Educating and uniting the players as a workforce, Miller embarked on a long campaign to win the concessions that defined his legacy: decent workplace conditions, a pension system, outside mediation of player grievances and salary disputes, a system of profit sharing, and the long-sought dismantling of the reserve clause that opened the door to free agency. Through it all, allies and adversaries alike praised Miller's hardnosed attitude, work ethic, and honesty.
Comprehensive and illuminating, Marvin Miller, Baseball Revolutionary tells the inside story of a time of change in sports and labor relations, and of the contentious process that gave athletes in baseball and across the sporting world a powerful voice in their own games.
| Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Preface Acknowledgments Part I: The Making of a Professional Unionist (1917–1966) 1. A Brooklyn Boyhood 2. Hard Times 3. Avenues of Discovery 4. Working for Victory 5. Issues of Loyalty 6. Technician 7. A House Divided Part II: Baseball Revolutionary (1966–1985) 8. A Fresh Start 9. Securing the Basics 10. Taking On the Plantation 11. Earning Respect 12. Emancipation 13. Holding the Line 14. Flunking Retirement Part III: Defender of the Faith (1986–2012) 15. Living Memory 16. Lightning Rod 17. Awaiting the Call Notes Selected Bibliography Index | "The first comprehensive biography of Miller, the former steelworkers union official who transformed the toothless Players Association into what may be the nation's most powerful private-sector union."—Wall Street Journal"A must-read for anyone interested in how MLB salaries went from an average of $11,000 in 1966 to $3,386,212 in 2013."—Library Journal
"This sound biography is required reading for those interested in sports and in 20th-century history and labor."—Choice
|Robert F. Burk is an emeritus professor of history at Muskingum University and the author of Never Just a Game: Players, Owners, and American Baseball to 1920 and Much More than a Game: Players, Owners, and American Baseball since 1921.