LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Think of the energy Joe Morgan expended last month when he encouraged Hall of Fame voters to keep out players associated with illegal performance-enhancing drugs.

The time. The brain space. Pitching the idea to the Hall of Fame and coordinating its release.

Now imagine if Morgan had channeled toward the inclusion of Marvin Miller, rather than the exclusion of guys based on an extremely tenuous line in the sand.

Miller, the legendary Players Association head who guided the union into free agency and countless other player advancements, fell short once again on Sunday. He drew seven of 16 votes from the Modern Baseball Era Committee that elected Jack Morris and Alan Trammell. This is now the fifth time Miller has been considered by a smaller committee, as opposed to one comprising all living Hall of Famers (hat tip to Sports Illustrated’s Jay Jaffe for tallying that). An 0-for-5 showing does not even remotely capture Miller’s contributions to the game.

To their credit, both Morris, who was victimized by owner collusion in the 1980s, and Trammell spoke out passionately in support of Miller at their news conference here at the Winter Meetings.

“All I can say is I owe him a great bit,” Morris said. “My life changed because of his hard work to put us on the map, and I think there’s a whole generation of people playing the game today that have no idea what he did to help us, and that’s a regret. I hope they take the time to learn who he is, what he did.

“I realize there’s friction between him and ownership. He made it hard on them. That’s human nature. We don’t always see the same way. But baseball has changed dramatically because of Marvin Miller, whether you want to like him or not. So I’ll always be a strong supporter of him.”

Said Trammell: “I hope that the young players today recognize that, that without him, wow, the game has changed, and it’s changed for the better. I know that he’s being considered, and … in my opinion, I’d be shocked if he’s not elected sometime here in the near future.”

If Miller ever does get elected — the Modern Baseball Era Committee will convene again in two years — then more people would know what he did, naturally.

Just as the Hall authorized Morgan’s plea to keep the illegal PED guys out, it stacks the deck with management types who decrease Miller’s odds. This committee featured six Hall of Fame players (George Brett, Rod Carew, Dennis Eckersley, Don Sutton, Dave Winfield and Robin Yount); a Hall of Fame manager in Bobby Cox and his Braves boss, John Schuerholz, also a Hall of Famer, as well as five executives (Mets general manager Sandy Alderson, retired Blue Jays CEO Paul Beeston, Reds owner Bob Castellini, Cardinals owner Bill DeWitt and Royals owner David Glass) plus three “historians” in baseball writers Bob Elliott and Jayson Stark and Elias Sports Bureau bigwig Steve Hirdt.

However, Miller’s vote total of seven shows that even some of the non-executives didn’t support him. Which is intellectually unfortunate.

“We probably had more discussion about him than anybody,” Brett, who wouldn’t divulge his vote, said of Miller.

Schuerholz likewise said he wouldn’t divulge his vote, although he did say he’d be fine with it being publicized.

“I’m not embarrassed by how I think or what my opinion is,” he said.

Alas, the Hall has not displayed an appetite for such disclosure. As with the Baseball Writers Association of America vote, which will be announced on Jan. 24, the Hall doesn’t want to influence votes in such a way. It wants to protect the confidentiality of those voters who desire it.

Yet the Hall had no issue with Morgan, who is the Hall’s vice chairman, using the organization’s contacts to try to influence votes against folks. Just imagine if he used those powers for good. We’d all be better off, and the Hall would be a more legitimate institution.