Miller Time

Welcome back to the Bill Bradley Collective, where this week your hosts deep dive the history of the Major League Baseball Players Association and the recent inclusion of minor league players into the union. The union under Marvin Miller made considerable gains during his tenure as leader from 1966-83, including negotiation of a maiden collective bargaining agreement with owners, birth of the modern free agency system, increased salaries, and increased pensions, among other achievements. Modern history has not been quite so fruitful for the MLBPA, as recently negotiated CBA’s have seemingly swung the player/owner power dynamic increasingly to favor the latter. Now, with minor leaguers brought under the umbrella, nearly quintupling union membership, labor has struck a massive victory in the baseball ecosystem. What does the future hold for the MLBPA and their 5,500 newly minted members? But first we rant, as Andrew observes the fall out from the NBA’s investigation into Suns’ owner Robert Sarver and the inadequacy of the discipline handed down, Ed decries the racism at the fore of Jackson, Mississippi’s water crisis and some reprehensible comments from the state’s sitting governor; and finally Zak provides a history of baseball closers and entrance music and the panel settles on a unanimous choice for best entrance/closer combo of all time.