Customer Reviews

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

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The book was very good....a study of the basic mechanics of baseball's labor struggles and agreements....

Mr. Miller is definitely to be commended by baseball players and other professional players for bringing them from exploitation to fair market value...with that said, he will never be forgiven by the Owners and thus will never enter the Hall of Fame in his life time...so petty on the owners part...

This book was actually written to give current major leaguers, who were born after Miller was appointed as Executive Director of the Players Association in 1967, some perspective on what conditions the earlier players faced with the MLB owners and had to go through to form the union. So why not sell it to the public, and make a few extra bucks.

Miller didn't care for former baseball commissioners Eckert, Kuhn, and Uberroth. Lord knows why the baseball owners chose Spike Eckert or gave him a seven year contract, but he was only given three years on the job before he was ousted. Eckert probably needed a job when he was hired and is a good example why you shouldn't hire somebody who's unemployed.

Kuhn, a former assistant general counsel to MLB, was probably promoted over his head by a level or two. This is evidenced by his term as commissioner and his subsequent attempts to practice law. He spent only a short time with the first law firm at which he practiced, and the law firm that he founded eventually went bankrupt. Uberroth knew little about baseball. Having lived through all these commissioners I had low regard for the commissioners too, but it was interesting to hear an insider's prospective of them. Miller also thought that Kuhn's book "Hardball" was delusional. There are a few factual errors in the book, but overall a good read.

For many sports fans, Marvin Miller is an out-of-touch windbag who made statements on steroids only East German women swimmers would have appreciated during 2005 interviews on national radio sports-talk programs.

It was too bad because his work in creating a true baseball player's union revolutionized the game and showed the bargaining power of athletes who work as one voice at the negotiating table.

Miller, with a labor background as chief economist and assistant to the president of the steelworkers' union, became the first executive director of the MLB Players Association in 1966. At this time the team owners controlled the game at all levels - from preventing movement of players from team to team through the reserve clause to hand-picking a liason for the players to management to oversee the miniscule pension plan.

A group of players wanted to break away from being the pawns of management, but it was a tough mountain to climb. And the path may have been paved by an icon in blue pinstripes.

Miller cites aging superstar Mickey Mantle as the key player in setting the foundation for the association. Though Mantle denied it, Miller says the Yankee great delayed his retirement in 1968 so he could give the association his personal vote of confidence, which then weighed heavily on players to favor the plan.

Upon his retirement in 1983, Miller had led the charge to end the reserve clause; arbitration in labor disputes; the right for veteran players to veto trades; an improved pension plan; and, most importantly, the recognition of the players' association as the vehucle to bargain collectively, with players having the right to use agents to negotiate individual contracts.

Miller has pointed comments toward those he faced at the negotiating table, with particular venom aimed at Commissioner Bowie Kuhn. He is also quick to credit the players for pushing for change and that he was only voicing their demands to management.

It can be argued that Miller was the most important figure not to wear a uniform. The book is important for its historical significance, but please flip the radio dial if Miller is being queried by a talk-show host.