# Who did the most to change how athletes get paid?

> Court cases, boycotts and one contract signed for a single dollar. Nobody here got paid more for winning the argument.

*By YPB Team · Published August 23, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/who-did-the-most-to-change-how-athletes-get-paid*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Marvin Miller** — score 1000/1000
   Ran the baseball players' union from 1966 and turned it into the strongest in American sport, winning free agency.
2. **Gladys Heldman** — score 710/1000
   The publisher who staged the breakaway Houston tournament in 1970 that became the women's professional tour.
3. **Curt Flood** — score 624/1000
   Refused a trade in 1969 and took baseball's reserve clause to the Supreme Court, losing the case but cracking the system.
4. **Billie Jean King** — score 485/1000
   Signed a $1 contract with eight others in 1970 over a purse gap of $12,500 to $1,500, then founded the WTA.
5. **Megan Rapinoe** — score 485/1000
   A named plaintiff in the US women's team suit that won a $24m settlement and equal pay in 2022.
6. **Catfish Hunter** — score 397/1000
   Baseball's first modern free agent in 1974, whose contract fight showed everyone what the market was worth.
7. **Bob Cousy** — score 397/1000
   Organised the first NBA players' association in 1954, when the league had no pension and no minimum wage.
8. **Jean-Marc Bosman** — score 291/1000
   A Belgian midfielder whose 1995 European court win let footballers leave for nothing at contract's end.
9. **Andy Messersmith** — score 291/1000
   Played a season without a contract in 1975 and won the arbitration that ended the reserve clause for good.
10. **Nneka Ogwumike** — score 291/1000
   Led the WNBA players' union through the deal that raised salaries and then the opt-out that reopened the fight over revenue share.
11. **Ed O'Bannon** — score 162/1000
   Sued the NCAA over the use of his likeness in a video game, starting the chain that ended amateurism.
12. **Oscar Robertson** — score 162/1000
   Lent his name to the 1970 antitrust suit that blocked the NBA-ABA merger and delivered NBA free agency.

Tags: usa, sports, athletes, money