Miller, Marvin Julian, 1917–2012, U.S. economist and labor leader, b. Bronx, N.Y., grad. New York Univ. (1938). He worked at the National War Labor Board during World War II, and later at the International Association of Machinists (1947–50) and United Steel Workers (1950–66). From 1966 to 1982 he was executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), where he built one of the country's strongest unions and radically altered player-owner relations in baseball. During his tenure, players achieved increased minimum salaries, the first collective bargaining agreement in professional sports, pension plans, arbitration rights, and the right to free agency, which led to huge increases in compensation. Miller also led the MLBPA in the baseball strikes of 1972 (the first in professional baseball) and 1981. The successes of the MLBPA under Miller set new standards for players' rights and encouraged unionization in other professional sports.
See his A Whole Different Ball Game (1991, repr. 2004).
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