A battle within the Major League Baseball Players Association has taken another turn, with one rival faction claiming the other is trying to “bully and intimidate” players into changing their minds about the organization’s leadership.
Harry Marino is a central figure in the ongoing power struggle within the MLBPA leadership, pitting the current leadership of Tony Clark and Bruce Meyer against a group of disgruntled players concerned about the direction of the association. I’m letting it go.
The latest salvo came in the form of statements from Marino and former MLBPA official catcher Josh Toll, both of whom made serious allegations against the organization, and specifically director of player services Kevin Slowey.
“This week we have received multiple calls from representatives of minor league players saying that Kevin Slowey has bullied and intimidated them into calling them to change their minds about the current direction of the association.” Toll said in a statement. According to The Athletic. “I really don’t know what happened, but this is a sad day. This is clearly no longer the MLBPA that I remember (late executive director) Michael Weiner.”
Marino issued a similar statement, but did not specifically criticize anyone.
“I am shocked to hear that several major league and minor league players have been threatened, bullied, and retaliated against for expressing their honest opinions,” Marino said, according to The Athletic. It’s unfortunate,” he said. “It is important to remember that federal law protects the right of all union members to ‘express their views, claims and opinions’ and to ‘freely associate and assemble with other union members.’ . Players must never apologize for exercising these rights.”
Clark did not address either accusation, but in his statement called the insurrection an “organized and covert effort” that “has plagued players at every level of professional baseball.” .
Major League and Minor League players will be affiliated with the MLBPA starting in 2022, and Marino helped minor leaguers form a union.
The power struggle continued over the past week, with several players demanding that Marino replace Meyer after a heated video call with some members of the MLBPA’s 72-player board of directors.
The MLBPA’s eight-player Major League Baseball Executive Committee also announced Sunday that it was distancing itself from Marino, saying in a statement that “in no way is this a discussion about Harry Marino anymore.”
Tigers right-hander Jack Flaherty is a member of the executive committee; told The Athletic In another interview, he said he regretted “putting Tony in a bad position” during one phone call.
“That’s where Harry tried to push through,” Flaherty said. “He tried to put pressure on Tony, but Tony was adamant and said that wasn’t going to happen. Tony didn’t do anything other than stand firm in all of this. It was something I would love to have back. I didn’t want Harry to be in Bruce’s shoes.”
Mr Flaherty added that he had spoken with Mr Clark to review what happened and felt the situation had “gotten out of hand”.
“I wasn’t trying to push Harry away or give him any kind of momentum. I was just trying to tell Tony what was going on and what was going to happen,” he said. said.
