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SAN DIEGO -- Tony Clark said hes "blown away" that he is the first former major leaguer to become head of the baseball players union. The executive board of the Major League Baseball Players Association voted unanimously Tuesday to appoint Clark to replace Michael Weiner, who died Nov. 21 of brain cancer. The decision is pending a vote of the general membership. Clark was an All-Star in 2001 and played for 15 seasons with Detroit, Arizona, the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Boston and San Diego. The 41-year-old was appointed deputy executive director in July and had been acting executive director since Weiners death. The executive board is meeting this week at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego. Clark went to high school in the San Diego area and played basketball at San Diego State. After retiring during the 2009 season, Clark had opportunities in broadcasting and coaching. Instead, he said he woke up one day and told his wife that he should work for the players union, "having no idea that we would be sitting before you, Dec. 3, 2013, in this capacity, but appreciating all the while that Michaels vision for our organization, my involvement with it, and the hope and having and making a difference for our group, active and inactive and those that are coming next, was the final decision-maker for me." Clark spoke on a conference call and then to a handful of San Diego reporters. Clark joined the MLBPA staff in March 2010 as director of player relations. He got active in union affairs after attending his first executive board meeting in 1999. From there he became a team player representative, before spending his last seven seasons as an association representative. As a player, Clark was actively involved in 2002 and 2006 collective bargaining as well as negotiations on revisions to the Joint Drug Agreement. "I expected to be tied to the hip with Michael for 20 years," Clark said. "He rides off into the sunset, I ride off into the sunset, we ride off into the sunset, having, Lord willing, affected the game positively. Blown away, yes. Humbled, yes. Excited to carry on the vision that Michael put into place, yes. ... Focused, not just now but going forward on what we stand for, who we are and how weve arrived at the place weve arrived? Blown away, yes." Jeremy Guthrie of the Kansas City Royals and free agent outfielder Curtis Granderson spoke glowingly of Clark. Guthrie pointed out that Weiner had been groomed before he took over for Donald Fehr in 2009, and Clark was groomed to replace Weiner, "although the time came way too fast, much more fast than any of us hoped or expected." Guthrie said he met with Weiner in 2012 after the cancer has been diagnosed, and the two agreed that Clark appeared to be the best candidate to eventually succeed Weiner. "Michael had the intuition, the foresight, whatever it was, to bring Tony on board when he did and to have him at his side," Guthrie said. "Tony clearly rose to the top as someone that wed never necessarily had planned to see in this position, but when we needed to find someone, his candidacy was clear, that he was someone prepared to do this. "I think this is a unique time," Guthrie said. "Baseball changes a ton and our union continues to progress and now we have a former player on board. I dont think theres a better player thats ever been a part of this game, one as prepared, one as intelligent, one as powerful, one as knowledgeable, as Tony, to step in and do that. Its funny how things happen, but preparation has been on our side." Granderson said that when the 6-foot-8 Clark walked into a meeting Monday, he didnt have to say a word and the other players stopped talking and took their seats. "That was an additional confirming moment for me as far as this person demanding attention," Granderson said. "The information hes going to provide is going to be of importance, no matter when hes speaking or what hes speaking about. "The idea of him being a player, you never forget that as part of his resume, but thats not all he is," Granderson added. "For some reason people have coupled him to that category, but he is by far more than that and will continue to be more than that. Thats just a chapter in his background. This is a new chapter and there will be many new chapters." Chad Kuhl Jersey . The Eastern Conference-leading Celtics finished their recent trek at 3-1 on Monday in Salt Lake City when Rajon Rondo made a key jumper with 24.1 seconds remaining, as Boston held off the Utah Jazz, 107-102, at EnergySolutions Arena. JB Shuck Jersey . -- Adrian Peterson takes a look around the league and sees big money flying everywhere. http://www.pittsburghpiratesprostore.us/Melky-Cabrera-pirates-jersey/ . Paul George and Darren Collison each scored 17 points and Roy Hibbert added 11 points and nine rebounds for the Pacers (9-3), who won their third straight. Chris Archer Pirates Jersey . Brad Malone had the other goal for the Monsters (1-1-0), while Elliott chipped in an assist for a three-point night and the games first star. Bryan Lerg also had two assists. Corban Knight and Max Reinhart scored for the Heat (1-1-0), who opened their season Friday with a 5-2 win over the Monsters in Cleveland. Melky Cabrera Pirates Jersey .C. - Heat coach Erik Spoelstra says Danny Granger, Chris Andersen and Udonis Haslem are still not ready to play and will miss Wednesday nights game against the Charlotte Hornets.[Credit: National Post] But here, two decades later, we have labour peace and the sport is perhaps at the peak of its international visibility and popularity. So how should Bettman and his owners spend the summer? Perhaps they should learn from the successes of this postseason, and tweak the game accordingly. The NHL playoffs were fast skating, hard hitting hockey highlighted by skill and spectacular goaltending. And there was but one fight, and not even the most ardent supporter of fighting in hockey could argue fisticuffs were missed. I understand the regular season is a long slog through winter, but do we want a sport where unnecessary violence breaks up the monotony? Especially when weve been witness to the majesty of the sport in its absence? Im not saying take fighting out of the game, but Colton Orr and George Parros are unnecessary elements of the sport.[Credit: ESPN] The hockey entity most in need of this summer break is the expansive community of punditry, from the media (both mainstream and not, though the line between the two becomes more and more blurred with each passing season) to the social media inclined fan. On Monday I witnessed an obsessive and rhetorically flawed argument on Twitter over the rumoured re-signing of Montreal Canadiens forward Dale Weise. Was he signed? Should he be signed? Was the term good for the cap? Who did and did not celebrate his acquisition from the Canucks for Raphael Diaz. French media versus English media versus fan versus blogger, all desperately lacking humility in their arguments. When the Habs officially announced a deal on a two-year contract extension with Weise Tuesday morning (for the exact term and dollar amount reported and endlessly disseminated Monday) the futile aand superfluous argument began anew.dddddddddddd I mean, over a fourth line winger? Paul DiPietro never received this kind of attention. Neither did Weises concussion, but thats a story the media will ignore another day.[Credit: NY Times] While social media and universal web access has taken the discourse to an inclusive realm, it has created an obsessive and pathologically invested fanbase and a media that stretches itself thin to fulfill the 24-hour new cycle. Take a breath folks. Go outside. Do something extraordinary. Expand your horizons. Go love up on a Bruins fan. Take a day at the beach. Spend a week without checking hockeydb.com or capgeek.com. Leave the sport alone for a few minutes. Itll still be there when you get back.The seasons not quite over yet. This week the NHLs 30 teams will consider buyouts to prepare their caps for next season. On June 22nd the 2014-15 schedule will be released so that we can all plan our November Saturdays accordingly. On the 24th, the NHL Awards ceremony takes place, where scarred players freshly relieved of their playoff beards wonder quietly who George Stroumboulopoulos is. The draft takes place on the weekend of the 27th in Philadelphia, which will ignite the hotstove and fuel dreams of parades and revelry. July 1st, Canada Day, a day we should all be out drinking Labatt 50 in the sun and launching bottle rockets recklessly into the night, finds much of the hockey world inside watching TV and waiting to see which albatross of a contract will be bought out in the summer of 2018. And then nothing until September, beautiful autumn, summer fading into the promise a new season, when all teams in first place, except the Oilers, who will be tied with the Flames for 30th. ' ' '