Fredric Horowitz

Fredric R. Horowitz

• School University of California at Berkeley

Fredric Horowitz was appointed as arbitrator for Major League Baseball in June of 2012, following the firing of Shyam Das. He was in turn fired in November of 2016.

Based out of Santa Monica, CA, he is a professional arbitrator specializing in labor and employment disputes, with experience in sports matters, including serving on salary arbitration hearings in both MLB and the National Hockey League. He is a member of the Board of Governors of the National Academy of Arbitrators and served on the City of Los Angeles, CA Employee Relations Board. A lawyer by training, he served as a staff attorney for the Air Line Pilots Association from 1975-1984 and then as corporate counsel for HCC Industries form 1984 to 1988, before specializing in arbitration starting in 1989.

One of the first prominent cases that Horowitz had to handle was Alex Rodriguez's appeal of his 211-game suspension for violating Major league Baseball's PED policy. The case was complicated by allegations from A-Rod's side that MLB had engaged in abusive behavior and singled him out for unjustified punishment. On January 11, 2014, Horowitz issued his ruling, reducing the suspension to 162 games, or the entire 2014 season and postseason. While Rodriguez and his lawyers were very displeased and stated they would now take the case to federal court, both Commissioner Bud Selig and the Major League Baseball Players Association accepted the ruling, the commissioner with satisfaction, and the Players Association by recognizing that the decision, with which they disagreed, was reached through due process. On August 27, 2015, Horowitz made another publicized ruling when he dismissed Barry Bonds' claim that teams colluded to keep him out of the major leagues after he broke the career home run record in the 2007 season.

On November 9, 2016, the MLBPA announced that it had fired Horowitz because of a disagreement over a low-profile decision regarding the assignation of Los Angeles Dodgers back-up infielder Charlie Culberson to the minor leagues.