Among those who had gathered at Marvin Miller’s memorial at New York University on Monday were many players who owed their economic prosperity to him, labor lawyers who idolized him, and agents who owed their careers to him.

He was remembered on Monday as the man who had helped baseball players gain their rights — among them free agency and a robust pension — and in doing so had revolutionized sports labor relations. Miller, who died on Nov. 27 at age 95 from liver cancer, became the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association in 1966, reconfigured the union and built it into the most powerful in sports and one of the most powerful labor bodies in the United States.

“We’re here to honor, and this is not an exaggeration, a giant of American labor,” Michael Weiner, the association’s current executive director, said. “In our little own world of baseball, there’s no one that’s had as much influence in the last 50 years than Marvin Miller.”

While Miller was the public face of the cause, many of the former players — including Hall of Famers Dave Winfield and Joe Morgan — recounted that he always reminded players that it was their union.