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| AP Photo |
Love him or hate him, you can't deny that
Marvin Miller—longtime head of the players association—was a transformational figure in baseball. As such, he deserves a spot in the Hall of Fame. Last night in New York,
current and former players gathered to press for Miller's induction—when he becomes eligible this December. Miller died last November at the age of 95. The best way to measure Miller's impact on the game is to look at the average player salary when he became the head of the union ($19,000) and when he left the job ($241,000). His breakthrough achievement of free agency has changed the game forever. There were five active players in the crowd last night—two of whom were Red Sox (
Craig Breslow and
Andrew Bailey). Fittingly, Breslow just signed a 2-year, $6.25 million contract. As
Rusty Staub said,
"Every time somebody signs one of these wonderful contracts, and there are so many of them out there, I think before they get the first check they should have to write an essay on Marvin Miller. " Indeed.
