Michael Weiner succeeds Donald Fehr as baseball union head

Weiner succeeds Fehr as baseball union head

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Michael Weiner has taken over from Donald Fehr as head of the baseball players’ association.

Weiner was unanimously approved as executive director by the executive board of the Major League Baseball Players Association, the union announced Wednesday. The 47-year-old Harvard graduate was hired by the union as a staff lawyer in 1988. He was promoted to general counsel in 2004.

The 61-year-old Fehr had been in charge since Dec. 8, 1983, and in June announced his intention to retire by March. He led players through a two-day strike in 1985, a 32-day lockout in 1990 and a 7½-month strike in 1994-95 that led to the first cancellation of the World Series in 90 years.