The End of Baseball as We Knew It: The Players Union, 1960-81 (review)

Much has been written about the rise of the Major League Baseball Players' Association under the leadership of Marvin Miller. This era is one of the most interesting in United States labor history because for the first time players in a team sport were able to become free agents. For all that has been written, there is nothing finer, more authentic, or better balanced than Charles Korr's book. It helps that he is the only researcher to have direct access to Miller and the union's records.

Korr is also a prominent historian and thorough researcher who knows how to tell a good story. In a personal anecdote, several years ago I met him at the annual Cooperstown Symposium, where we both presented papers. The town ball game and banquet were coming up the following day. But instead of enjoying these activities, Korr drove to Cornell University to do research from the archives of former baseball arbitrator Peter Seitz. Now that's dedication! Over the years he conducted dozens of interviews that form the core of the book.

The book's title comes from Paul Richards, former manager of the Atlanta Braves, who warned against negotiating a collective bargaining agreement with the players at the 1967 owners' meeting. Richards's concern was prescient, as baseball did change, radically and irrevocably. The book contains an excellent foreword by well-known broadcaster Bob Costas, who highlights two opposing myths: (1) that the union's success was inevitable, and (2) that its achievements were solely due to Miller.

As the book makes clear, there was no guarantee of success and, while Miller provided the spark, the unflagging solidarity of the players is what put the union over the top. The book recognizes the contribution such players as Ralph Kiner, Robin Roberts, Jim Bunning, Tim McCarver, Reggie Jackson, Bob Boone, Joe Torre, Tom Seaver and, of course, Curt Flood.

Flood put his career at risk when he challenged baseball's reserve clause under federal antitrust law. Although his lawsuit, Flood v. Kuhn (1972), was lost in the U.S. Supreme Court, he was an inspiration with arbitrator Seitz. The Curt Flood Act (1998), which removes baseball's immunity from the antitrust law under certain circumstances, is named in his honor.

Besides the history of the union and dynamics of negotiations during the formative years, the book has an epilogue that examines the 1994–95 strike. It also compares baseball labor relations with recent changes in the labor market for soccer players in Europe. In soccer as well as other major U.S. team sports, key features of the labor-management model, for better or worse, have evolved out of baseball's experience.