Marvin Miller is one of the most important figures in baseball history, and one of the sport's most polarizing figures as well. As executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association from 1966 through 1983, he brought the concept of collective bargaining to our national pastime. On his watch, the players eliminated baseball's "reserve clause" and ushered the era of free agency into professional sports.
Early Progress
Miller's first task was to convince his members they could improve their station. "The biggest problem in the beginning was the low self-esteem of the players," Miller said, according to his profile on the National Baseball Hall of Fame website. "They had been so beaten down that they really didn't understand their value in the game." The players association's first collective bargaining agreement, in 1968, raised the minimum major league salary from $6,000 a year to $10,000 per year, according to the MLB Players Association.
Impact of Arbitration
In 1970, the association gained the right to arbitrate grievances. This set the stage for pitchers Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally to play out the option years of their contract in 1975 and challenge the "reserve clause" that bound players to their team. The players won their arbitration case. When a federal judge upheld the ruling, free agency was born in 1976. Baseball's average salary was just $50,000 that year. The next collective bargaining agreement included free agency provisions and salaries grew exponentially in the following decades.
The First Strike
The players association became the most powerful union in sports and one of the strongest in any industry. A turning point came in 1972 when the players opted to walk out of spring training. At the time, Miller didn't believe the group had the solidarity to pull it off. "To my surprise, the players said: 'We strike now. We will weather this, and we will outlast them,' " Miller later said in an interview with the Baseball Reliquary. "It was like no meeting I had ever attended."
The 1981 Showdown
The players association flexed its collective muscle with a 50-day strike during the 1981 season. This work stoppage established the union as a force the owners would have to reckon with. "Unlike in '72, almost all of the players had nothing to gain," Miller told the Baseball Reliquary. "They were striking for free agency rights for players to come."
Revenues Grow, Players Get Rich
Miller retired in 1982, before cable television, luxury stadium seating and the Internet created explosive revenue growth in baseball. The rights the players association battled for in the 1970s and early '80s paid huge dividends as Major League Baseball prospered. The average player salary in '82 was $241,497. By 2011, the average annual salary topped $3 million, according to the website for the Hall of Fame. Players reaped huge pension gains as well.
Outspoken In Retirement
Miller remained a fierce advocate in his retirement. For instance, he criticized union leadership for allowing testing for performance-enhancing drugs. "I would never have agreed to any testing program in the first place," he told ESPN for a story published Feb. 10, 2009. "There's no evidence that's plausible to justify testing people indiscriminately. If the government wanted to do that, they'd have to go to court for each player tested and say, 'Here's evidence of probable cause that this player is a user of an illegal product.' "
Hall of Fame Rejection
In 2010, the National Baseball Hall of Fame denied Miller induction to the shrine for the fifth time when a revamped 16-member panel failed to vote him in. "There's been a concerted attempt to downplay the union," Miller told The New York Times for a story published Dec. 6, 2010. "It's been about trying to rewrite history rather than record it. They decided a long time ago that they would downgrade any impact the union has had. And part of that plan was to keep me out of it."
References
- MLBPlayers.com: Marvin Miller, MLBPA Executive Director, 1966-83
- BaseballHistory.com: Marvin Miller
- ESPN.com: Miller: Athletes Victims of Witch Hunt; Jerry Crasnick, February, 2009
- The Baseball Reliqaury Inc.: Marvin Miller; David Davis, July 2003
- National Baseball Hall of Fame: Game Changer; Craig Mulder, November, 2010
- "The New York Times"; Miller Says Hall Is 'Trying to Rewrite History'; Richard Sandomir; December 2010
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