I'd be mildly surprised, although I wholeheartedly support his induction.
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He's changed the way players are evaluated and statistics (in a sport where statistics are looked at and ingrained into the sport more than any other major American sport, if that makes any sense) so much that I think it would be a crime if he wasn't inducted. I don't always agree with sabr-heads and how strictly they follow stats, but his impact on the game is undeniable.
Agreed....but the gatekeepers of the HOF don't like change. Just look at how they've inducted Bowie Kuhn into the Hall of Fame, but not Marvin Miller, who nearly singlehandedly took on the owner's and got rights for players, and who's effect on the game is ridiculously gigantic and unmistakable.
The best connection I have:
My friend is neighbors with Jesse Crain's former college (personal) pitching coach :)
A general overview:
He was the executive director of the Player's Union from 1966 to 1982, overseeing the removal of the reserve clause and the introduction and "cultivation" of free agency. He negotiated the first collective bargaining agreement in the game. He introduced arbitration into baseball. The average salary for a MLB player rose from $19,000 to $241,000 during the time that Miller headed the MLBPA.
If that's not one of the largest impacts from a singular person on the game, than I don't know what it is. And if having what is arguably the greatest impact on the game of any one person isn't enough to get someone into the Hall of Fame...I don't know what is.
Though I do want to work in the majors, though not as a GM. I think a college scout would be much better, a GM job is not as glamorous as it sounds, not like it is in mogul leagues. True, you are in charge, but I would much rather be a head scout or something along those lines.
I assume you are looking at Brian Cashman and Theo Epstein. The new wave so we can say. I know Theo played college ball. I dont think Cashman did. What they have in common is that they both started as interns in college. Getting an unpaid internship for a ball team, Major or Minor, is like winning the lottery. I turned down an unpaid internship for a AA club back in 93. I wish I hadnt. If it is offered, take it.
Danny, Guys, just go to Steinbrenner, and show him the screenshot of you piloting the '77 Jays to the World Series!:D
Bill James a pioneer? He wasn't the first in his field, or even the most skilled in his field.
There's no question in my mind that Marvin Miller deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Of course, he'll never get in...look at the people who'd have to vote for him: for the most part, baseball executives. The guys that he took on in order to change the game. These are notoriously thin-skinned guys with petty egos that are used to getting their way through the judicious application of lots of money - and Miller beat them at their own game. If he did get in, I'm not so sure one of them wouldn't sneak in at night and deface his marker with a spray-paint can...as long as they are the acting gatekeepers, he'll be kept out.