Donald Martin Fehr (born July 18, 1948) is the fifth executive director of the

NHL Players Association NHLPA (french: AJLNH) is the labour union for the group of professional hockey players who are under Standard Player Contracts to the 32 member clubs in the National Hockey League (NHL) located in the United States and Canada. The association re ...

, since 2010. He became nationally prominent while serving as the executive director of the MLB Players Association from 1983 to 2009.

Life and career

Fehr's parents are Irene Sylvia (''née'' Gulko) and Louis Alvin Fehr, of German-Jewish descent. He was raised in

Prairie Village, Kansas Prairie Village is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States. It is part of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 22,957. History After the successful development of the Country Cl ...

. He graduated from

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...

and was a member of

Sigma Alpha Mu Sigma Alpha Mu (), commonly known as Sammy, is a college fraternity founded at the City College of New York in 1909. Though initially founded as a Jewish organization, the fraternity dropped its religious affiliation and became open to men of a ...

fraternity. Fehr received his J.D. degree from the

University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

MLBPA

As a young lawyer, Fehr assisted the MLBPA in the

Andy Messersmith John Alexander "Andy" Messersmith (born August 6, 1945) is a former Major League Baseball right-handed pitcher. During a 12-year baseball career, he pitched for the California Angels (1968–72), Los Angeles Dodgers (1973–75 and 1979), Atlanta B ...

and

Dave McNally David Arthur McNally (October 31, 1942 – December 1, 2002) was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball as a left-handed pitcher from 1962 through 1975, most notably as a member of the Baltimore Orioles dy ...

arbitration case (later known as the

Seitz decision The Seitz decision was a ruling by arbitrator Peter Seitz (1905–1983) on December 23, 1975, which declared that Major League Baseball (MLB) players became free agents upon playing one year for their team without a contract, effectively nullifyi ...

). In 1977,

Marvin Miller Marvin Julian Miller (April 14, 1917 – November 27, 2012) was an American baseball executive who served as the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) from 1966 to 1982. Under Miller's direction, the players ...

hired Fehr as the Players Association general counsel. In December 1985, Fehr was voted executive director of the MLBPA after having served as acting director since December 9, 1983. Fehr successfully challenged the owners'

collusion Collusion is a deceitful agreement or secret cooperation between two or more parties to limit open competition by deceiving, misleading or defrauding others of their legal right. Collusion is not always considered illegal. It can be used to att ...

, leading to the owners paying $280 million in damages to the players. Fehr led the players union through the

1994–95 Major League Baseball strike The 1994–95 Major League Baseball strike was the eighth and longest work stoppage in baseball history, as well as the fourth in-season work stoppage in 22 years. The strike began on August 12, 1994, and resulted in the remainder of that seaso ...

and subsequent

World Series The World Series is the annual championship series of Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, contested since 1903 between the champion teams of the American League (AL) and the National League (NL). The winner of the World ...

cancellation. He was instrumental in implementing the rejection of future admissions into the MLBPA of replacement players who planned to fill in during the strike of 1995. Fehr attended the 1995 New York Yankees' home opener against the Texas Rangers, which saw only 50,425 fans show up making it was the smallest opening day crowd at

Yankee Stadium Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx, New York City. It is the home field of the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball, and New York City FC of Major League Soccer. Opened in April 2009, the stadium replaced the orig ...

since

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of humanity on Earth, astrophysicist ...

. Fehr's presence angered many fans who blamed him for ruining their team's postseason chances and what would have been

Don Mattingly Donald Arthur Mattingly (born April 20, 1961) is an American former professional baseball first baseman, coach, and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). He is the bench coach for the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball (MLB). Nicknamed ...

's postseason debut. Fans booed Fehr and yelled "You ruined the game!" in response to him having attended the last game played at Yankee Stadium before the strike, and booed as he left the stadium; one fan also held up a sign saying "''$HAME ON YOU!''", to which Fehr responded by flipping off the fan. On June 22, 2009, Fehr announced his intention to step down as the MLBPA executive director position, recommending Michael Weiner as his successor. This was subject to the approval of the union's executive board and possible ratification by all players. He officially relinquished his job to Weiner in December 2009. On September 8, 2021, twelve years after leaving Major League Baseball, Fehr delivered the Hall of Fame induction speech for former MLBPA Executive Director

, who was elected in 2020, eight years after his death.

NHLPA

Shortly after leaving his position as executive director of the MLBPA, Fehr took up a position as an advisor to the NHL Players' Association. On December 18, 2010, Fehr was voted in by the NHLPA as their executive director. With the NHL locking out the players at midnight on September 15, 2012, Fehr became the only executive director of a players' union to be directly involved in work stoppages in two sports. Six of the eight contract negotiations he has been involved in have resulted in work stoppages, including five consecutive negotiations between the MLBPA and Major League Baseball. In October 2021,
report
detailing the sexual assault of

Kyle Beach Kyle Beach (born January 13, 1990) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player. Considered a top National Hockey League (NHL) prospect, he was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the first round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Beach never played ...

by the

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division i ...

’ video coach Brad Aldrich and ensuing coverup by the organization revealed Beach reported this assault to Fehr, who ultimately did nothing. In a
October 28th statement
Fehr admitted that the NHLPA failed Beach.

References

External links

NHLPA Executive Director page
NHLPA.com
Donald M. Fehr, Executive Director
mlbplayers.com
History of the Major League Baseball Players Association
mlbplayers.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fehr, Donald 1948 births Living people American people of German-Jewish descent Major League Baseball Players Association executive directors National Hockey League Players Association executive directors Major League Baseball labor relations Indiana University alumni University of Missouri–Kansas City alumni People from Prairie Village, Kansas

Life and career

MLBPA

NHLPA

References

Further reading

External links