RIP Marvin Miller

Olbermann.

keitholbermann.mlblogs.com/2012/

 

No doubt their personalities are different. But they've also been at different points in their career. We're comparing one guy who has been old and retired to another guy who is active in his job.

I also question that Boras' personality is why people don't like him.

I think they just don't like that the players make so much money -- which they see as a reason for higher ticket prices and some teams being unable to afford some players -- and they hold him responsible. In reality, Miller is more responsible for those things than Boras.

 

Granted, this is a two-way street; no player actually deserves a contract that pays him a quarter of a billion dollars, even when some idiotic owner is willing to pay it, but Miller did as much as anyone to widen baseball's chasm between the haves and the have-nots.

 

I don't think there's a market where that's actually the case. It's just an excuse for owners who want to make more money. Maybe teams can't re-sign every player, but they can be competitive. The Brewers had to choose between Braun and Fielder, but they actually can afford Braun and a $100 million payroll. The Pirates and Marlins and Royals and A's just deposit the revenue-sharing checks in their pockets. At least in the case of the Pirates and Marlins, it has been proven conclusively and quite embarrassingly that they are making profits on the order of $20 million a year or more.

 

Not to mention, the Yankees dominated for over 40 years, while the Phillies spent something like 35 years with just one or two winning records. There wasn't much competitive balance even in the 'good ol' days'.

 

From 1947-1956, New York City franchises won 9 of 10 World Series and 16 of 20 league pennants. Competitive balance at its finest!!!

 

Maybe I dreamed it, but I thought the A's won their division last season.

 

Which people? Fans don't like either of them.

I don't know that media people apart from Murray Chass loved Marvin Miller. I think they recognize the significance of his accomplishments. I don't know that media people "hate" Boras.

 

How do you determine what players deserve?

 

To be fair, Miller's own tenure was marked by plenty of labor strife, stoppages (in 1972, '76 and '81) and black eyes, too. But I don't think there was anything he could have done to stop it. He was fighting to end a century-plus of oppression.

Yes, there were a lot of growing pains over three decades from the first stoppage in '72 until the first peaceful CBA in 2002, but I think all baseball fans are going to eventually realize it was worth it in the end. Baseball is in a better place now than ever before.

And Marvin Miller is a huge part of the reason why.

 

Has anyone seen any reaction from NBA or NFL players? Certainly they benefitted because Miller laid out the blueprint for their unions too. Obviously they haven't worked quite as well as baseball's but they also make a helluva lot more money now than 30 years ago.

 

The NBA minimum is more than three times the MLB minimum. And until the latest labor deal, NBA superstars were topping out in the mid-$20 million range, same as MLB players. NFL players? Well, yeah, they get screwed.

Players association directors Billy Hunter and DeMaurice Smith released statements.