Major League Baseball Players Association executive director Donald Fehr resigned from his post as in charge of baseball’s most powerful union. After the addition of Marvin Miller’s success in the negotiation of the one-sided labor contracts with the fractious group of the MLB owners, Fehr has been dragged alongside Commissioner Bud Selig in congressional hearings on steroids.

Fehr did not provide any specific reason for his decision to step down on Monday and only said that it was time to move on. In a conference call with reporters, he said “I don’t know if it’s fair to say I’ve lost my taste for it.” “It’s fair to say I’ve done it for a very long time. My conclusion is it’s better for me to see what else I can do before I’m too long in the tooth and to have some down time. … I think it will be good for everybody.”

Meanwhile, the general counsel for the union Michael Weiner, has received Fehr’s recommendation as his successor. This was however still pending for the approval of the members of the union. Gene Orza, Fehr’s longtime No.2 man seemed to be the perfect person to replace him but it is Weiner that is more likely to provide a new direction to the union. The change in leadership is targeted to take place in March 31, 2010 but this could happen sooner.

At the age of 60, Fehr started running the union in 1983 and the first two years as acting director. He assumed the position on a permanent basis last December 1985. At the span of his leadership, the average salary rose from $289,000 in 1983 to roughly $3.26 million this season. Though the union has been victorious in terms of the economic aspect, it is still thought by many to have contributed to the anything-goes, wild-west mentally of baseball by opposing random testing.

Both Fehr and Orza have been the center of public interest because the union failed to expeditiously order that samples from a confidential round of drug testing in 2003 be destroyed. But the secret list of those who tested positive for steroids in the 2003 drug testing is slowly leaking. Alex Rodriguez and Sammy Sosa were identified as steroid users. Former Commissioner Fay Vincent expressed that Fehr protected the players at a cost of the game’s credibility.

“He was wrong to see things in terms of civil liberties for the players and not in terms of the overall interests of baseball,” Vincent said. “He always said that was your responsibility [the commissioner and the owners]. But I don’t want to harp on that as it is just one aspect of an outstanding career.”

However, Fehr said that he understands all the criticisms regarding the widespread use of steroids in baseball over the last two decades. “If we — I — had known or understood what the circumstances were a little better, then perhaps we would have moved sooner,” he said.

The union is badly bruised about the leaks from the list of 104 names who tested positive in 2003. It even sued unsuccessfully to get the list out of the hands of federal prosecutors and continues to pursue an appeal through the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

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