A Whole Different Ball Game: The Inside Story of the Baseball Revolution

by Marvin Miller

For more than a century the owners of baseball franchises conducted their business like feudal barons, with the players in the role of serfs. This situation began to change in 1966, when the Major League Baseball Players Association was formed and Marvin Miller, who had been chief economist and assistant to the president of the steelworkers' union, became its first executive director. Here he recounts his experience in dealing with club owners and his success in winning a new role for the players. He helped virtually end the system that bound an athlete to one team forever, and thereby raised salaries enormously. Candid in his assessments of the characters involved in this drama, Mr. Miller is nonetheless generous in his comments about the ballplayers who made sacrifices for their union.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction, Biography, History, Memoir

466 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1991

About the author

Marvin Julian Miller was the Executive Director of the Major League Baseball Players Association from 1966 to 1982. Under Miller's direction, the players' union was transformed into one of the strongest unions in the United States. In 1992, Red Barber said, "Marvin Miller, along with Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson, is one of the two or three most important men in baseball history."

Reviews

[Michael King · Rating 5 out of 5]

If anyone belongs on a Mt. Rushmore of baseball (as Bill James suggests), Marvin Miller belongs there along with Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, and my opinion, Branch Rickey and Judge Kennesaw "Mountain" Landis. Miller seems a little over the top for me in this book and his ego gets in the way of a great history. He often points out to the reader that baseball owners "control the game" and that their desire to maintain control of the game keeps baseball from moving ahead, labor union wise, into the twenty first century. He also seems to have contempt for the commissioner's. He seems to have particular contempt for former commissioner Bowie Kuhn who Miller likes to point out was "not in the best interests of baseball." I understand Miller's desire to want the best for the player's of the game however, if I can be a little uncomfortable with his ego, I can understand why the owners and the commissioners did not want to give an inch in negotiations.

[Josh Avery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Up until 1966, The Major League Baseball Players Association was only a figurehead. It was run by the owners and although there were team player reps, any possible moves against the owners that they attempted would basically get them traded or outright released. The owners operated on what was called the reserve clause, where players were the "property" of the teams that employed them until they were either traded or released. The owners had the right to lower a player's salary from one year to the next with no repercussions. The players union hired Marvin Miller to be their first Executive Director and the game forever changed because of it.

Marvin Miller was born in Brooklyn, rooted for the Dodgers, and as the head of the US Steelworkers Union, he brought a lot of labor peace as well as stronger pensions and benefits because of his knowledge of business law and his ability to not be intimidated by strongarm tactics or bullying from either management, or organized labor. He was brought in to MLB because the players simply had enough of being abused by the owners. He started simply, fighting the owners (and their handpicked commissioners) on improved pension plans and commercial endorsement revenue sharing. He continued on the job until 1983, overseeing a lot of landmark baseball labor deals. The Andy Messersmith/Dave McNally case, where they didn't like where they were traded and fought to become free agents. Or the Curt Flood case, although very similar in context, his reputation as a troublemaker (not at all true, he was a strong, black activist) made his fight a lot tougher. Or the 1981 strike, at the time the longest in the history of professional sports, that was caused as a result of collusion by the owners, who conspired to not sign free agents in order to keep their salaries down. He may not have always won, but, he more than proved himself to not only the players, but the owners as well, making the MLBPA the strongest union, by a long margin, in any professional sport.

What I liked: He was able to explain everything in layman's terms, so the reader doesn't get confused by the legal and business jargon. He does so without talking down to the reader, which is nice. He also is honest about his relationships with the commissioners and owners he worked with, not being afraid to air everything out. The primary target of his vitriol was Bowie Kuhn, commissioner when he was elected, who was a blowhard, and a puppet for the owners. He spends an entire chapter just burying Kuhn, and it's pretty funny. He also talks about how the sportswriters tried to influence the players union to fall in line with the owners because it made their job more fun. Miller's reputation among the BBWAA was so bad that purposely kept him from the Hall of Fame until the year after he died.

What I didn't like: He went political in spots, and I don't care what side you are on, I don't care about your political beliefs, it shuts me right down. He also has the nonchalant attitude regarding steroids and Pete Rose, using the dumb arguments that what they did may not have been legal, but, it wasn't against the rules, so the owners were wrong. That makes him come off as hypocritical.

This book is a "B," originally written in 1991, he added an updated afterword about the stuff that had happened since he left office and how he would have handled them, while also stating completely what the commissioners did in these situations, and how he would have dealt with them. Other than the above stuff that I didn't like, it's a good book overall, about one of the most underrated and underappreciated figures in not only the history of baseball, but professional sports as a whole.

Recommend if you are into the subject matter.

[Luke Koran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Golly, what a fresh look on the world of players and owners, labor rights and union efforts, in Marvin Miller’s 1991 book “A Whole Different Ball Game: The Sport and Business of Baseball.” Though every autobiography is bound to have some bias, I feel that Marvin is a straight-shooter in many of his re-tellings of the history of the Players Association. It was thrilling to see how much progress was made in the early years of baseball’s players union, and how the relationship between owners - players was before collective bargaining and free agency became commonplace. Definitely worth a read for those ready to be enlightened on the world of professional sports as a business (and not just a game).

[Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for anyone interested in the history of baseball or the history of labor. Also recommended for being wildly gratuitous with score-settling; there's a whole chapter on how much the author hates former commissioner Bowie Kuhn. I think the author lived in perpetual astonishment that someone would say something like that to him; at least that's what happens every other page here. This book negatively affected my life because I genuinely could not put it down.

[John Breske · Rating 3 out of 5]

Marvin Miller has a Trump sized ego, but he wrote it well and has earned it so it’s not that off putting. He has some bad takes about Pete Rose, Steroids, maybe competitive imbalance, but this book is a great read for anyone who has interest in how baseball players rights and salaries grew to their modern size.

[Neal Umphred · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolute must-read for anyone who even wants to pretend to have a knowledge of the game. The only drawback is that Miller could have used a snazzier co-writer as the "prose" is more than leaden at times.

[Chip Rickard · Rating 4 out of 5]

An essential read if you are interested in the business of baseball. Miller pulls no punches in criticizing the Lords of Baseball. Bowie Kuhn comes in for the most criticism. I did think it was unfortunate how he criticized former players and colleagues. But a great read over all.

[Brian Depaola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Talks about how the older owners just didn't want to give up their power more than their money. Something mainstream media never talked about is how people don't truly understand that owners are SEPERATE business owners with their own interests in their own businesses.

[DJ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great insight to the inner workings of the business side of the sport

[Whitney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book....interesting history of MLB union and MLB strikes of 70's and 80's.

[Rob McCabe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating history of MLBPA. Miller pulls no punches, especially his opinion of Bowie Kuhn. This really game me great I sight I to what happened outside the lines between 1966-1982.

[Roger Stanley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Terrific.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a phenomenal book, and if you are a baseball fan, I think it's important reading as a vital commentary on the changes that came over Baseball starting in the 60s and going in to the early 90s. Miller, and the journalist who assisted him, Allen Barra, have put together a brilliant work on Miller's life and on the development of the Baseball Player's Association.

Miller is clearly a fan of baseball, as well as a part of it's off-field history, and this comes through in the way he talks about the on-field accomplishments of the players he's known whenever the opportunity presents itself.

He is also clearly a true believer in unions, not just the BPA, but all unions. This passion means that there is an ongoing sense of score-settling throughout the book. Nevermind the incredible victories he achieved, for Miller, each incident serves primarily as a chance to regret his inability to change people's minds in addition to changing the system, and his frustrations with all the people, including himself, who made mistakes, or in some way harmed the cause of the BPA. Though he may have been known for his calm during negotiations, the strong emotions that fueled his success are evident in the way he revisits each one.

The afterword is a different story. I don't know if Barra was no longer involved, or what, but the afterword is a very weak piece of writing, as Miller attempts to shovel his thoughts on thirteen years of baseball history into approximately nine pages (at this point almost entirely as an outsider reading the papers, watching the news etc.). The whole thing is too brief to make any of the arguments he feels strongly about, and while he has some good points about the BPA's early handling of steroid testing, his unwillingness to believe that steroids represented a problem in themselves, separate from the disciplinary process problems that have always been a staple of MLB, reads as stubbornly short-sighted to the point of intentional blindness.

[Kristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must-read for any baseball fan. Marvin Miller was a great labor leader who transformed the game. He should be in the Hall of Fame. I also recommend this book for people interested in labor history, particularly those with the misconception that the MLBPA is not a real union. The stories in this book are inspiring to all people who strive for more equitable pay and working conditions, at all levels of the economic spectrum. A word of caution: Miller's writing style can be tedious. He spent too much time in the book going point-counterpoint with Bowie Kuhn's Hardball instead of letting the strength of his story speak for itself.

[Charlie Wagner]

Miller is self-aggrandizing which may be expected. After all, he had a major role in transforming all of baseball. However, what struck me is how petty and childish he is. Apparently unable to be a gracious winner, he behaves like a spoiled brat. This book is replete with name-calling, gloating, and an unnecessary amount of political comments. I was hoping for a good history on this pivotal time in baseball but I couldn't get past what I saw as the egotistical rantings of a small man. This is what I deserve for buying books off of the discount rack.

[Lisa Tangen · Rating 4 out of 5]

my husband felt that the Ken Burns mini series on baseball should have included Marvin Miller, the first union organizer for professional baseball...Miller was smart and pretty decent, if a little cocksure...after reading the book, I would agree with my husband that Miller had a revolutionary impact on the world of baseball

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

For better and for worse, Marvin Miller changed the game arguably more than any other person. It's an outrage that he STILL is not in the Hall of Fame. The book is a fascinating look inside his brilliant, opinionated mind. Warning: he spares no one.

[The · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read about the players' union, although the pomposity of the author is overbearing at times.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author did effect a major change in baseball that benefited owners, players and fans alike. But, he is very proud of what he did and it shows here.

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obviously kind of one-sided, but an interesting account from someone who experienced and influenced so many pivotal moments in baseball's history.

[Damian Brew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Lot of axes to grind. Easy to see why he's not in HOF. Not saying one way or the other.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal book, especially given the professional sports labor disputes this past year....

[Jack Schultz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Should be required reading for any baseball fan.