Voters should place Miller in Hall of Fame Former players’ association boss had impact

For many, the pronouncement this week by baseball commissioner Bud Selig that he favors the admission of Marvin Miller into the Hall of Fame came as a shock.

Miller is the former head of the Major League Baseball Players’ Association from 1966 to 1982. During those years, some of the most tumultuous in terms of the business of baseball, Miller led the association to unparalleled heights.

There were and still are many owners in major league baseball who do not look upon Miller kindly. That has much to do with this leadership that generated so much power for the players in a business that had been forever dominated by the owners.

Selig is quoted by the Associated Press as saying this week at a meeting of the AP Sports Editors that, “The criteria [for election to the HOF] for nonplaying personnel is the impact they made on the sport. Therefore, Marvin Miller should be in the Hall of Fame on that basis.”

He acknowledged that his predecessors may not have agreed with him but stood by his belief that the impact of Miller was weighty enough to get the votes.

When Miller took charge of the Association in 1966, it had little power or money. The minimum salary for players was $6,000 and had not been raised in 20 years before Miller negotiated the money to $10,000 in 1968.

The biggest problem for the players was the infamous reserve clause that held a player to his current team forever if the team wanted to sign him again. That left no bargaining room for the player because he was not free to move to another team or even negotiate with one.

That all changed in 1975 when Miller directed through arbitration process the now groundbreaking case of Andy Messersmith/Dave McNally.

Those two players challenged the reserve clause and, to the surprise of everyone, won the case and the right to negotiate with other teams at the end of an existing deal.

From there came negotiations between the players and MLB that led to the free agent system that has generated billions of dollars for players in salaries. That never would have happened if the reserve clause had survived.

Through all of this, Marvin Miller called the shots for the association. Miller’s leadership that stressed unity and resolve on the part of the players led the MLBPA and all of baseball into a new day.

There are many who believe the power has swung too much to the players’ side, largely because of the salaries, and they blame Miller for that.

There is no doubt some of that feeling has probably kept him out of the HOF.

However, as Commissioner Selig said, if the idea of electing nonplayers to the Hall is based on their impact on the game, it is all but impossible to say Miller should not be in.

There is also a discussion about changing the membership of the veteran’s committee that considers Miller and others for the Hall.

Should that happen, and with Selig’s support, the day may be closer when Marvin Miller enters the HOF for good.

Old Town native Gary Thorne is an ESPN and ABC sportscaster.