The game of baseball was a little different in the 1880s, and not just on the diamond. In addition to their on-field jobs, players were tasked as stadium custodians, taking tickets and sweeping up after games. The maximum salary in the National League was 2,500 dollars, the equivalent of less than 60,000 in today’s dollars. And because of the “reserve clause,” players had no say in changing teams or earning raises.

But back in 1885, one man united many in an attempt to change the system. Future Hall-of-Famer Monte Ward, the star shortstop of the New York Giants and Columbia Law School grad, led the first-ever labor union in professional sports: the Brotherhood of Professional Base Ball Players.

Though the Brotherhood failed in its negotiations with owners, and the Players’ League that Ward and other stars created to take on the National League lasted just one season, its mission of ending the reserve clause eventually succeeded—90 years later.

Today’s multimillionaire pros may not credit Monte Ward and the Brotherhood for laying the groundwork for free agency and other players’ rights, but their Broment will forever live on in history.