Baseball Battiness

     This week has been a strange one around Major League Baseball. A number of trades to dump salary to avoid the dreaded luxury tax. All started by the systematic dismantlement of the Miami Marlins by minority group owner Derek Jeter, who is in charge of baseball operations for investment capitalist Bruce Sherman.

     Before I reach the Marlins and the frenzy which has enveloped them, I need to address the recent announcement that the Modern Era Committee had voted for Jack Morris and Alan Trammell, two Detroit Tigers teammates in the 1980's to enter the Baseball Hall of Fame. Ted Simmons, a switch-hitting catcher and infielder for the St. Louis Cardinals and Milwaukee Brewers, missed entering the HOF by 1 vote.

     Morris and Trammell did not qualify for the HOF in the 15 years they were on the ballot after waiting required the 5 years to be eligible for the HOF. I thought both were very good players who did not deserve to enter the HOF by the original ballot. I am not going to quibble about their upcoming enshrinement. If the Committee, comprised of Hall of Famers George Brett, Rod Carew, Bobby Cox, Dennis Eckersley, John Schuerholz, Don Sutton, Dave Winfield and Robin Yount; baseball executives Sandy Alderson (Mets), Paul Beeston (Blue Jays), Bob Castellini (Reds), Bill De Witt (Cardinals) and David Glass (Royals); and veteran media members/historians Bob Elliott, Steve Hirdt and Jayson Stark, felt these two stars deserved to enter the HOF, then so be it.

     It is who did not make it via this Committee's voting that bothers me. Two names. Tommy John and Marvin Miller. Names known by people outside of baseball. Two individuals who changed baseball forever.

     Marvin Julian Miller, a Brooklyn native, was the Executive Director of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) from 1966 to 1982. Under the direction of Miller, the union dramatically changed the economics of baseball.

     Miller, trained in economics at NYU, became aligned with labor unions as an advisor and then a negotiator, most notably with the steelworkers. In 1966, he campaigned for and won the MLBPA Executive Director's position. In 1968, he negotiated the first Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the owners and players, which modestly raised minimum players salaries and per diem expenses. More importantly, it set out procedures for arbitration of grievances and provided a formal structure between the owners and the players. The subsequent 1969 agreement, set forth arbitration before a three person panel, not the Commissioner, as was the case in the prior agreement.

     Miller actively counseled player Curt Flood in his challenge to baseball's restrictive reserve clause, prohibiting player transfers, as the players were deemed to be property of the owners and without their own rights. Flood may have lost the case in the U.S. Supreme Court, but his actions opened the way for Miller to establish free agency and end the reserve clause.

     With Jim "Catfish" Hunter, Miller helped Hunter gain free agency when Oakland owner Charlie Finley failed to pay the Cy Young Award winner and future Hall of Famer according to his contract. Hunter then signed a big contract with the New York Yankees.

      Another arbitration decision allowed high profile pitchers Andy Messersmith and Dave Mc Nally, to become free agents and no longer property of their respective clubs, when their contracts were completed. Free agency ultimately was the signature of Marvin Miller, even surviving the owners' attempt at collusion in not negotiating with free agents.

     Under Miller's strong guidance, the players engaged in 3 job actions and the owners retaliated with 2 lockouts of their own when negotiations for a new CBA were upcoming. Average salaries rose to $326, 000 in 1982. Baseball has no salary cap and became the first professional sport to have a CBA. Miller's legacy is enormous and players even today are indebted to Marvin Miller for his courageous actions on their behalf. The MLBPA is considered to be one of the strongest unions in this country even today--a true testimonial to the hard work of Miller on behalf of the players.

     Two icons in baseball announcing--Red Barber and this year's Ford C. Frick award winner, Bob Costas, have been outspoken in their praise of Miller and the travesty that has taken place in repeatedly denying Miller his rightful place in the Baseball Hall of Fame. Joe Torre, Hall of Fame manager and a star player, spoke about the achievements that Miller gave each player during Torre's career and up to today and he felt honored to have "sat alongside him."

     But Hall of Fame voters in 2003 and 2007 never came close to enshrining Miller in Cooperstown. Some of the committees were full of players of eras prior to Miller and the MLBPA, and others had former MLB executives voting, men player/author Jim Bouton described as people who Miller" had kicked their butt." Bouton, in referring to the players on these committees, added: "Do they think they became millionaires due to the owners' generosity?" Former Commissioner Bud Selig and home run champion Henry Aaron agreed with others who campaigned for Miller's entry into the HOF.

     Miller, who died in 2012 at age 95, was disdainful of what he called a "rigged Veterans Committee" ever voting him into baseball immortality. Even with rules changes as to the committee makeup, the closest Miller would come to garnering the numbers he needed was in 2010 when he fell 1 vote shy.

     So it is no surprise that, once more, the players and executives could not agree on voting Marvin Miller into Cooperstown, giving him only 7 of the necessary 12 votes. The hope remains that they finally get it right in 2019 when another vote is upcoming and he is on the ballot again. Unfortunately, and very sadly, what remains is only a hope.

     Tommy John was a pitcher for a number of good teams in the 1970's--the Dodgers and Yankees stand out. He started his career in 1963 with the Cleveland Indians as a young lefthander. He ended it in 1989 with the New York Yankees with 289 career wins and 4 All Star appearances. En route to a 13-3 start with the 1974 Dodgers, John tore the ulnar collateral ligament in his throwing arm. On September 25, 1974, Dr. Frank Jobe performed a radical surgery on John's pitching arm, replacing the affected ligament in his elbow with a tendon from John's right forearm. John re-learned how to pitch, using a different motion to put less strain on his arm and elbow. The success that followed was astounding. He had a 10-10 record in 1976 with Los Angeles. John won 164 more games after the surgery, 40 more than he had won prior to going under the knife--that total was only one less than the great Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax won in his illustrious career. John went on to play an incredible total of 26 years, winning 289 games.

     The ligament replacement surgery John underwent became so successful and now routine, thateveryone who knows baseball to recognizes it as "Tommy John Surgery." Yet with his totals and his legacy as the pathfinder for those who routinely have the surgery and extend their careers with better results than before the surgery--and in the process garner millions of dollars from owners to pitch--the HOF voters never came near to placing John in the Hall. And just like Marvin Miller, veterans committees have completely overlooked the iconic place in history that Tommy John is known for.

     Miller's snub is somewhat understandable given the continued resentment of the big business types of baseball and the mistreatment of his stature by former players who reaped the benefits of his tenacity.

     But with Tommy John, the failure to place him in Cooperstown boggles my mind. He and Dr. Jobe revolutionized baseball with a primitive surgery that could have easily failed. John's achievements on the field set the way for so many other pitchers, young and old, with over stressed arms, to rejuvenate their careers. Michael Pineda, a pedestrian pitcher who is not pitching this season after undergoing Tommy John Surgery while a member of the New York Yankees, signed a two year, $10 million contract with Minnesota as a free agent, with the Twins anticipating Pineda's return to the mound in 2019.

     Therein lies the absurdity in not having both Miller and John in the HOF. Without Tommy John's miracle via Dr. Jobe's brilliance, and the free agency that Marvin Miller so gallantly fought for, Pineda would be just another pitcher with a dead arm and no further chance to extend his career and reap the financial rewards of his profession.

     I plead with the voters in 2019--get it right as far as Tommy John and Marvin Miller are concerned. I'll live with Ted Simmons being voted in along with these two forces in Major League Baseball.

     Now onto the bizarre act known as the house cleaning of the Miami Marlins. Ridding themselves of Stanton's enormous contract, and exchanging stars Dee Gordon and Miguel Ozuna for minor league prospects, leaves the team decimated.

     Sure, Stanton's back loaded $325 million contract was an albatross. Yet ridding the team of stars in order to take a 77 win team and make it into a virtual non-contender with a payroll, already low for a major league franchise even with Stanton's bloated contract, takes the heart out of baseball in South Florida.

     Bruce Sherman sits in the wings as Jeter does the handiwork. Famously, Sherman did this kind of paring to the Knight-Ridder Newspapers, leaving them tattered and with skeleton staffs.

     Miami baseball has notoriously fickle fans. The Marlins ranked 27th in MLB attendance last season--even with Stanton launching long home runs in the Art Deco futuristic Marlins Park, an edifice saddled with an enormous amount of debt service--as is the team itself stuck with over $400 million in debt foisted upon it by reviled former owner Jeffrey Loria. Those fans will probably stay away this season, in line with Stanton's urging them to watch form "afar,"a not-so-veiled shot at Marlins' management and the debacle they have created. I cannot blame them for this stance--who wants to pay good money to see an inferior product?

     Who is really to blame here? I put a lot of this on MLB and Commissioner Rob Manfred. To permit the Marlins to continue to sell off its assets fails to prioritize the on-the-field product and the best interests of baseball. Marvin Miller would have been aghast at how this is proceeding and he would have railed at the MLB owners for this sham while rallying his troops to oppose this attack on competitive balance.

     The only thing that the Marlins might do, in the interests of baseball, is bring back 73 year old Tommy John and let him pitch for the team. Heaven knows, but he could possibly win 11 games and reignite his Hall of Fame credentials as a 300 game winner.

     Wouldn't that be ironic?