The Role of Marvin Miller

Sportslaw History: The Role of Marvin Miller

Elected head of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) in 1966, Marvin Miller transformed the organization into one of the strongest unions in America. Indeed, it was Miller, an experienced trade unionist, who, by means of his innovative thinking and keen negotiating skills, united a loosely organized players association and thereby revolutionized baseball. Much of Miller's success came in brokering arrangements which often empowered the players and diminished the control of the owners. As a pioneer in the unionization of professional athletes, Miller created a standard to which all labor organizations could aspire.

Born in the Bronx, New York in 1917, Miller, a labor economist, served three years at the National War Labor Relations Board and was subsequently in the employ of both the Machinist Union and the United Auto Workers. Miller then rose through the ranks of the United Steelworkers union and emerged as its leading economist and negotiator. Aside from appealing to his intellect, Miller accepted the job as the first full-time MLBPA executive in part because of his love affair with the game of baseball - his family had been staunch N.Y. Giants supporters. Miller was appointed executive director of the Players Association (after the first two choices rejected the offer) and, with a checking account totaling just $5,400, began to build a powerful labor group that would soon serve as a model for all trade guilds. While the players had reached out and hired a proven trade unionist, in Miller they also found an astute individual who excelled at labor relations bargaining and an advisor who could accumulate major victories for his principles.

Miller's legacy provided irreversible alterations to the landscape of baseball, both with respect to labor relations and the on-field product. Firstly, Miller realized that the structure and content of baseball's standard players' contract -- which Miller classified as "one of the worst labor documents" -- would have to be reconfigured in the players' favor. When management blocked his attempts to ascertain accurate player salary information, Miller delegated team representatives to anonymously report each player's salary. By 1968, in just two years, Miller succeeded in raising baseball's minimum salary from $6,000 to $10,000 (the first such raise in over two decades), a precedent that cleared the way for baseball salaries to become the envy of all professional athletes. The cool-headed union chief soon gained a reputation throughout the league as a hard, but well respected, negotiator and player advocate.

As management had refused to concede to the union use of its locker rooms, Miller was once forced to meet with players in the outfield of a ballpark.As an agent of the players, in 1973 Miller obtained the players right to arbitration to resolve grievances. Furthermore, as a testament to his lasting legacy, over the course of his tenure, Miller secured for the players a pension plan that is still regarded as one of the best in the nation.

Probably his greatest achievement was establishment of modern free agency. In 1975, Miller wrestled from the owners a player's right to sign employment agreements with other teams once his contractual obligations with his old team concluded. Despite the Supreme Court' s ruling in the Curt Flood case [click here], he shepherded pitchers Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally to a grievance arbitration which finally eradicated the "reserve clause" in 1975. According to his memoirs, Miller anticipated and prepared for free agency, as he had paragraph 10a of the Uniform Player's Contract as granting a club only a one-year option to renew a player's services, and not perennial control as was the owners' interpretation. [click here] thinking at the time.

He understood that absolute free agency was not in the players' best interest, since it overburdens the market with players and may keep salaries low. Miller was quick to strike a "compromise" with the unwitting owners, and secured players the right to free agency only after six years in the majors. By means of his innovative thinking, Miller shaped a system that ended the owners' career control over players, regulated the supply of talent, and offered security for established major leaguers. Miller's legacy also includes the great strides the MLBPA made in bargaining for licensing and broadcast revenues on behalf of the players

What is less well known is that Miller instituted changes to make the game safer. He successfully bargained for improved scheduling and padded outfield walls, better-defined warning tracks and safer locker rooms. These advances translated into record attendance figures and enhanced the value of the league's franchises. In 1981, Miller rallied the member players and saw them through a 50-day strike, which he has labeled as the "association's finest hour".

Miller stepped down from his position with the union in 1982 and has since captured the events which transpired during his tenure as MLBPA head in a book entitled "A Whole Different Ball Game: The Sport and Business of Baseball." He currently serves as consultant for the union.

Citing the pervasive affect the former MLBPA leader had on baseball and its players, many have long since called for the introduction of Miller into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Could it be the influence of the owners which blocks the assent to Cooperstown? After all , he is the man who management once feared - if not resented - the most. Specific focus is on rule 6(b) of the provisions governing eligibility for election into the Hall of Fame, which provides, in part, for the selection of retired baseball executives. While, the definition of "baseball executive" is not stipulated, there is debate concerning whether only league executives are eligible, to the exclusion of union men. It is speculated, however, that the real issue is not mere confusion regarding the interpretation of a rule, but rather that the baseball owners do not wish to see Miller, a professional management killer, worshipped in their shrine. What is certain, however, is that in galvanizing the MLBPA and extinguishing the feudal reign the owners enjoyed over the players for so long, Marvin Miller made a lasting and irreversible impact on professional baseball, as well as facilitating the unionization of professional athletes.

Andrew Goodman