Source: Fehr to leave job after 25 years

[redsfandan]

Source: Fehr to leave job after 25 years Updated: June 22, 2009, 2:52 PM ET ESPN.com

Don Fehr is stepping down as executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, a position he's held since the mid-1980s, a source tells ESPN.

Fehr will be replaced by general counsel Michael Weiner, pending board approval, the source said.

The announcement is expected to be made later on Monday afternoon.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/s...r_espn_4278728

[bucksfan2]

This man did a tremendous amount of harm to the game of baseball. While Selig, and rightfully so, will get the bulk of the blame for the steroids era, Fehr was a leading culprit as well. I guess he was doing his job, but I don't think he will be remembered for that.

[Brutus]

This man did a tremendous amount of harm to the game of baseball. While Selig, and rightfully so, will get the bulk of the blame for the steroids era, Fehr was a leading culprit as well. I guess he was doing his job, but I don't think he will be remembered for that.

The problem with these guys is that they buried their heads in the sand for several years before being forced to treat the steroids issue seriously. I wish they had listened a lot sooner.

[traderumor]

This man did a tremendous amount of harm to the game of baseball. While Selig, and rightfully so, will get the bulk of the blame for the steroids era, Fehr was a leading culprit as well. I guess he was doing his job, but I don't think he will be remembered for that.

I will start out saying I agree with you. The integrity of the game was indeed harmed.

However, altruism aside, Fehr and Selig parlayed PEDs into historic growth of the game financially. Many are laughing all the way to the bank. I would say that Fehr and Selig regularly remind themselves of that as they consider their involvement, or lack thereof.

[TheNext44]

Fehr definitely shares much of the blame for the Steroid Era, but he doesn't have a clause in his job description to promise to always act "in the best interests of baseball." In fact, he job specifically has nothing to do with the best interests of any other than the players he represents.

Union heads have to be a**holes in order to do his job right, and Fehr was one of the best of them.

[bucksfan2]

I will start out saying I agree with you. The integrity of the game was indeed harmed.

However, altruism aside, Fehr and Selig parlayed PEDs into historic growth of the game financially. Many are laughing all the way to the bank. I would say that Fehr and Selig regularly remind themselves of that as they consider their involvement, or lack thereof.

I agree with you, but you could make the argument that a lot of baseball's financial explosion had to do with things outside of baseball's control. You could argue that technology was more responsible for the financial growth than the actual game being played on the field. Things like Satellite TV, MLB TV packages, Satellite Radio, and High Definition TV all brought in a tremendous amount of revenue to baseball.

IMO baseball right now is in an uh-oh stage. They have continued to increased salary based largely upon corporate investment coming in. Now with companies spending less money and attendance down MLB could be in for a rude awakening.

It will be interesting to see what Fehr's legacy will be. He brought in a lot of money to the players, but one will have to ask "at what cost?".

[BCubb2003]

I'm not sure Fehr had the best interests of the players in mind. Their wallets, but not their health. The players association has always acted like a defense counsel for independent contractors, not a union for the workers.

[bucksfan2]

Union heads have to be a**holes in order to do his job right, and Fehr was one of the best of them.

I agree to a point, but when it becomes illegal I have a problem with it.

[traderumor]

I agree with you, but you could make the argument that a lot of baseball's financial explosion had to do with things outside of baseball's control. You could argue that technology was more responsible for the financial growth than the actual game being played on the field. Things like Satellite TV, MLB TV packages, Satellite Radio, and High Definition TV all brought in a tremendous amount of revenue to baseball.

IMO baseball right now is in an uh-oh stage. They have continued to increased salary based largely upon corporate investment coming in. Now with companies spending less money and attendance down MLB could be in for a rude awakening.

It will be interesting to see what Fehr's legacy will be. He brought in a lot of money to the players, but one will have to ask "at what cost?".

What do you think made it an attractive product? I love baseball, and am more enamored with low scoring, well-played games than I am high-scoring slugfests, esp. as a steady diet.

However, commercial appeal comes from offense, offense, offense, and specifically, homer driven offense. And that was the horse that pulled the multi-media cart into the lucrative telecasts.

[bucksfan2]

What do you think made it an attractive product? I love baseball, and am more enamored with low scoring, well-played games than I am high-scoring slugfests, esp. as a steady diet.

However, commercial appeal comes from offense, offense, offense, and specifically, homer driven offense. And that was the horse that pulled the multi-media cart into the lucrative telecasts.

I once asked a friend of mine to go to a baseball game. He didn't know if he wanted to go and I was doing some convincing. He said something to the point of "I just don't understand baseball. People stand up and cheer when a player gets a hit. Its boring to me". He ended up going to the game with me but largely due to the free tickets I had.

Selig and Fehr preyed on the fact that your average fan would much rather see a 7-6 walk off HR game than a 2-0 shutout. Im with you, I would like to see a well played game with good pitching, good defense, and timely hitting. The problem is the Reds already have me. I already spend my time talking about the Reds. They need to convince my friend, or my wife whose favorite part of the game is the Kiss Cam.

[Yachtzee]

I'm not sure Fehr had the best interests of the players in mind. Their wallets, but not their health. The players association has always acted like a defense counsel for independent contractors, not a union for the workers.

Very true. I think if he had been working for all the players, instead of just the highest paid, he might have done more to ensure a level playing field for all players and worked to protect the long term health of these players. He has allowed individual agents to control the salary structure of baseball, which in turn has skewed money toward superstars and high-profile draft choices while those players unfortunate enough to be born in Latin America are prey to unscrupulous street agents and scouts who profit off these kids trying to escape poverty.

[TheNext44]

I'm not sure Fehr had the best interests of the players in mind. Their wallets, but not their health. The players association has always acted like a defense counsel for independent contractors, not a union for the workers.

Very true. I think if he had been working for all the players, instead of just the highest paid, he might have done more to ensure a level playing field for all players and worked to protect the long term health of these players. He has allowed individual agents to control the salary structure of baseball, which in turn has skewed money toward superstars and high-profile draft choices while those players unfortunate enough to be born in Latin America are prey to unscrupulous street agents and scouts who profit off these kids trying to escape poverty.

Well said. Unfortunately this is true of too many Unions these days. But the Players Union is perhaps the most guilty of becoming what it was fighting against.

[RFS62]

I'm not sure Fehr had the best interests of the players in mind. Their wallets, but not their health. The players association has always acted like a defense counsel for independent contractors, not a union for the workers.

Yep. And his use of drug testing as a bargaining chip sold out an entire generation of ballplayers coming up through the ranks.

[IslandRed]

He has allowed individual agents to control the salary structure of baseball, which in turn has skewed money toward superstars and high-profile draft choices while those players unfortunate enough to be born in Latin America are prey to unscrupulous street agents and scouts who profit off these kids trying to escape poverty.

A few points and counterpoints:

* The salary structure of baseball hasn't changed meaningfully since 1976 and the ballplayers seem to like it the way it is.

* The MLBPA represents Major League players, not all professional players. Amateurs and minor-leaguers who have never reached the show are not union members and the union has no legal right to bargain on their behalf. The only reason they have any say in the draft structure is because draft picks are used as part of free-agent compensation, and some have suggested that clubs do away with that so they can put in whatever draft rules they want.

* I think the union ultimately made the wrong choices with respect to drug testing but I understood why they were hesitant, given who they were dealing with.

[jojo]

* I think the union ultimately made the wrong choices with respect to drug testing but I understood why they were hesitant, given who they were dealing with.

Ya. Anonymous doesn't seem to mean the same thing to all people.