The Veterans Committee at Cooperstown failed to vote in Marvin Miller, the union agitator and leader to blame for much of the labor strife Major League Baseball has suffered from over the years. So of course, he’s ranting about it, according to the AP:
“I think it was rigged, but not to keep me out. It was rigged to bring some of these (people) in. It’s not a pretty picture,” Miller said by telephone after being informed of the results by The Associated Press. “It’s demeaning, the whole thing, and I don’t mean just to me. It’s demeaning to the Hall and demeaning to the people in it.”
I think it’s fine if he never gets in. The Hall of Fame needs to induct only those people who left a lasting, positive contribution to the sport. Being one of the root causes of many sport-debilitating strikes is not something that should be honored by the sport, not in my view.
Of course, part of what makes this rejection so sweet is that one of Miller’s nemeses, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, did get in this year. Ha ha.