9-6-22 - Evan Drellich @EvanDrellich
BREAKING: More than 50 percent of minor leaguers have signed cards backing a union, MLBPA officials say. The Players Association has formally asked MLB for voluntary recognition, sending a letter to the commissioner’s office this morning:
Mack - I can’t get into this site because it has a firewall.
Immediate question - I covered the Savannah Sand Gnats for six years when they played in the A-”Sally League” as the Mets affiliate.
First, I am curious if the union plans on sending reps to each team to talk to the players.
Second, I am curious if the owners of these teams would let these reps into the clubhouse to address the team.
And third, the majority of minor league teams are not owned by the parent team they are affiliated with. Case in point… the Sand Gnats never made a cent in Savannah. Both poor team participation and local attendance. Are these local owners that are losing bucks or barely breaking even supposed to foot this bill or will the parent teams they are affiliated with step up and pay for the increase?
9-6-22 - Jim Allen @JballAllen
Munetaka Murakami has now tied the record for home runs in a season by a Japanese player with 52, previously recorded by Hall of Famers Katsuya Nomura and Hiromitsu Ochiai.
9-5-22 - Sarah Langs @SlangsOnSports
Did you know that Andrés Giménez leads ALL MLB HITTERS in batting average vs breaking + offspeed pitches (min 200 PA ending on those)?
Pitcher DIGS (@DigsPitcher)
NL DIGS+ | 2010-2021 | Min 15 GS
1. deGrom 2021 = 170
2. Kershaw 2015 = 166
3. Kershaw 206 = 164
4. Kershaw 2014 = 164
5. Arrieta 2015 = 157
6. deGrom 2018 = 152
7. Burnes 2021 = 151
T-8. Scherzer 2018 = 148
Harvey 2013 = 148
Halladay 2011 = 148
Scherzer 2017 = 148
Circumstances Following 1919 Scandal
While Commissioner Albert Benjamin Chandler's nickname was "Happy," he was far from it.
With a paranoid sense of entitlement, commissioners of the league would suspend any player just for being seen with a gambler in an attempt to rid the league of its gambling influences completely.
Commissioner Happy Chandler suspended Brooklyn Dodgers manager Leo Durocher for the 1947 season for being seen with the wrong people.
After retiring, Hall of Famers Mickey Mantle and Willie Mays greeted customers at gambling casinos and were then banned from the league as well.
Their bans were lifted when Commissioner Peter Ueberroth realized they weren't making millions of dollars when they played baseball.
Expanding the players' union to minor leaguers is a complex issue. It makes a great deal of sense to include them from the perspective that players move back and forth between the majors and minors right now, so without minors included their MLBPA membership is on-off-on-off. Also, it is a well-documented problem that minor league players are generally not compensated well. If they were lucky, a big signing bonus was involved, otherwise their salary barely covers food and rent.
ReplyDeleteFrom the other perspective, as Mack points out in his article, the burden of providing better pay and benefits to minor leaguers should not fall on unaffiliated team owners, as they are struggling to make a profit in many regions.
We the fans want this to be fair, but whenever big money is involved, the outcome is not always just. Let's hope there is a solution that benefits the game.
To work, this would have to fall 100% on parent teams
DeleteMy opinion is that a lot of minor league cost should fall on the parent club. They should provide housing for all minor league players and staff.
DeleteGimenez is feasting on weak AL Central pitching the way Lindor did.
ReplyDelete