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Major League Baseball Players AssociationThe 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 a member. Players who were signed as replacement players during the 1994-1995 strike are ineligible to join. The MLBPA was not the first attempt to unionize baseball players. Earlier attempts had included: The MLBPA was created in 1965. A year later, the fledgling union hired Marvin Miller from the United Steelworkers 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, sheperding it through the 1994-1995 strike and recent issues. He has 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.
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