Major League Baseball Players Association
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The Major League Baseball Players Association (or MLBPA) is the union of professional major-league baseball players. Any individual on the 25-man or 40-man roster of an American League or National League team is eligible for membership. Players who were signed as replacement players during the 1994-1995 strike are ineligible to join (the most notable player ineligible for this reason is Kevin Millar). The only current eligible player who is not a member of the MLBPA through choice is Barry Bonds, who left the union for commercial reasons.
The MLBPA was not the first attempt to unionize baseball players. Earlier attempts had included:
Brotherhood of Professional Base Ball Players - 1885 (founded by John Montgomery Ward)
Players' Protective Association - 1900
Fraternity of Professional Baseball Players of America - 1912
American Baseball Guild - 1946
The MLBPA was created in 1965. A year later, the fledgling union hired Marvin Miller from the United Steel Workers of America to head the organization, serving as Executive Director until 1983. Miller quickly found success in signing the players and negotiated the first collective bargaining agreement with the team owners in 1968. During Miller's tenure, base salaries, pension funds, licensing rights and revenues were brought to new levels, laying the groundwork that helped create what is widely considered one of the strongest unions in the country. The strength of the union was immeasurably increased by the creation of the modern free agent system in 1975.
Donald Fehr has served as the Executive Director of the MLBPA since 1986, shepherding it through the 1994 baseball strike and recent issues. As of 2005, Major League Baseball is the only major league sport that does not contain a salary cap, although some speculate that that era would eventually be over with the National Hockey League gaining a hard cap from the 2004-2005 lockout.
Fehr has also been a staunch opponent of steroid testing, claiming it to be a violation of the privacy of players. However, after enormous negative publicity surrounding the alleged or actual involvement of several star players in the BALCO steroid scandal, Fehr dropped his opposition to a steroid testing program. The MLBPA was steadfastly opposed to strict penalties for drug offenses, initially supporting only 10, 20, and 30 game suspensions for first, second and third offenses, respectively. However, under pressure from US Congress who had threatened to pass a law if the MLB's drug policy was not strengthened, the baseball union capitulated and accepted Commissioner Bud Selig's policy which would punish players with 50-game, 100-game, and lifetime suspensions.
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