Marvin Miller and Ted Simmons have been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Modern Era Committee, it was announced today.
Miller, who passed away in 2012 at the age of 95, headed up the MLBPA from 1966 to 1982, a position that made him the prime antagonist of owners during that period. Miller’s leadership of the player’s union led to strikes, but also won the players free agency, and transformed the game from one where players were essentially indentured servants under the reserve clause, workers incapable of leaving the employ of their team unless they left the game of baseball altogether, to one where players have freedom of movement and the ability to get closer to what a free market would pay.