Marvin Miller for HOF ???

Even if you want to set aside any sense of social justice and fairness for the players and look at it from a fans' standpoint, it's still a bad argument until you can demonstrate that there was any semblance of competitive balance prior to the advent of free agency. How about the Kansas City A's? Did the fans in KC begin every season with hope and faith? How about the Washington Senators? Did little boy Moddy know the Senators would be able to compete for the AL pennant every year as long as they could keep Frank Howard and Ed Brinkman?

 

No- TV Networks and demographics sped growth of game.

 

And the end of the reserve clause boosted TV revenues and allowed the demographics to grow.

 

I made a decision last year not to post on Hall of Fame threads because my contributions in the past were misinterpreted by some and got me into trouble with some of you. But since Boom asked nicely for my opinion on this topic -- and since I can't vote since I'm not a Hall of Famer on the Veterans Committee -- I will add my feelings here.

First, I am surprised Marvin Miller isn't in already because of the voting group. These are people he did so much for, I thought they would vote him in with room to spare when he first appeared on their ballot. The fact that they -- the players his work obviously helped -- didn't elect him makes me wonder why. That's a question I can't answer.

As for contributions to the game, it all depends on how you look at it. He certainly contributed to the players being allowed to sell themselves to the highest bidder, no one can argue that. Was that positive? Again, tough to answer. I think it was inevitable that baseball would eventually move the way of free agency. If you or I can move to the paper of our choice because they're offering more money and a better way of life, why shouldn't a ballplayer have that right, too?

Would I like it if players were forced to stay with teams for longer period, thereby keeping rosters together longer? It's a moot point because it's unrealistic. They deserve the right to move on. It's up to the owners how much they're going to pay. Yeah, it's getting out of hand but that's only because the owners can't control themselves. But that's not the question on the floor.

Marvin Miller does belong in the executives' wing of the HOF if you measure his status for its impact. Who else would cause this much debate/discussion about his status?

(And on a silly personal aside, I think he belongs for using this phrase after the strike-ending agreement when he said, "We accept this proposal WARTS AND ALL." It's a phrase I have used many times and I just love it).

Also let me add that many of the posts here have been lucid and well done. So congrats to most of you.

 

Casty - my sincere thanks for giving us your thoughts on Marvin Miller. As always you provide a fair and reasoned argument that always allows us to look at something from another perpective.

We are all lucky for the insight that you bring to SportsJournalists.com. Thank you.

PS - You've convinced me - time to open the HOF gates for Marvin

 

Marvin Miller has asked that his name be removed from any future HOF ballots.

Union icon Miller asks off Hall ballot
05/22/2008 9:00 AM ET
By Barry M. Bloom / MLB.com

Marvin Miller, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association from 1966 to 1982, has asked the National Baseball Hall of Fame not to place his name on any future ballots for consideration to be elected to the shrine in Cooperstown, N.Y.

Miller was turned down last year by a vote of the reconstituted 12-member Veterans Committee, which considered executives and pioneers only for enshrinement. Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, Dodgers owner Walter O'Malley and Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss were the three voted into the Hall from that particular 10-person ballot.

Miller received three votes, while Kuhn, his arch nemesis from the era, was elected as 10 out of the 12 members of the committee voted in his favor. Like all Hall elections, a candidate needed 75 percent of the vote to be elected.

"Paradoxically, I'm writing to thank you and your associates for your part in nominating me for Hall of Fame consideration, and, at the same time, to ask that you not do this again," Miller said in a letter sent to the Baseball Writers Association of America, which has only partial input on this particular election. "The anti-union bias of the powers who control the Hall has consistently prevented recognition of the historic significance of the changes to baseball brought about by collective bargaining.

The rest of the article can be found here:

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20080521&content_id=2741462&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb