Reese Kaplan -- Minor Leaguers: "Will Work for Food"

At the beginning of the season I posted an article here about the horrific state of compensation for minor league ballplayers.  I tried in vain to get one of the local El Paso Chihuahuas players to talk to me off the record about the reality of the plight but understandably no one was willing as they don’t want to say anything negative that can get back to the front office and hinder their chances of moving up the ladder to the big leagues.

Instead, I started researching some other sources to get additional information and I’d like to share with you a summary of what I’ve found.  First, let’s get a legislative refresher from www.morethanbaseball.org, a site set up to lobby for the rights of minor league ballplayers:

“The Save America's Pastime Act was passed on March 23, 2018. The provision, buried on page 1,967, rolled back the most basic workplace protections for Minor League players.

The Major League Baseball owners had spent more than $1 million lobbying Congress to exempt themselves from having to pay Minor League players minimum wage and overtime.

Major League Baseball brought in revenues of more than $10 billion in 2017.

Since the mid-1970's, the minimum salary for Major Leaguers has risen by more than 2,500% while over the same time Minor League pay has risen 70%. Minor League Baseball president Pat O’Connor has said that increasing wages threaten to "upend the business model for Minor League clubs," even though MLB clubs pay the players salary. Minor League franchises, some independently operated and not under the MLB ownership umbrella, make money off of free labor, concessions, and ticket sales.

Minor League team profits often exceed the tens of millions of dollars each year.”

This organization put together a video that demonstrates just how bad it is for the minor leaguers.  Many of them are even forced to buy their own equipment. 

What they’re seeking seems eminently reasonable – a salary increase to $7.25 per hour, the prevailing minimum wage in many areas.  If you extrapolate it for the number of hours they work, it would amount to $50,000 for the entire year.

Also, unlike major league baseball, there is no organized player’s association to negotiate on their behalf as a collective of players.  As an example, the minor league contract guarantees players two meals per day but doesn’t stipulate the quantity or quality of food.  As a result the clubhouse managers skimp as much as possible with many players going hungry. 

The other major change that would help immensely is for the minor leagues to provide housing to its players.  Remember, the current meager salary under $1000 per month must cover food, housing, transportation and other personal expenses.  Consequently, you often find 4-5 players sharing a single apartment, often having to change accommodations as they move through the system at a moment’s notice, losing and extending additional security deposits, sleeping on cheap air mattresses. 

The exemption from basic minimum wage requirements seems highly unfair and arbitrary to just a single industry.  Even food service workers who know going in they make below minimum wage are additionally compensated with gratuities which make the job worthwhile.  Baseball needs to do something about this disgrace.