This is a 2007 column by Jordan Kobritz, a former attorney, CPA, and owner of the Class AAA Maine Guides and Class A Daytona Cubs. He currently teaches Sport Management and Sport Law at Eastern New Mexico University and the Business of Sports at the University of Wyoming. He can be reached at [email protected]

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When the Baseball Hall of Fame announced the results of the Veterans Committee vote last week, Marvin Miller, the man who led the Players’ Union from 1966-83, was still on the outside looking in.

The vote was a travesty. Never mind that no candidate received enough support - 75% of the eligible voters - for enshrinement. No one is more deserving of the honor than Miller.

Amid accusations of favoritism, the Veterans Committee was reconstituted in 2003 and is comprised of the living members of the Hall of Fame – 61 players, 14 broadcasters and 8 writers - and one member of the old Veterans Committee whose term has not expired. Miller received only 51 votes from the 84 eligible voters. But if all the players had voted for him, Miller would have needed only two more votes to gain admission to the Hall. What were the players thinking? Or maybe they weren’t thinking at all.

In 2003, his first year as an eligible voter, Reggie Jackson said that the Hall of Fame should be for players only. Maybe he’s right. But he doesn’t make the rules. And the rules are explicit: Managers, umpires and executives – including Miller - are eligible. Jackson disingenuously said he “believed” he had voted for Miller this time around.

Barring any amendments to the voting process, it will be at least four more years before Miller’s name appears on the ballot again. The Veterans Committee votes on players – those who have been passed over by the Baseball Writers - every two years and non-players every four years. This is the third time the group has conducted a vote and no one has been elected through the process.

In a conference call after the election results were announced, Joe Morgan, former second baseman for the Cincinnati Reds and Vice Chairman of the Hall’s Board of Directors, took umbrage at criticism that his group did not elect anyone. “I’m offended,” said Morgan. “(Hall of Famers) are qualified as much as writers. The fact that we have not had anyone voted in doesn’t mean we are not doing the job. The writers voted for 15 years and they weren’t elected. Why are we criticized?”

The answer, Joe, is that the writers only get to vote on the players. They never voted on Miller. And you and your fellow Hall of Fame players – not the writers - are the ones who benefited from Miller’s impact on the game.

In an effort to explain the voter’s slight of Miller, Morgan said “It is a little more difficult for me to look at an executive and know how much he contributed to the game. It is difficult for some players to evaluate that performance on a Hall of Fame level. It’s much easier for me to evaluate the players.” Let’s simplify it for you Joe: Check your wallet.

When Miller agreed to lead the players union in 1966, the minimum salary was $6,000, the average salary $19,000. For 2007, the minimum salary is $380,000 and the average salary is approaching $3 million. In 1966, there was no arbitration, no free agency, a weak union, and a paltry pension plan. Today, baseball players arguably have the strongest union in the country, not to mention the best pension plan this side of corporate CEO’s. Miller’s imprint can be found on virtually every dollar and every benefit.

There are those who accuse Miller of engineering the eight work stoppages baseball endured over a period of 30 years. But it takes two to negotiate and it would be unfair and unrealistic to blame Miller for every strike and every lockout. Besides, the game has endured despite a number of missteps that can be traced to management.

Love him or loath him, no one has had a bigger impact on the business of baseball – how the game is played off the diamond - than Miller. If it weren’t for Miller, players would still be serfs in the kingdom of baseball.

But how quickly they forget. Especially after they’ve made their millions.