Former baseball union head Miller dead at 95
Source: Yahoo Sports
NEW YORK (AP) -- Marvin Miller, the soft-spoken union head who led baseball players in a series of strikes and legal battles that won free agency, revolutionized sports and turned athletes into multimillionaires, died Tuesday. He was 95.
Miller died at his home in Manhattan at 5:30 a.m., said his daughter Susan Miller. He had been diagnosed with liver cancer in August.
In his 16 years as executive director of the Major League Players Association, starting in 1966, Miller fought owners on many fronts, winning free agency for players in December 1975. He may best be remembered, however, as the man who made the word ''strike'' stand for something other than a pitched ball.
''All players - past, present and future - owe a debt of gratitude to Marvin, and his influence transcends baseball,'' current union head Michael Weiner said. ''Marvin, without question, is largely responsible for ushering in the modern era of sports, which has resulted in tremendous benefits to players, owners and fans of all sports.''
Miller, who retired and became a consultant to the union in 1982, led the first walkout in the game's history 10 years earlier. On April 5, 1972, signs posted at major league parks simply said: ''No Game Today.'' The strike, which lasted 13 days, was followed by a walkout during spring training in 1976 and a midseason job action that darkened the stadiums for seven weeks in 1981.
Read more: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/former-baseball-union-head-miller-153220626--mlb.html
muriel_volestrangler
(101,388 posts)NoGOPZone
(2,971 posts)Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)they just didn't want him to get in while still alive...
BeyondGeography
(39,386 posts)That was always good enough for me.
olddad56
(5,732 posts)amuse bouche
(3,657 posts)a piece on Miller
http://keitholbermann.mlblogs.com/2012/