Hall of Fame Snubs Marvin Miller
Baseball's First Union Chief Deserved Election into Cooperstown
Dec 3, 2007
Marvin Miller will tell you that he is just a labor negotiator. History will tell you that he changed baseball forever. Both are true.
Miller was a very successsful labor economist (for the United Auto Workers and then the United Steelworkers) when he was hired to be the Executive Director of the Major League Baseball Players Association ("MLBPA") in 1966.
Through his efforts and guidance, Miller was able to transform the MLBPA from a relatively ineffective, loosely affiliated group of ballplayers to the most powerful union in the history of sports, and perhaps even in the history of American Business. Miller was also instrumental in creating free agency and increasing the average salaries of players more than tenfold during his reign as union chief.
On Monday, December 3rd, however, the Hall of Fame Veterans Committee decided that Miller was not worthy of induction into Cooperstown. They saw fit to elect five non-players, including Miller's nemesis, former commissioner Bowie Kuhn, but passed over Miller for the third time in four years.
It was a bad decision. Miller is a Hall of Famer.
The Standard for Executives and Pioneers
In order for an executive, owner or other non-player to gain induction into the Hall of Fame, he must have made "significant contributions to the game of baseball." With the notable exceptions of Alexander Cartwright, Branch Rickey, Albert Spalding and Ban Johnson, Miller has probably contributed more to the game of baseball than any other "pioneer."
Player's Pay and Working Conditions Prior to Miller's Arrival
When Miller was hired in 1966 to head the MLBPA, the owners had been ruling the sport with an iron fist for almost a century. The players couldn't choose which team they worked for. They couldn't meaningfully negotiate for a higher salary, or better benefits, or more acceptable working conditions.
All of these "luxuries," which were available to just about every other employee in the United States, were not allowed in baseball. And the owner's maintained this status quo through the strict interpretation and enforcement of a provision that was in every single major league player's contract: the Reserve Clause.
Under the Reserve Clause system, player contracts were limited to just one season, and the contract expressly "reserved" the team's right to "retain" the player for the next season. The player, if he wished to play, was bound by his promise (made under duress of course) to play for the team again next year. As a result, players had to play for their original team, under a series of one year contracts that could theoretically be negotiated, but because no other team could bid for the player, the effect was that players almost always returned to the same team, for just about the same price, year after year after year.
Also, in 1966, the average salary for a Major League player was just $20,000 a year. The minimum salary was $6,000 - the level where it had been stuck for two decades. Many notoriously stingy owners also made their players work under abysmal conditions. They had no insurance, often shoddy medical treatment, no pensions, and no ability work for their team of choice. It was a system that the great Curt Flood likened to slavery.
But, through Miller's guidance and efforts, baseball players were able to break free from the bonds of the reserve clause and turn the world of baseball economics on its head.
Here is how he did it.
The 1968 and 1970 Collective Bargaining Agreements
In 1968, Miller led a committee of players that negotiated the first collective bargaining agreement in the history of professional sports. The agreement raised the minimum salary in baseball from $6,000 to $10,000 and set the tone for future advances.
In 1970, he helped players negotiate the right to arbitration to resolve grievances - an achievement Miller considers the most significant of the union's early years. The impartial dispute resolution process paved the way for nearly all of the gains the players would achieve in ensuing years.
The Creation of Free Agency
Marvin Miller figured that the reserve clause, by its very terms, only bound a player to the same team for the next season. Accordingly, he advised two star pitchers, Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally to play the 1975 season for their clubs without signing a contract. Miller simultaneously filed a grievance asking the arbitrator to rule that because the pitchers hadn't signed contracts to play in 1975, there was no contractual clause that required them to return to their teams in 1976.
The arbitrator, Peter Seitz, agreed with Miller's argument, and he ruled that Messersmith and McNally were "free" to become free agents for the 1976 season. The arbitrator's decision in favor of the players was later upheld in federal court.
Players rejoiced, and many wanted to follow the McNally/Messersmith lead so that they too could become free agents by 1977.
Miller's Brilliant Free Agent Strategy Leads to Big Contracts
Being an economist, Miller recognized that if all players became free agents simultaneously, the market would be flooded with too much talent. This potential over-supply of players would have the opposite of the desired effects of free movement and higher salaries.
So in the next collective bargaining agreement, Miller and the owners reached a "compromise" that allowed all players to become free agents after six years' service.
The six-year rule ensured that only a small number of players would enter the free agent market each year. The high demand from teams who were seeking to improve and the relatively low annual supply of available free agents led to bidding wars for the best players. As a result, salaries skyrocketed and contracts lengthened.
Reggie Jackson signed a free agent deal with the Yankees in 1977 for five years and $3 million.
Pete Rose signed a five year deal just two years later with the Phillies that made him the game's first $1 million a year man.
In 1981, Dave Winfield signed with the Yankees for 10 years and $21 million, making him the first $2 million per year player.
Overall, the average player salary jumped to $240,000 by the time Miller stepped down from his job as MLBPA Executive Director in 1983.
Miller's Overall Contributions to Baseball Warrant Hall of Fame Induction
For his roles in breaking the reserve clause, creating the free agency system, building and strengthening the players union, and being at least partially responsible for the huge power shift between players and management that occurred in the 1970s, he deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame.
