Eugene D. Orza ’73
Retired Chief Operating Officer
Major League Baseball Players Association
(MLBPA)
For more than a quarter of a century, Eugene D. Orza ’73 has been
instrumental in protecting the contractual rights of professional
athletes through his efforts as a negotiator, Associate General
Counsel, and most recently, Chief Operating Officer of the Major
League Baseball Players Association. Mr. Orza has been
an ardent and steadfast proponent of player rights demonstrated by
his time at the helm of five collective bargaining negotiations
between the Major League Baseball Players Association and the
ownership interests of the professional baseball teams.
According to his longtime friend, and retired professional
athlete, Rusty Staub, “Before Gene became involved in the labor
relations side of baseball, professional athletes had no advocate
or recourse to a team’s ownership not negotiating in good
faith. Gene served as the watchdog and protector of the
professional athlete.” From the podium at St. John’s Law
School while addressing students, friends and colleagues of the
student led Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Society, Mr. Staub
noted, “the history of this venue is to roast the honoree, in this
instance my friend Gene Orza, but there is really nothing bad that
I can say about one of the most loyal men I know.”
Daniel Silver, Regional Director for Region 2 of the National Labor
Relations Board, reflected fondly on Mr. Orza’s career at the
National Labor Relations Board. He noted that of all of the
Labor Relations professionals that he knew, “nobody else could do
the job that Gene did at the Major League Baseball Players
Association.”
Maury Brown, founder of The Business of Baseball, notes on his
widely read internet blog, “Gene has litigated cases and negotiated
agreements that span the Basic Agreement and Major League rules.
There is virtually no subject in the sport, from the amateur draft
to the strike zone, to which Gene has not made a significant
contribution on behalf of players. He also has been instrumental in
expanding baseball’s global popularity by overseeing the
Association’s international efforts, including the creation and
launch of the World Baseball Classic, and the playing of exhibition
and regular season games throughout Asia and Latin America.”
High praise and acknowledgement from a recognized expert on the
game and one who gives testimony to Mr. Orza’s desire to protect
player’s rights while advancing America’s National pastime to a
global stage.
Mr. Orza, a tenacious negotiator, helped lead the union through a
two-day strike in 1985, a 32-day lockout in 1990 and a 7½-month
strike in 1994-95 that led to the first cancellation of the World
Series in 90 years. In recent years, Mr. Orza spearheaded
player health and safety by serving as the union's point man on
drug matters and drug testing via his representation on the
industry’s Joint Health Policy Advisory Committee which resulted in
the 2002 joint drug agreement. A fan of the game’s global
expansion, Mr. Orza was heavily involved in the creation of the
World Baseball Classic.
Mr. Orza is a member of the NCAA Professional Sports Liaison
Committee and a Member of the Board of Directors of the Jackie
Robinson Foundation. In addition, Mr. Orza served on the
Baseball Commissioner’s Special Task Force on Baseball in the 21st
Century.
On April 7, 2011 the Entertainment, Arts and Sports Law Society
(EASL) at St. John’s School of Law proudly bestowed to Mr. Orza the
Joseph J. Beard Distinguished Alumni Award. The Joseph J.
Beard Award recognizes and gives tribute to a St. John’s Law
alumnus for outstanding career accomplishments and achievements in
the practice of entertainment and sports law.