NEW YORK -- Marvin Miller was a labour economist who never played a day of organized baseball. He preferred tennis. Yet he transformed the national pastime as surely as Babe Ruth, Jackie Robinson, television and night games. Miller, the union boss who won free agency for baseball players in 1975, ushering in an era of multimillion-dollar contracts and athletes who switch teams at the drop of a batting helmet, died Tuesday at 95. He had been diagnosed with liver cancer in August. "I think hes the most important baseball figure of the last 50 years," former baseball Commissioner Fay Vincent said. "He changed not just the sport but the business of the sport permanently, and he truly emancipated the baseball player -- and in the process all professional athletes. Prior to his time, they had few rights. At the moment, they control the games." In his 16 1/2 years as executive director of the Major League Players Association, starting in 1966, Miller fought owners on many fronts, not only achieving free agency but making the word "strike" stand for something other than a pitched ball. Over the years, his influence on the game was widely acknowledged if not always honoured. Baseball fans argue over whether he made the game fairer or more nakedly mercenary, and the Hall of Fame repeatedly rejected him in what was attributed to lingering resentment among team owners. Players attending the unions annual executive board meeting in New York said their professional lives are Millers legacy. "Anyone whos ever played modern professional sports owes a debt of gratitude to Marvin Miller," Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Chris Capuano said. "He empowered us as players. He gave us ownership of the game we play. Anyone who steps on a field in any sport, they have a voice because of him." Major League Baseballs revenue has grown from $50 million in 1967 to $7.5 billion this year. At his last public speaking engagement, a discussion at New York University School of Law in April marking the 40th anniversary of the first baseball strike, Miller said free agency and resulting fan interest contributed to the increase. And both management and labour benefited, he said. "I never before saw such a win-win situation in my life, where everybody involved in Major League Baseball, both sides of the equation, still continue to set records in terms of revenue and profits and salaries and benefits," Miller said. He called it "an amazing story." Miller, who retired in 1982, led the first walkout in the games history 10 years earlier, a fight over pension benefits. On April 5, 1972, signs posted at major league parks simply said: "No Game Today." The strike, which lasted 13 days, was followed by a walkout during spring training in 1976 and a midseason job action that darkened the stadiums for seven weeks in 1981. Miller led players through three strikes and two lockouts, and baseball has had eight work stoppages in all. Slightly built and silver-haired with a thick, dark moustache, Miller operated with an eloquence and a soft-spoken manner that belied his toughness. He clashed repeatedly with Commissioner Bowie Kuhn. Before Miller took over the union, some players actually opposed his appointment as successor to Milwaukee Judge Robert Cannon, who had counselled them on a part-time but unpaid basis. "Some of the player representatives were leery about picking a union man," Hall of Fame pitcher and former U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning said in 1974. "But he was very articulate ... not the cigar-chewing type some of the guys expected." Miller recalled that owners "passed the word that if I were selected, goon squads would take over the game. They suggested racketeers and gangsters would swallow baseball. The players expected a dese, dem and dose guy. The best thing I had going for me was owner propaganda." He was elected by the players by a vote of 489-136. Baseball had entered a new era, one in which its owners would have to bargain with a union professional. When he took over, the union consisted of a $5,400 kitty and a battered file cabinet, and baseballs minimum salary was $6,000. By 1968, Miller had negotiated baseballs first collective bargaining agreement. By 1970, players obtained the right to take disputes before an arbitrator. Nowadays, baseballs biggest stars make up to $32 million a season, the average salary is more than $3 million and the major league minimum is $480,000. While the NFL, NBA and NHL have salary caps, baseball does not. Millers biggest legacy -- free agency -- represented one of the most significant off-the-field changes in the games history. The reserve clause that had been in place since 1878 bound a player to the team holding his contract. Miller viewed it as little more than 20th-century slavery. "Before Marvin, there were no such things as the negotiations. It was take it or leave it," Hall of Famer Joe Morgan said. "What was your recourse, to quit?" Acting with union backing, outfielder Curt Flood finally challenged the reserve clause when he refused to report to his new team when he was traded in 1969 from the St. Louis Cardinals to the Philadelphia Phillies. Three years later, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the reserve clause by a 5-3 vote, keeping intact baseballs antitrust exemption. In 1975, however, the union found a new test case, when pitchers Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally refused to re-sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Montreal Expos, respectively. Arbitrator Peter Seitz sided with the players. The owners went to court, saying the reserve system was not subject to arbitration. Two months later, U.S. District Judge John Watkins Oliver upheld Seitz, and a federal appeals court did the same. In 1976, management and labour agreed to a contract that allowed players with six years of major league service to become free agents and sell their services to any team willing to pay. In a 1982 letter to the editor published by The New York Times, Seitz called Miller "the Moses who had led Baseballs Children of Israel out of the land of bondage." "Marvin possessed a combination of integrity, intelligence, eloquence, courage and grace that is simply unmatched in my experience," said Donald Fehr, a successor to Miller as union head. "Without question, Marvin had more positive influence on Major League Baseball than any other person in the last half of the 20th century." Yet baseballs Hall of Fame refused to vote him in, despite five appearances on the ballot. "I and the union of players have received far more support, publicity and appreciation from countless fans, former players, writers, scholars, experts in labour management relations, than if the Hall had not embarked on its futile and fraudulent attempt to rewrite history," Miller said after falling one vote shy in 2010. "It is an amusing anomaly that the Hall of Fame has made me famous by keeping me out." Millers next opportunity for election is December 2013. Former Commissioner Peter Ueberroth said Miller should be inducted "without question." "He changed the game of baseball," Ueberroth said. "He was very tough, but he was very fair in the end." Miller was born in New York, the son of a salesman in the heavily unionized garment district. He was born with a withered right arm, which didnt prevent him from playing tennis into his 90s. His mother was a schoolteacher. He studied economics at Miami University in Ohio and New York University. He entered the labour field in 1950 as an associate director of research for the United Steelworkers Union. In 1960, he was promoted to assistant to union president David McDonald. When McDonald lost a hotly contested election, Miller began looking for a new job. Miller remained current on baseball events right up until his death, never hesitating to criticize owners for collusion and the union for agreeing to drug testing. He is survived by his daughter, Susan; son, Peter; and a grandson. His wife, Terry, died in 2009. Susan Miller said her father wanted his body donated to science. She said the family had not decided whether to hold a service. wholesale jerseys . 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Olivier Occean scored in the second half and 10-man Canada held on for a 1-0 win over Cuba to kick off the third stage of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying Friday.HOUSTON -- When Drew Sutton reached third base in the ninth inning with the game tied, he told Pittsburgh third base coach Nick Leyva that Houstons Xavier Cedeno might bounce a curveball after seeing how much break it had on it earlier in the inning. Cedeno did just that on the next pitch and Sutton was ready, dashing home on the wild pitch to propel the Pirates to a 6-5 win over the hapless Houston Astros on Friday night. "When guys have big breaking balls like that sometimes they have the tendency to overthrow them in big situations and youve just got to take advantage," Sutton said. "In a close game like that it usually comes down to little stuff like that and Im glad I thought about it, the pitch, before. I got a good break on it and it worked out." The loss was Houstons 11th straight, tying the franchise record for most consecutive losses in a season. The Astros, who have baseballs worst record (34-67), last lost 11 straight in 1995. They have lost 24 of their last 26 games. "We have to (be level-headed)," Houstons Chris Johnson said. "If you get down, its just going to get worse." The Astros led 5-4 entering the ninth inning before rookie Starling Martes bases-loaded sacrifice fly tied it up, and the wild pitch got away from catcher Chris Snyder to allow Sutton to score and extend Houstons misery. It was the third time in the last four games that Houston has lost after entering the ninth inning with a lead. "Having the lead in three of the last four games is tough, theres no doubt," Astros manager Brad Mill said. "And it beats up on everybody, but these guys have been battling so well all the way through, and Im sure theyre going to come out tomorrow and do the same thing." Tony Watson (5-1) pitched a scoreless eighth for the win and Joel Hanrahan did the same in the ninth for his major league-leading 31st save. Alex Presley hit a solo home run for Pittsburgh in the fourth and Michael McKenry, who finished with three hits, connected on a two-run shot in the fifth. Johnson finished a single short of the cycle and Ben Francisco had a solo homer and drove in two runs for the Astros. The game was tied at 4-all when Johnson tripled on a ball that rolled up the corner of Tals Hill in centre field with no outs in the seventh. J.D. Martinezs one-out grounder to left field sent Johnson home to put Houston on top. Johnson doubled in the first inning and had a solo homer in the third before his seventh-inning triple. Johnson walked in the fifth inning, but struck out in his last at-bat in the eighth. Rhiner Cruz (1-1) came in for Houston with one out in the ninth inning. McKenry singled before Cruz issued consecutive walks to load the bases for MMartes sacrifice fly off Cedeno.dddddddddddd Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle thought his teams work in the ninth inning showed maturity. "Being focused, being ready (and) we took advantage of some opportunities," he said. "But the smart at-bats at the end paid us dividends and Im not so sure that we would have executed as well early in the season in that type of game." Houston starter Jordan Lyles allowed seven hits and four runs while tying a career-high with eight strikeouts in six-plus innings. McKenry doubled to start the seventh inning and chase Lyles. McKenry advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt before tying it at 4-4 on a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Josh Harrison. Pedro Alvarez singled to start the fifth before McKenrys shot to the Crawford Boxes in left field got the Pirates within 4-3. Francisco hit the third straight single for the Astros in the second inning to drive in a run and put Houston up 1-0. The Astros added a run in that inning when Justin Maxwell scored on Lyles sacrifice bunt. The ball dribbled slightly down the right field line on the play and catcher McKenry came out to grab it. Maxwell evaded his tag and dove onto home plate to extend the lead to 2-0. Johnson homered for the second straight game to leave Houston up 3-0 in the third inning. The Pirates didnt get a hit until Presleys home run to right field with one out in the fourth inning made it 3-1. Franciscos first home run as an Astro started Houstons fourth inning. Pittsburgh starter Jeff Karstens yielded six hits and four runs with seven strikeouts in five innings. He allowed two home runs on Friday night after allowing just one in his previous eight starts this season. The Astros had a chance to add to their lead when Karstens loaded the bases with three walks in the fifth inning, but he retired Francisco to escape the jam. Astros reliever Wesley Wright had a busy eighth inning. He got the first out of the inning, before moving to right field while Wilton Lopez came on to pitch to Andrew McCutchen. Wright, who appeared in right field for the second time in his career, returned to the mound after a double by McCutchen and retired the next two batters to end the inning. NOTES: The Pirates have homered in 17 straight road games, which is tied with Oakland for the longest streak in the majors. ... The Astros claimed RHP Chuckie Fick off waivers from St. Louis on Friday. ... Mike Scott, who won the Cy Young award with the Astros in 1986, threw out the first pitch on Friday night as part of the teams 50th anniversary celebration. ... Wandy Rodriguez, who was traded from the Astros to the Pirates on Tuesday, will start against his former team on Saturday in the third game of the four-game series. ' ' '