Marvin Miller's Finally in Baseball's Hall of Fame -- Though He Didn't Want to Be
The longest introduction for a Hall of Fame inductee at Cooperstown last Wednesday was for the man few in the audience knew about. Several malcontents hooted at the speaker, former head of the Major League Baseball Players Association (and current head of the hockey players’ union) Don Fehr, wanting him to wrap it up. Apparently they were not aware of witnessing the induction of one of the most important figures in baseball history,
In 1990, while writing for the Village Voice, I was asked by Marvin Miller to assist him with his memoir, A Whole Different Ball Game: The Story of Baseball’s New Deal. The book, I’m proud to say, is still in print. If you want to know how the players’ union started, in 1966, how they came together to radically change the business of baseball, the battles with owners that resulted in lockouts and strikes, and finally, how the players were able to force the owners into granting free agency, it’s all there: Curt Flood taking his case to the Supreme Court in 1972, the heated negotiations in smoke-filled rooms, Miller’s personal relationships with Reggie Jackson, Dave Winfield, Jim Bouton, George Steinbrenner, Jackie Robinson, and every other important figure in the game for nearly four decades.
What you won’t read about in the book is the bitter behind-the-scenes politics that kept Marvin Miller out of the Hall of Fame for more than 20 years. The late great Dodgers announcer Red Barber, in a line that has been quoted many times since, told me, “Marvin Miller is one of the three most important people in the game’s history, along with Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson.”
https://www.villagevoice.com/2021/09/15/marvin-millers-finally-in-baseballs-hall-of-fame-though-he-didnt-want-to-be/
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The great right fielder who racked up assists on the field (#1 among right fielders lifetime) provided another important one here.
As always, Roberto Clemente was a true team player. RIP #21.
