NEW YORK (AP) — Dave Prouty has been promoted to general counsel of the Major League Baseball Players Association.

The 54-year-old Prouty becomes the fourth general counsel in the union's history, following Dick Moss (1966-77), Donald Fehr (1977-04) and Michael Weiner (2004-13). The promotion was announced Wednesday.

Weiner succeeded Fehr as the union's executive director in December 2009. Weiner announced in August that he is being treated for a brain tumor and has remained at work during treatment.

Fehr is now head of the NHL Players Association.

Prouty was hired by the players' association in 2008 as a staff lawyer and became chief labor counsel. He spent 22 years at UNITE HERE, a union representing clothing, textile, laundry, hotel and restaurant workers.