Donald Fehr needs to step up and save his union

[RFS62]

I believe that the recent firestorm surrounding ARod's steroid use has finally tipped the scales of public opinion against the players union. I think public sentiment was already edging that way.

I'm seeing more and more reports which cast Fehr and Orza as villains in this whole sorry affair. For the longest time, any and all of baseball's woes could be dumped at Bud's doorstep. He was an easy and seemingly worthy target for a lot of public ridicule and scorn.

Don Fehr looked like he was playing with a child in the negotiations. He was cold, calculating, ruthless and efficient. The players union won every battle, and not by just a little.

That is until they underestimated the potential ramifications of the steroid problem. Now, the have lost the one thing that they always were able to claim with impunity...... the moral high ground.

The Players Union was one of the most remarkable success stories in sports. Baseball players are better protected financially by their union than any other team sport. Football players don't even have guaranteed contracts.

It was easy for me to always side with the players union, until now. Now I'm completely ashamed of what has come of this once proud organization.

I really don't think Fehr will do anything about any of this unless he sees it to be in the best financial interest of the members. I don't think appeals to protect the younger membership, and marginal veterans alike, from the pressure of juicing to keep up will resonate with him. He let that ship sail many, many times in the past few years. He'll surely wave that flag in public, but it's a front. He's about money, and no amount of talk from him now will ever convince me otherwise.

But I do think he'll rightly assess the situation and see that he can't let this go on. The main reason? The marketability of his membership is sinking like the Titanic. This is going to cost millions in endorsements and promotional opportunities if allowed to continue.

He'll proclaim that he's doing it for the good of the game, to save future generations from the horrors of steroids. And maybe that will be enough for the public. We all just want this thing to go away.

But the truth is that he sold out the membership time and time again throughout this newest "era" of our beloved game's history.... the "steroid era". It's actually official now.

I think he's backed into a corner now. He needs to get all the players reps together immediately for an emergency meeting.

Now here's the incredibly hard part. I think that the only way to put this thing to rest is full disclosure. The union needs to release the names of the remaining players on the list. Make a preemptive strike. The names are going to come out anyway.

Beg for forgiveness, overwhelm the public consciousness with this thing, and get it over and done with. These guys have a brief window of opportunity to stop this now before we get a public backlash like the '94 strike. We're not there yet, but if we keep getting a new superstars name every week or two throughout the season, this thing is going to reach critical mass.

Do the right thing, Fehr, you weasel. Protect your membership.

[westofyou]

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3896888

Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Miller: Athletes victims of witch hunt
By Jerry Crasnick
ESPN.com

As baseball union leaders Donald Fehr and Gene Orza face a torrent of criticism for their handling of events leading up to Alex Rodriguez's steroid admission, Players Association founder Marvin Miller defended the union's conduct and accused the federal government and major drug testing bodies of engaging in a "witch hunt" against prominent athletes.

But Miller, the 91-year-old Players Association icon, said union leaders are also now paying for their biggest mistake -- the decision to bow to public and congressional pressure and enter into an agreement with Major League Baseball to institute mandatory testing in 2004.

"Everything I've read in the last few days is unfair and anti-union," Miller told ESPN.com on Tuesday. "But that does not mean I agree that [union officials] are without blame. When they agreed on a testing program, I said, 'They're going to regret this, because you're going to see players going to jail.' "

Rodriguez told ESPN's Peter Gammons on Monday that he used performance-enhancing drugs while playing for the Texas Rangers from 2001 through 2003. His admission came after Sports Illustrated reported that he tested positive during a round of "survey" testing in 2003 that was supposed to be confidential.

Amid mounting criticism over the union's perceived negligence in failing to have the testing records destroyed, Fehr released a statement Monday night explaining why. He said there was only an eight-day span between receipt of the test results and notice that a federal grand jury was seeking them as part of the BALCO investigation into performance-enhancing drugs.

Fehr said the union first received test results on Nov. 11, 2003, that the results were finalized two days later and that players were notified the following day, a Friday.

"Promptly thereafter, the first steps were taken to begin the process of destruction of the testing materials and records," Fehr said. "On Nov. 19, however, we learned that the government had issued a subpoena. Upon learning this, we concluded, of course, that it would be improper to proceed with the destruction of the materials."

The Players Association negotiated with federal prosecutors in San Francisco until the following spring and pledged not to destroy the records. The union moved in April to quash the subpoena, and federal investigators obtained a search warrant and seized records from Comprehensive Drug Testing and samples from Quest Diagnostics.

Although the search warrant sought records of 10 players, the government found a spreadsheet with a list of 104 players who had tested positive; it then obtained additional search warrants and seized all records. The case has been in the courts ever since.

Miller said the timeframe is evidence that the union acted properly in its decision to cooperate with authorities.

"Under these circumstances, if you just ignore what's going on and you destroy records, you're running a terrible risk of being charged with obstruction of justice," Miller said.

Nevertheless, Miller leveled some pointed criticisms against the union, the media, the Justice Department and drug testing bodies in the midst of the furor surrounding Rodriguez.

"I would never have agreed to any testing program in the first place," he said. "There's no evidence that's plausible to justify testing people indiscriminately. If the government wanted to do that, they'd have to go to court for each player tested and say, 'Here's evidence of probable cause that this player is a user of an illegal product.' "

Miller took several other hard-line and potentially unpopular stands during a 40-minute interview with ESPN.com. Among his other observations:

• On the issue of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball: "I have a personal belief that there's no such thing as a magic pill or magic injection. I don't know that there's any scientific evidence that there's a performance-enhancing drug. Players take it because they think it does. That's a far cry from saying that it does. Where is the evidence that requires testing?"

• On the argument that steroids should be eliminated from the game because of health concerns: "Not one but two surgeons general have said that tobacco use is the worst cause of death in the United States that can be prevented -- that we lose 400,000 people a year to tobacco-related incidents and over time it runs into the millions. Yet not only do we not outlaw tobacco, but the U.S. Congress keeps giving subsidies to the tobacco industry and everybody sits back and smiles. On the other hand, there's not one single documented death from the use of steroids. So that's a hypocritical lie."

• On the dangers of taking drug test results as gospel: "Anybody who has read about urine testing for a long time knows that quite a number of false positives come up. You get a false positive and then people are questioned in another context -- 'were you a user?' They say no. And then you get a news leak -- a leak of a leak, as it were -- and it turns out that you tested positive. If you said something under oath, you could go to jail and still be an innocent person."

• On why the union didn't necessarily have to bend to the wishes of membership and agree to random drug testing. "I have no doubt that was a factor in the union agreeing to it. But leadership can't just take a poll on what membership wants. You also have to judge whether this is in the best interests of the people you represent. If the entire membership voted unanimously to disband, would you do it?"

• On the media's role in perpetuating steroid use by referring to the drugs as "performance enhancers": "A kid who would love to be a professional athlete reads the sports pages or watches ESPN and is told over and over again, 'These are performance-enhancing drugs. They will make you a Barry Bonds or an A-Rod or a Roger Clemens.' The media, without evidence, keep telling young people all over the country, 'All you have to do to be a famous athlete with lots of money is take steroids.' The media are the greatest merchants of encouraging this that I've ever seen."

Miller also criticized the Justice Department for engaging in "union-busting tactics" by using the confidentiality provision in the drug testing to get information from players, and said many of the "experts" who advocate for greater testing in sports have an inherent conflict because they run labs and stand to profit.

"It's a witch hunt in baseball, for sure, but it also extends to cycling and the Olympics," Miller said. "And the victims are the athletes. They're obviously the ones being hunted down here."

[RFS62]

I love Marvin Miller. He belongs in the hall of fame.

I think he missed the boat on this issue, though.

And I have a hard time giving the union credit for not committing a felony and destroying evidence. Seems like an easy call for a bunch of lawyers.

[blumj]

So, basically, our choice is between encouraging athletes to use drugs and getting to watch different sports versions of the All Drug Olympics, and what? What's the other choice?

[RedsBaron]

Originally Posted by RFS62

I love Marvin Miller. He belongs in the hall of fame.

I think he missed the boat on this issue, though.

And I have a hard time giving the union credit for not committing a felony and destroying evidence. Seems like an easy call for a bunch of lawyers.

He didn't just miss the boat; he sank to the bottom.
Yeah, steroids don't help your performance. Geez, major league baseball is full of players who never before even hit 50 HRs and then suddenly at age 37 hit 73 HRs.

[hebroncougar]

Does Marvin Miller have Alzheimers?

[BCubb2003]

Originally Posted by RFS62

I
I think he missed the boat on this issue, though.

It was the most relentless evasion of responsibility you're likely to see. It comes down to:

1. You can't prove anything.

2. We won't let you test.

3. See 1.

[Ga_Red]

Unions saving themselves....

ahem, ahhhh
perhaps an illustrative example
would further the desired concensus?

[Phhhl]

The best thing that could ever happen is for the player's union to get compromised, or completely busted. It would be a nice byproduct of the steroid era if it would happen, but it never will.

[Falls City Beer]

Originally Posted by Santo Alcala

The best thing that could ever happen is for the player's union to get compromised, or completely busted. It would be a nice byproduct of the steroid era if it would happen, but it never will.

Why?

[redsmetz]

Originally Posted by Falls City Beer

Why?

Thank you. My question precisely.

[backbencher]

Originally Posted by westofyou

But leadership can't just take a poll on what membership wants. You also have to judge whether this is in the best interests of the people you represent. If the entire membership voted unanimously to disband, would you do it?

!!!


There is plenty of shame to go around in this episode, but I always wondered why a clean player who saw his career slipping away to the PEDers did not blow the whistle. In 2004, we heard that some players were going to skip the mandatory tests in an effort to trigger the 5% testing threshhold. I don't recall hearing what happened with that, but perhaps this is part of the answer.

Miller makes some strong points (the testing program was going to end badly), but his overall perspective is extraordinarily self-discrediting.

[Phhhl]

Originally Posted by redsmetz

Thank you. My question precisely.

I believe that way because I am not especially fond of labor unions in general. On top of that, the player's union, as stated in the thread starter here, is the biggest and baddest in the land. The players union puts immense pressure on players to sign contracts for as much money as absolutely possible by preaching to them that they are betraying their union brothers by doing anything less. They ostracize their own for considering any other factors or accepting any less than top dollar (Jr) and foment an environment where players are more loyal to their union than the teams they play for. The power of the mlb player's union is so great that it hurts the game. To me, that is obvious. As I said, I am not a union guy to begin with, so you are probably not going to agree with me if you are. But, baseball desperately needs to at least put a dent in that power in order to really bring about the type of change the game needs to restore it's appeal to the vast majority of people. I know that throughout the history of baseball ownership has abused it's employees and restricted their ability to pursue top dollars, and that probably isn't right either. But, teams like Pittsburgh and Kansas City and Cincinnati are cycling quickly towards insignifigance under this cba. It is almost imperative that ownership enjoys some kind of victory in the next round of negotiations, even though it is probably already too late.

[RFS62]

Listen, I have been a strong supporter of the players union my entire life. It came into being, like most unions, out of a tremendous need. If not for the union, the players would be making a fraction of what they make today, and I'm perfectly fine with that.

This comes down to a single solitary miscalculation, which has already had epic consequences. They underestimated the importance and more to the point, the potential danger to their membership of the steroid problem. This is bigger than simple labor issues. This is about the brand, the image of MLB and the players who make up the game. If the product is perceived by the public to be corrupt, the consequences are incalculable.

This is infinitely more important to the financial position of the membership than the obtuse blatherings we've heard from the union bosses.

[Ravenlord]

Originally Posted by RFS62

Listen, I have been a strong supporter of the players union my entire life. It came into being, like most unions, out of a tremendous need. If not for the union, the players would be making a fraction of what they make today, and I'm perfectly fine with that.

This comes down to a single solitary miscalculation, which has already had epic consequences. They underestimated the importance and more to the point, the potential danger to their membership of the steroid problem. This is bigger than simple labor issues. This is about the brand, the image of MLB and the players who make up the game. If the product is perceived by the public to be corrupt, the consequences are incalculable.

This is infinitely more important to the financial position of the membership than the obtuse blatherings we've heard from the union bosses.

i don't think enough alcolades can be given to this post.