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index 0) { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_prev, prev); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_prev, prev_disabled); } else { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_prev, prev_disabled); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_prev, prev); } if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index < YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_last_index) { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_next, next); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_next, next_disabled); } else { YAHOO.util.Dom.addClass(article_carousel_next, next_disabled); YAHOO.util.Dom.removeClass(article_carousel_next, next); }*/}function goto_photo(p) { if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos) { for(i = 0; i < YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos.length; i++) { if (i == p) { YAHOO.util.Dom.setStyle(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos[i], display, ); } else { YAHOO.util.Dom.setStyle(YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos[i], display, none); } } if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_page) { YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_page.innerHTML =(p + 1); YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index = p; } } update_buttons();}YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_init = function () { YAHOO.util.Event.addListener(article_carousel_prev, click, prev_photo); YAHOO.util.Event.addListener(article_carousel_next, click, next_photo); YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_index = 0; YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_current_page = YAHOO.util.Dom.get(carousel_page); YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos = YAHOO.util.Dom.getElementsByClassName(item, div, leadphoto); if (YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_photos) { goto_photo(0); }}YAHOO.Sports.article_carousel_init();
Weiner is likely to succeed Donald Fehr as executive director of theplayers’ association on Wednesday during the organization’s annual boardmeeting. He will be just the fourth head of the union since 1966.
And while Fehr has a similar sartorial sense, the two men have far differentstyles otherwise.
Weiner talks in far shorter and simpler sentences and represents agenerational shift from his 61-year-old predecessor, who went to work for unionhead Marvin Miller in 1977 and took over as head six years later after KenMoffett’s brief tenure.
Weiner, who turns 48 on Dec. 21, has been a baseball union lawyer for nearlyhis entire professional life. After graduation from Williams College and HarvardLaw School, Weiner clerked for a federal judge and got hired by Fehr in 1988 asa staff lawyer.
While the union was under constant attack during the first half of Fehr’sreign—there was a two-day strike in 1985, a 32-day lockout in 1990 and a7 1/2 -month strike in 1994-95 that wiped out the World Series—Weiner facesdifferent challenges as head of a membership with an average salary of justunder $3 million.
Drug testing—and now congressional scrutiny—are a fact of life in themajor leagues. Management is likely to want to tinker with complex economicissues such as revenue sharing and the luxury tax, and teams already have saidthey want to widen the amateur draft to cover international players andinstitute a slotting system that would eliminate individual negotiations fordraft picks.
For Weiner, the 1994-95 strike and the negotiations that finally led to anagreement in March 1997 were the seminal event in baseball’s labor-managementrelations. The sides had fought nearly constantly during two contentious decadesthat saw players gain free agency and salary arbitration, then win threegrievance decisions that owners conspired against free agents.
“I think that helped some people on the owners side to finally accept thatthe union was a fixture and the union was an entity they were going to have todeal with,” he said during a mid-November interview at the union’s officeoverlooking Rockefeller Center. “There was never a chance for anything tosettle in until we got through collusion, and really until then we got throughthe bargaining in ’94 and ’95.”
Fehr was a product of those battles, and distrust of management andcommissioner Bud Selig became part of his nature. For many fans, Fehr’s imagewas that of a snarling lawyer at the podium during work stoppages.
Weiner is an unknown, spending his career in the background behind Fehr andhis No. 2, Gene Orza. He has a more laid-back style—he even teaches Hebrewschool on Sundays to fourth and fifth graders.
“I learned from my dad that you could get your point across and you couldstand very firm for what you believe without raising your voice. That wasfurthered by the experience I saw when I worked for the judge,” he said. “Iexpect that will continue to be my approach.”
Yet, he figures to be somewhat like Fehr, too.
“Don and I have somewhat different personalities, but the fundamentals ofwhat it means to do this job I’ve learned from Don,” Weiner said. “How to keepthe players together, negotiations, principles of negotiation, all of that I’velearned from Don.”
Already he is speaking out against comments from unidentified managementofficials who have predicted a down free-agent market this offseason. Weinersays what he objected to were comments about the likely salaries of specificfree agents.
What else is on his agenda?
For one thing, players are unhappy with the increased number of off daysduring the postseason. “That’s not the way the game of baseball is played,”Weiner said, and while there’s no consensus yet, the union could proposed onestartling playoff shift.
“There have been some players who expressed concern about the threeout-of-five division series and whether or not having played a 162-game seasonit’s fair for them to have everybody get thrown into that kind of a series,”Weiner said.
He became one of the union’s two primary negotiators along with Steve Fehr—the union head’s brother—in talks that led to the last two collectivebargaining agreements, in 2002 and 2006. He developed a good relationship withmanagement’s primary negotiators.
“I think that Michael is a really zealous advocate for the interests of theplayers. At the same time, he has a very practical realization or a practicalunderstanding of the need to make agreements so that both the players and theowners can be successful,” said Rob Manfred, MLB’s executive vice president oflabor relations. “Any good relationship is founded on respect, and I do have aton of respect for him, I really do. Candidly, I like Mike personally. He’s avery engaging individual. So I think the combination of the fact that I have alot of respect for him and I like him personally gives you a nice bedrock towork from.”
Still, being the head of the union will put different pressures on Weiner ashe prepares for the next round of bargaining, which will take place ahead of thecurrent agreement’s expiration in December 2011.
“The executive director is akey figure in maintaining the integrity of the MLBPA,” first baseman Tony Clark(notes)said in an e-mail to The Associated Press. “He is inevitably responsible forEVERYTHING.”
Fehr says there is only so much preparation for the top spot.
“You can know an awful lot about the job, what has to be done, the role ofthe union, but until you become executive director, with the ultimateresponsibility insofar as can be held by staff, it’s very difficult tounderstand what the job is,” he said. “That has to be learned after you getthere.”
Comments
Got something to say?
