New MLBPA chief Bruce Meyer insists he is not a Scott Boras puppet

PHOENIX — Bruce Meyer hasn’t even been on the job 24 hours as the new chief of the MLB Players Association , and already he knows he has enemies. There are some folks who wish he never got the job. There are MLB executives who hate dealing with him. There are agents who believe he favors only Scott Boras and other powerful agents. There are players who think he can be condescending.

Meyer realizes he doesn’t have the personality of his predecessor, Tony Clark . He didn’t play 15 years in the major leagues. He didn’t even play in the minors. He didn’t play in high school.

But, man, can he ever litigate, and as long as he’s on the job, he vowed Thursday in a 30-minute interview to do everything possible for the players to get the best possible deal he can in the next collective bargaining agreement, and at the same time, help heal fractured relationships among agents and players in the game.

Meyer certainly wants to clear up any misperception that he provides preferential treatment to Boras, reiterating that Boras has no more influence on him than any other agent. “I almost don’t want to dignify it,’’ Meyer said after speaking for 2½ hours to the Milwaukee Brewers. “Scott is an agent. He represents a lot of players. He has no more influence over the running of the union than any other agent.

And the continuous suggestions to the contrary − which I believe are mostly originated by the league − are really just an attempt at divisiveness. “Every agent is valuable to us. Every agent represents players who are our clients, our constituents.

Every agent has our ear and we take it all very seriously.’’ It’s no different than the players, he said, trying to assure that the middle class and young class of players benefit just as much as the game’s wealthiest players in the next collective bargaining agreement.

It was just two years ago when 21 players tried to lead a coup to have Meyer fired and replaced by attorney Harry Marino, who helped unionize the minor league players, and now he’s responsible for the well-being of 1,200 major-league players. “You’re never going to have everybody agreeing with everyone,’’ Meyer said. “It just doesn’t happen.

… You’re never going to get everybody on the same page, but you try and do the most you can. “Disagreements are not just expected, they’re actually great. I mean we have very free and frank exchanges of views on all subjects in the past. That’s what these meetings are about. … We want and expect players to express their views, to express their disagreements, to talk it out, and we want to educate players.

“If at the end of the day we are not 100% on the same page, that’s unfortunate, but that’s to be expected. It doesn’t mean we can’t accomplish our goals.’’ Meyer, 64, who was unanimously voted by the union’s executive subcommittee and player representatives to succeed Clark, says while he is honored to be the union’s seventh executive director, he hates the circumstances.

He was appointed Wednesday, about 48 hours after Clark was forced to resign after an internal investigation discovered an inappropriate relationship with his sister-in-law, a union employee based in their Scottsdale, Arizona, office. “I feel for Tony, as we all do,’’ Meyer said. “I can’t say that anybody is celebrating anything at this point.