Donald Fehr has been the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association since 1986. In that time, Fehr led the players union through the 1994 strike and the subsequent cancellation of the World Series. He’ll also forever be known as one of the significant behind-the-scenes pieces of baseball’s steroid era.
On Monday, ESPN reported that Fehr will be stepping down from his position as the MLBPA executive director.
Here’s what sports columnists are saying across the nation on the topic:
– The Chicago Tribune wonders aloud if Fehr’s retirement is tied to the media leaking the news that Sammy Sosa tested positive for PEDs in 2003.
– Phil Sheridan of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes that Fehr’s legacy was more about making money for the players and less about overall ethics.
– ESPN’s Buster Onley writes that Fehr fulfilled his responsibility as union head, which was to serve as an advocate to the players.
– Hal Bodley of MLB.com details Fehr’s ups and downs as MLBPA executive director.
– Ken Rosenthal of FOXSports.com writes that if not for steroids issue, Fehr might “rightly be hailed as one of the greatest leaders in the history of American labor. He certainly presided over the wealthiest union.”
