Two cheers for the unions!

Although Sonny made the case for busting up teachers’ unions, the very same issue of the Weekly Standard describes one industry in which unions were a great force for social justice: Major League Baseball. [subscription only]

In 1965, players earned an average of $14,000. Today, the average is $3 million. What happened?

There is no doubt, however, that before their union was formed, players were little more than chattel. Team owners colluded to sign every player to a contract containing the so-called reserve clause that bound him to a single team until it chose to release or trade him. Years of turmoil produced the current system—too complex to summarize here—that allows players with a certain seniority to become “free agents” and shop their talents around. Hence the multiyear multimillion-dollar contracts.

Dang.