Marvin Miller and The Weirdest Part of Life...Death

[DOUGHBOYS]

Is there a weirder thing in life, than death?
We all handle death differently. I finished (survived) 30 hours in a car with my wife and mother-in-law over Thanksgiving on a 2,000 mile trip. During that time, both Macho Comacho and Larry Hagman died. When first hearing that Comacho was shot in the face in Puerto Rico, my mother-in-law groaned and said, "Ahh, that is so sad for him."
I've seen her read the obits, she never lets out a groan. She never says, 'too bad'.
I got to thinking that a celeb, even a b or c lister like Comacho gives us the feeling that we know him. When Larry Hagman died, the groan was much more audible and her eyes were red holding back tears, "Poor J.R., you know I just saw on Entertainment Weekly that he had a birthday!"
Trying to lighten things, I said, What about poor Major Nelson?" Hagman had played the role in 'I Dream of Jeannie'.
"Major Nelson has been gone a long time!", she said a little tersely.
Reminder to self- Don't mess with the Mother-in-laws entertainment deaths.

Baseball deaths have me doing an impression of my mother-in-law. The Ron Santo death, even expected, made me feel miserable for awhile. Harry Carey, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, and Ted Williams were all felt silently and reverently.
Roberto Clemente died when I was 16. I admired Clemente. One of the best outfielders with one of the best arms that I've ever seen. At the same time, he wasn't my type of player. When talking to the press, his braggadocio and chip on the shoulder seemed clear. This was all forgotten by most, when it was reported he died while providing food and relief to a third world country (just wondering, who are the first and second world countries?).
My perception as a 16 year old, judging Clemente strictly by print and audio interviews is grossly unfair, I admit, Still, it's not much different than my mother-in-laws view of Larry Hagman, is it?

I've lost a brother and father to death. My father and I were not close. I was very fond of my brother. He died at a young age and I was a little too young to realize the full impact. My father's passing went without a tear shed.
It's not that I'm unfeeling, he just made it easy on me to take his passing in stride.
I've lost friends and shed tears.
Two years ago, my wife and I bawled for a good hour and didn't have a dry eye for two weeks following a passing.
It was our dog.
This was the dog who replaced our kids as 'the noise in the house. He became so, so special to us.
I wondered to myself if there may be something wrong with me. Something that wasn't wired correctly.
It took me months to get over that dog's death. Mere days, for my dad
I've never grieved more over a living soul dying,than I did when that dog died. And I still think about him.
It just doesn't seem right. But like death, sometimes life is weird too.

This all leads up to Marvin Miller's death.
Most writers are scripting stories about what a crime it is that Miller is not in the Hall of Fame.
Miller took his name from consideration to the Hall because he felt the powers that be would never let it happen and he didn't need the aggravation.
Now dead, writers feel the need to strike while the emotional kettle is hot.
I don't know if Miller belongs in the Hall. He helped change baseball. To this day, I don't know whether it was a good change or bad change for the baseball fan. The piles of money being made by baseball, at least in this fan's eye, simply shifted from the owners pockets to the players pockets.
I would guess the players would want him in the Hall of Fame more than the powers that be.
As a result of Miller and free agency in baseball, tickets, parking, and refreshments at ball games all soared in price.
The owners still had to make their money and it was the fan who paid through the nose for free agency.

Marvin Miller changed the game of baseball.
Is that enough to get him in the Hall of Fame?
One can argue that Dummy Hoy changed baseball, yet he is not in the Hall of Fame.
I posted about Hoy in the past. Dummy Hoy was a deaf ball player. Before he arrived, there were no signals from the third base coach to the batter.
Umpires would simply bellow balls and strikes before Dummy Hoy's arrival.
Afterward, they would signal strikes with their right hand to let Hoy know it was a strike.
Now umpires almost 'perform' third strike calls with punch outs, the elephant trunk called third strike, and the pull of a lawnmower third strike move.
Besides bringing hand signals to baseball, Dummy Hoy was a very good player.
Dummy Hoy in a funny way, meets both of Miller's credential's of getting into the Hall.
They both changed baseball and now, they are both dead.
I don't expect either to get in.

When Pete Rose passes, I expect the same thing from writers. When that happens, Rose will take Miller's place on pages.
And Joe Jackson will replace Dummy Hoy in my mind.
We have a tendency to forget the past, while revering a person in a recent death a bit more.
I don't know why.
It's human nature. I guess.
And,It's death. The weirdest part of life.