PROTECT. DEFEND. ADVANCE.

Players elect Marvin Miller, an economist with the United Steelworkers of America, as the MLBPA’s first executive director in March 1966. Two years later, baseball’s first collective bargaining agreement raises the game’s minimum salary to $10,000 from $6,000 and establishes a grievance procedure to resolve disputes.

Miller negotiates a two-year, $120,000 agreement with Coca-Cola that gives the company the right to use player likenesses on the underside of bottle caps. The money helps fund the Players Association’s operations upon its inception and establishes a business model for other sports unions to follow in the years to come.

Curt Flood’s challenge to baseball’s reserve clause begins in December 1969 when he sends a letter to commissioner Bowie Kuhn informing him that he will not accept a trade from the Cardinals to the Phillies. Flood loses his Supreme Court case three years later, but Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally pick up the mantle and are declared free agents in a 1975 decision by independent arbitrator Peter Seitz.

The MLB Players Trust begins in 1996 as a way for Players to make a difference in their communities through their charitable efforts. Over the ensuing decades, the Trust expands its mission with numerous programs and initiatives in the U.S. and beyond. Players contribute their time, talent and passion to raise tens of millions of dollars to help those in need.