Along with taking time to scold current MLB players (A-Rod aside) for their failure to attend the funeral of MLBPA head Michael Weiner, former NY Times baseball columnist turned backne specialist Murray Chass is quick to stress he believes labor pioneer Marvin Miller “belongs in the (Baseball) Hall Of Fame for his matchless impact”, he’s equally adamant that “the Hall’s officials have bungled his status, perhaps deliberately, and now the electors should honor his wishes just as the Hall has dishonored him.” (link culled from Baseball Think Factory)
If voters elect Miller because they think he belongs in the Cooperstown mortuary, they will benefit not Miller but Hall officials, rescuing them from the shame that shrouds their fraudulent establishment.
They have dug their trough of muck; let them wallow in it.
This is the sixth time Miller’s name has appeared on a Hall of Fame ballot, meaning he is 0-for-5 in votes by assorted committees in various formats. It was after his third snub in 2007 that he told me of his desire to be omitted from future ballots, asked me what I thought of the idea and also asked me the appropriate way of going about communicating that desire.
I sympathized with his desire to no longer be abused by the Hall of Fame and suggested that he write to Jack O’Connell, secretary-treasurer of the Baseball Writers Association, a committee of whose members makes up the ballot.
Miller wrote the letter, but it had no effect. He was back on the ballot in 2009 and was rejected a fourth time. By this time, Miller, irate at the Hall’s ignoring his request, was calling the committee rigged to make sure he was not elected.
Miller died a year ago but not before reiterating his feelings to his children. “They’re cowards doing it after he died,” Susan Miller said a few weeks ago about her father’s name on the ballot.