5:53pm: Maury Brown has the Players Association's statement.
1:55pm: ESPN.com reports that Donald Fehr is stepping down as executive director of the MLB Players' Association. ESPN's source says Michael Weiner will replace Fehr, who has led the MLBPA since 1983. Fehr said today he will retire by the end of March 2010.
As MLB.com's Bobbie Dittmeier points out, Fehr began working for the MLBPA in 1977 after working on behalf of the association as a lawyer. Over the course of his leadership, the average major league salary rose from $289k to $2.9MM, according to the AP. However, Fehr has been criticized for waiting until 2002 to allow drug testing in baseball.
