MLBPA Exec Dir Michael Weiner today said the union plans to name a Deputy Exec Dir within roughly the next two weeks, the latest step in a developing a contingency plan stemming from Weiner's ongoing fight with brain cancer. Weiner has an inoperable brain tumor, and his condition has worsened considerably in the last month, leaving him confined to a wheelchair and with little feeling on his right side. Weiner's successor, who would then serve on an interim basis, will need to be approved by the union's Exec Board in a conference call to be held soon.
Weiner all but ruled out any chance of a return to the union by former execs Don Fehr and Gene Orza, saying Orza has flatly indicated he will stay retired and that he "does not expect" Fehr to leave the NHLPA and return to the baseball union. "I would not expect that Don will work again at the Players Association, and I don't think Don expects that," he said. The MLBPA has been working on the contingency plan since November.
Weiner said he does not know how much time he has left but said he is continuing to fight his illness, and he recently began a more experimental line of treatment. "I'm going to live each day as it comes," he said in a meeting in N.Y. with the Baseball Writers Association of America. "I take no day for granted. I try to find beauty, meaning and joy each day, and if I can find those, I consider that a good day."
