Baseball’s Marvin Miller Dies

Marvin Miller, baseball’s famed union leader, has died at the age of 95. Miller was named executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association in 1966, when players had little bargaining power, were bound to their teams for as long as their owners wanted them, and had a minimum salary of $6,000. By the time of Miller’s retirement in 1982, players had won free agency, the average player salary had reached $241,000, and the union had become a model for basketball, football, and hockey. And although he was never selected for the Baseball Hall of Fame, Miller said in 2011, “I’m proudest of the fact that I’ve been retired for almost 29 years at this point, and there are knowledgeable observers who say that this might be still be the strongest union in the country. I think that’s a great legacy.”