Marvin Miller

Marvin Julian Miller (April 14, 1917 – November 27, 2012) was an American labor union leader and baseball executive who served as the first executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) from 1966 to 1982. Miller led MLBPA during three strikes and two lockouts. Under Miller's direction, the players' union was transformed into one of the strongest unions in the United States.

Miller grew up in a working-class family in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, and began his career with positions at various prominent unions. In 1950, he became a key figure in the organized labor world when he was made the principal economic advisor of United Steelworkers, serving as one of its contract negotiators. In 1966, Miller departed from USW when he won a landslide victory in a players' vote to become leader of the MLBPA.

Miller advised St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Curt Flood in his 1972 Supreme Court challenge against baseball's reserve clause that prevented players from entering free agency. The same year, Miller presided over the first-ever major league strike that yielded a pension fund increase. In 1974, Miller coordinated with players Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally in a bid for free agency that resulted in the abolition of the reserve clause in the 1975 Seitz decision.

Following his stint as the MLBPA leader, Miller was well-received for his contributions to player rights. In 1992, Red Barber said, "Marvin Miller, along with Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson, is one of the two or three most important men in baseball history." Miller was selected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in December 2019, for induction in 2020. Provided by Wikipedia