Rick Helling, Mike Myers Named MLBPA Exec Dir Special Assistants

Former MLBers Rick Helling and Mike Myers are joining the MLBPA staff as special assistants to MLBPA Exec Dir Donald Fehr (MLBPA). MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger reported Myers, who played for 13 years, "served on the [MLBPA] Executive Board throughout his career" (MLB.com, 3/17). In Toronto, Mark Zwolinski notes the hirings "suggested baseball ... is further arming itself against any future proliferation of performance-enhancing drugs among its players." Helling in the past "warned the game's executives about substance abuse during the so-called sterioid era." He served as a player rep during his career and made headlines recently for being mentioned in Dodgers manager Joe Torre and SI baseball writer Tom Verducci's book "The Yankee Years" as the "so-called 'whistle-blower' on steroid abuse in the big leagues." Helling's duties with the union "have not been defined, but he has served as a member of the negotiation committee on the CBA and pension agreements." It is "expected the union will take advantage of Helling and his potential as an anti-steroid link to major- and minor-league players" (TORONTO STAR, 3/18).