Clark

On the cusp of what promises to be a bitter showdown with major league owners, the players’ union has no leader. Tony Clark, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Assn., resigned under pressure Tuesday.

Why did Clark resign?

Clark and the union had engaged separate attorneys as federal authorities investigated alleged financial improprieties within the MLBPA, an affiliated licensing company and an affiliated youth sports venture.

The union also commissioned an investigation, initially focused on those allegations, that uncovered an “inappropriate relationship” between Clark and an employee, a person familiar with the matter confirmed to The Times, with the eight-man MLBPA player leadership team advising Clark that he should depart. The employee was his sister-in-law, the person confirmed.

The allegations remain under federal investigation, meaning that player leaders determined Clark could have been a liability on at least two fronts as players and owners head toward what is expected to be the most contentious collective bargaining in the sport in 31 years.

The Athletic first reported Clark had resigned; ESPN first reported on the relationship.

Who will replace Clark as the union leader?

The MLBPA issued a statement late Tuesday saying player leaders had met Tuesday. Players planned to canvass their peers scattered across spring training camps, then meet again Wednesday, with the possibility of voting on a new executive director then.

That could be either a permanent hire or an interim hire; the latter would reflect the urgency of the upcoming labor negotiation. Although the collective bargaining agreement does not expire until Dec. 1, Commissioner Rob Manfred said last week he expected talks on a new deal to start soon after opening day.

Bruce Meyer, the union’s deputy executive director and lead negotiator, would be the most logical successor. The MLBPA hired Meyer away from the NHLPA in 2018, one year into a bargaining agreement in which Clark and union negotiators were widely viewed as being badly beaten by Manfred and league negotiators.

No. It just acknowledged his resignation.

Is Meyer’s ascension a foregone conclusion?

Bruce Meyer in 2022

(Richard Drew / Associated Press)

Likely, yes, but not foregone. In 2021, with Meyer as lead negotiator and pushing for a better deal even as a 162-game season was threatened, players voted to accept the deal on the table. The union promoted Meyer into his current position in 2022.

In 2024, ESPN reported a majority of player representatives supported the replacement of Meyer with Harry Marino, who had unionized minor league players. Ultimately, Clark stuck with Meyer.

At this late date, however, internal bargaining preparations are underway, and Meyer is now a veteran of MLB negotiations. The goal is to “keep everything as stable as we can this year,” Angels pitcher Brent Suter told reporters. Suter is one of eight players on the union’s player leadership team.

Does this mean the players are divided and the owners are united?

No, and not that simple in any case.

On what looms as the core bargaining issue — the potential adoption of a salary cap — Clark and Meyer were aligned. Clark was the union voice calling a cap “institutionalized collusion,” with Meyer filling in the details of why the MLBPA believed a cap would not necessarily enhance parity and could leave players liable to receive a shrinking percentage of revenue over time.

Manfred has argued the current system helps elite players while squeezing the salaries and the jobs of the so-called middle class.

The owners currently appear united on pushing for a salary cap. If at some point they believe they have to do what the NHL did to get a cap — that is, lose an entire season — the interests of the large-market owners and the small-market owners could diverge.

What does this mean in terms of a potential lockout?

Nothing, really. Within the game, a lockout is considered all but inevitable.

Manfred has said he views a lockout as a negotiating tool. If MLB locks out players Dec. 1, no games are lost. If a lockout remains in place April 1, regular-season games could be lost.

In the last collective bargaining negotiation, owners locked out players in December, and a new deal was reached in March, preserving a 162-game season that started one week late.

Social Media Murders is an anthology docu-series that looks into the shocking murders of young people.

Social Media Murders returns to screens this evening, examining the tragic killing of 19-year-old Bianca Devins.

The documentary series Social Media Murders first broadcast in 2021, and now the 10-part programme is being reshown, with its third episode airing tonight, Wednesday, February 11, at 11.40pm on ITV.

Titled The Murder of Bianca Devins, this episode explores the teenager’s death in July 2019. She was killed by Brandon Clark, 21, an acquaintance she’d connected with on Instagram.

The pair were travelling home from a gig in Queens, New York City, when he fatally attacked her with a knife before sharing disturbing photographs of her body online.

Clark then tried to end his own life after murdering Bianca but survived. Following his arrest, authorities discovered he had also recorded footage of her final moments.

Where is Brandon Clark now?

Brandon Clark admitted to the second-degree murder of Bianca Devins in February 2020 and is presently incarcerated at Attica Correctional Facility in New York, serving a 25-year sentence.

According to Distractify, during his sentencing hearing, Clark stated: “I hate myself for what I did to her.

“I don’t understand how I could do something like that. It disgusts me.”

That wasn’t his only public statement. Three years ago, he participated in a contentious interview with Yinka Bokinni for Channel 4‘s Interview With A Killer.

At the time, Bianca’s mother Kim penned a letter to Channel 4 and Plum Productions pleading with them not to broadcast the documentary, expressing her concern that it would inflict “immense emotional distress” on Bianca’s family and friends.

In the wake of her daughter’s tragic passing, Kim has been campaigning for reform in the realm of social media as images of Bianca’s body continued to circulate online.

Bianca’s Law was introduced in 2020, criminalising the posting of offensive images of crime victims within New York State.

Social Media Murders is available to watch on ITV and ITVX.