Awards winner designates the charity of his choice to receive a grant from the Player's Trust. History The MLBPA was not the first attempt to unionize baseball players. Earlier attempts had included: Brotherhood of Professional Baseball Players - 1885 (founded by John Montgomery Ward) In 1898, Baltimore Orioles players John McGraw, Hughie Jennings, Joe Kelley, and Willie Keeler discussed the formation of "mutual defense organization" analogous to a trade union and meant to protect the interests of the players. Players' Protective Association - 1900 Fraternity of Professional Baseball Players of America - 1912 National Baseball Players Association of the United States - 1922 (founded by Raymond Joseph Cannon) The American Baseball Guild – 1946 (founded by labor lawyer Robert Murphy) Leadership Pre-unionized President Bob Feller: 1956–1959 Executive Director Frank Scott: May 1, 1959 – 1966 Unionized Executive Director Ken Moffett: December 9, 1982 – November 22, 1983 Marvin Miller (interim): November 22, 1983 – December 9, 1983 Donald Fehr (acting): December 9, 1983 – December 1, 1985 Donald Fehr: December 1, 1985 – June 22, 2009 Michael Weiner: June 22, 2009 – November 21, 2013 Tony Clark: December 2, 2013 – present The Marvin Miller era (1966–1983) The organization that would eventually become the MLBPA was conceived in , but it was not officially recognized as a union until . That year the newly recognized union hired Marvin Miller from the United Steel Workers of America to head the organization, serving as executive director until . During Miller's tenure, base salaries, pension funds, licensing rights, and revenues increased. In , Miller negotiated the first collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the team owners, which raised the minimum salary from $6,000 to $10,000 per year. The CBA included arbitration to resolve disputes. The major leagues saw their first player strike in , in opposition to the owners' refusal to increase player pension funds. In , when Oakland owner Charlie Finley failed to make a $50,000 payment into an insurance annuity as called for in Catfish Hunter's contract, the MLBPA took the case to arbitration. The arbitrator ruled that Hunter could be a free agent. When pitchers Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally had their 1974 contracts automatically renewed by their teams, the MLBPA supported them by challenging the reserve clause which was used by team owners to bind players to one team. On December 23, 1975, arbitrator Peter Seitz ruled in favor of