Game Changer

Miller was instrumental in gaining free agency and salary arbitration for MLB players

MARVIN MILLER , the first MLBPA Exec Dir, died this morning in Manhattan at the age of 95 "after a year-long battle with cancer," according to Bill Madden of the N.Y. DAILY NEWS. Miller headed the union from '66-84 and won the players "previously-unimaginable gains in salary, working conditions and licensing and pension benefits through hard-nosed collective bargaining." Under Miller's leadership, the "average players' salary went from $10,000 in 1967 to $329,000 by 1984 while the minimum salary increased from $6,000 to $40,000." All of this was due to "two monumental gains for the players which Miller was able to attain through both collective bargaining and the courts -- free agency and salary arbitration." Miller oversaw the "first work ...