Reese Kaplan -- Every Now & Then Little Guys Take Center Stage

While most of us are focusing on the value Steve Cohen and the other baseball owners are getting for what they pay their employees to perform on the field, there's a whole other world which gets relatively little attention and even less compensation.  Minor leaguers have long been asked to work way more hours which, when calculated on a per-hour basis, don't even approach minimum wage.  Yes, the size of the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is indeed magnificent, but according to stats only 10% of minor leaguers will actually play a single game in the big leagues.  That's a pretty sobering and razor thin margin for success.

Over the past few years several of us have written pieces about what minor league working conditions are like, how the players need to room with a multitude of others just to have a place to sleep at night, how they need to eat well at the stadium as their wages really won't make even fast food affordable, and how many of the aspiring players wind up paying for their own extra coaching lessons and advanced protective gear.  It's pretty disgusting that the major leagues can treat up and coming youngsters this way, but the US government has long exempted the business of baseball from standard labor restrictions facing virtually every other type of employer.

What makes this topic somewhat timely is the fact that over 50% of the minor leaguers who were sent an authorization card to allow the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) to represent them in negotiation with the owners for fair labor treatment.  Now realize what that vote means   It is a player who hopes one day to appear before 30,000 or more fans on local or regional television possibly shooting himself in the foot as the owners will not regard labor actions that could cost them money as the sign of a loyal employee.  Retribution will likely be swift and widespread as word somehow filters out about the allegedly confidential vote regarding who was in favor of earning a living wage.  The team owners will likely request the return of a uniform and point the player towards Walmart or McDonalds as their baseball career comes to an abrupt end.

Query various minor leaguers who are long past prospect age and you will be regaled with tales of extra part-time jobs, asking host families to feed them and realizing that after 10 years in the minors that the only professional life they've known is just a hamster wheel spinning but propelling that player nowhere.  Recently one long term minor leaguer stated that after playing his way around the small towns of the minors for the past eight years, he went home after the season with less than $500 in his pocket.  That's pretty embarrassing for someone among the top few thousand in their business in the entire country, but it's not because this player was spending on luxuries or living an extravagant lifestyle.  It is a birds eye view of what it's like trying to earn a living in the baseball minor leagues.

Now whether you are in favor or against organized labor when it comes to working conditions and compensation, the fact is that baseball has gotten away with its monopoly exemption for way too long and while it's benefited the owners on their bottom line, it's been horrific for all but the top 2% or so who become semi regulars at the top level.  You can make a case that actors, singers, musicians and other entertainers face similar odds trying to make it to the top and must live under parallel difficult circumstances, but these other professions do not have the implicit endorsement of the federal government to permit them to hold their youngest aspiring performers in virtual slavery.  

It's easy for us all to sit back and say, "Hey, Sport, after you turn 25 and you have not yet made it then it's time to admit you are never going to do so and you need to figure out how to map out the rest of your life."  Remember that these lesser players have not worked on their MBAs nor perfected internship level skills in hands-on working professions.  They have lived, breathed and worked their hardest to advance in baseball.  Admitting you did not make it is hard enough, but then you also have to admit you are way behind the curve when it comes to generating a new professional life for yourself.

Right now Tony Clark of the MLBPA and his minions are probably doing a little celebratory dance that the prospect of improving minor league compensation is finally edging its way onto the table.  However, the owners have already outlined the elimination of scores of minor league teams and how they intend to use independent leagues without any MLB compensation at all to help produce the future generation of baseball players.  Right now 50% is a pretty hefty number of aspiring players looking for proper representation.  The National Labor Relations Board is the next step and they're already more than 20% over the minimum number of votes to get consideration there.  It's likely going to get ugly real fast.