By: Jason Rosenzweig
A decades-long fight has come to an end in baseball. Not a rivalry between two teams, but a labor fight. This is the fight to unionize Minor League Baseball (MiLB). This ending came just a few weeks ago as the Major League Baseball (MLB) commissioner’s office announced that the MLB would represent the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) as MiLB players’ collective bargaining representative. So, how did we get here, and what does this mean for the future of baseball in America?
To understand what this decision means, you need to understand what has happened prior to it, and what MiLB is, of course. The MiLB is a collection of many leagues at different levels. Each level has at least one affiliate team for each of the 30 MLB teams. When you are drafted, you go to one of these Minor Leagues and, over time, you get promoted as you develop until you reach the MLB. When you reach the MLB, you are paid a minimum salary of around US$700,000 for 3 years before you go into arbitration when you are paid based on your worth decided by an arbitrator. After 3 years of arbitration, you become a free agent and any team can offer you a contract. This all sounds great, but the road to the MLB is rocky.
One of the biggest issues is that being in MiLB, you are considered a part time employee. If your team’s season lasts 3 months, you are paid for 3 months, no more. If you are in one of the Rookie Leagues (where almost every new draftee goes for one season), you are paid just $4,800 per year. At the highest league, AAA, you are paid only $14,000 per year. This is the only level which brings you above the poverty line in the USA. Players can try to get jobs during the off-season and even part time jobs during the season, but when a sport requires you to stay at peak physical condition, it is incredibly difficult to have a job in addition to playing baseball.
The only thing that makes players able to even come close to surviving is this: the signing bonus. In a draft, there is a slot value for every pick through the 10th round ranging from (for the 2022 draft which happened this July) US$8,846,900 for the Orioles’ first overall pick to US$149,500 for the 10th round pick. However, there are 20 rounds to the draft so half of all players drafted have a very low chance of being paid anything. These slot values are merely recommendations — a team may choose to pay one player a signing bonus more than their slot value and another player less to compensate for it — however if you add up the slot values of a team’s picks, that is a hard limit for how much they are allowed to pay in bonuses. Additionally, these signing bonuses are mostly going to 17 or 18 year old teens just out of high school who are not unlikely to squander the money. Even if they don’t, this money needs to last for a minimum of around 3-4 years assuming they develop extremely quickly and if they even make the MLB. The only round in which most of the players drafted make the MLB is the first round. You might spend 5 or 6 years living off a signing bonus and a near poverty salary before you decide to call it quits.
This issue has been alleviated slightly because, starting with the 2022 season, every MLB team is providing housing for their MiLB players but this isn’t enough for MiLB players. In late August, the MLBPA sent authorization cards to every MiLB player for the MLBPA to represent MiLB players. Within a couple of weeks, it was announced that over half of all MiLB players had signed their authorization cards, and the only question was whether the MLB was going to try to delay unionization with an election. The MLB decided to agree to voluntarily recognize the MLBPA as the bargaining representative of the players of MiLB. It is, as of yet, unclear why this is happening. It may be because they want to have as long as possible to negotiate with the MLBPA and avoid a work stoppage in MiLB like happened in the MLB before the 2022 season, delaying the season by about a week and almost canceling Spring Training.
However, not all is good. The MLB could threaten to shrink MiLB like they did in 2020. However, that decision is facing scrutiny and the MLB may not want to shrink MiLB to avoid having to participate in Congressional hearings and having to fight against the National Labor Relations Board to justify this decision
All in all, this is a massive victory for the players in the Minor Leagues which has been in the works for decades. There are many things that could come when the new MiLB Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is created before next season. For example, they may demand that MiLB players are given the freedom to become free agents after a certain number of years of playing in the Minor Leagues, something which Curt Flood fought for and sacrificed his career to achieve for MLB players decades ago, ending in the Seltz decision, a decision by an arbitrator which got rid of the reserve clause (a clause allowing teams to renew contracts in perpetuity without the player’s consent) and just a year later, the new MLB CBA included free agency. This fight will be considerably easier for the new MiLB union because it wouldn’t be unprecedented and they have a powerful union fighting for them. This development could vastly improve retention of players because they will almost certainly be paid a good salary that they can easily survive on. Even with the potential risks, this decision will almost certainly bring about change for the better.
Sources:
"Each Club's 2022 MLB Draft Bonus Pools and Pick Values." MLB.com, 20 July 2022, www.mlb.com/news/mlb-draft-2022-bonus-pools-pick-values. Accessed 18 Oct. 2022.
Walker, Ben, and Jake Seiner. "AP Exclusive: MLB Raises Salaries for Minor Leaguers in 2021." AP NEWS, 14 Feb. 2020, apnews.com/article/1512f5a4cf9a65f16a2641244e0c00fd. Accessed 18 Oct. 2022.
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