MLBPA head Tony Clark resigning after inappropriate relationship with sister-in-law: report

Peter Sblendorio, New York Daily News on Feb 17, 2026

Published in Baseball

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NEW YORK — As baseball’s contentious labor dispute nears a critical moment, the MLB Players Association is suddenly in need of a new leader.

Tony Clark is resigning as the MLBPA’s executive director after an internal investigation found he had an inappropriate relationship with his sister-in-law, ESPN reported.

The woman had been hired by the union in 2023.

Neither Clark nor the MLBPA have made an official announcement or commented on Tuesday’s report.

Clark, 53, had been scheduled to meet with the Cleveland Guardians on Tuesday to kick off the MLBPA’s tour of spring training visits.

But that meeting was canceled shortly before news of Clark’s expected resignation surfaced.

Clark has served as executive director since 2013 and represented the union during its negotiations with MLB for the previous two collective bargaining agreements (CBA), including the 2022 deal that followed a 99-day lockout.

The current CBA is set to expire on Dec. 1, and many are bracing for another lockout due to continued unrest over issues such as payroll discrepancy in the sport.

Many MLB owners are expected to push for a salary cap, which would theoretically curtail the lopsided spending by teams such as the Los Angeles Dodgers, whom Cot’s Contracts projects to have a $410.7 million competitive balance tax payroll in 2026.

That’s nearly five times the projected $83.1 million tax payroll of the Miami Marlins, who are MLB’s lowest spending team.

Clark, deputy director Bruce Meyer and the union have staunchly rejected the idea of a cap.

Due to the gap in negotiations, the threat of MLB having to cancel regular season games due to a work stoppage hangs over the coming months.

Tuesday’s bombshell report follows a federal investigation into whether Clark and the union improperly enriched themselves using licensing money.

The Eastern District of New York’s probe has involved OneTeam, a licensing business co-founded by the MLB and NFL player unions in 2019.

An anonymous complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board in 2024 claimed Clark “improperly gave himself [and] other executives equity” in OneTeam, according to ESPN.

Then last year, ESPN reported federal law officers were investigating Players Way, a youth baseball company owned by the MLBPA.

Sources cited in that report claimed Players Way had held few events for children, despite the union saying it put more than $3.9 million into the company. Two sources told ESPN the amount was closer to $10 million.

On Tuesday, multiple players involved in the MLBPA said they learned Clark was stepping down only through the media. Among them was Mets second baseman Marcus Semien, a member of the union’s executive subcommittee, who had said he suspected Clark’s decision stemmed from the federal investigation.

“You definitely don’t want things to be a distraction going into December,” Semien told reporters at spring training. “So that’s all I can really say about maybe why this is happening now.”

A former first baseman, Clark played 15 MLB seasons, including for the Mets in 2003 and the Yankees in 2004.

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