Minor Leaguers as the Working Poor

[skanar]

How much taxes are there on $15k a year? I'd imagine about zero. Maybe negative if they qualify for the EITC.

(Weird - I was responding to Silent James and it quoted the wrong post)

Depends on how you're filing. I've had years where I've made less than that from tutoring income and had to pay significant self-employment tax (as much as 20%). Also years where I made that much or less as a summer intern or whatever; in those years, I usually had zero or very little tax.

[hoosiers]

It's not a matter of compensating their "work."

It's fine if we have a fundamental disagreement.

Baseball is a for profit business and should compensate its employees appropriately IMO.

I think the pool of folks who can play at AA (though something I brought up) is a different, but related, subject. I was wrong to bring it up because it deflects from the core issue here - which is whether these minor leaguers should be paid a reasonable wage and what that wage should be. I think they should be paid a decent wage and that amount is subject to discussion but would be a good bit higher than what it is today.

[El Gordo]

But why should we treat ballplayers (legally) any different than any other job? If you're working the equivalent of 60+ hour weeks during the year shouldn't you be getting paid the legal minimum wage and any applicable overtime?

I'm pretty sure McDonalds couldn't require its employees to work 60 or 80 hours a week, including regular long bus rides to work at other McDonalds several states away, yet pay them the equivalent of 40 hours a week times the minimum wage.

I'm certainly no labor expert, but I would think the players would have a case that they should earn at least ($40 x 7.25) + ($25 x 7.25 x 1.5) = $561 a week during the year. Or roughly $17k a year from March-September.

:agree: This seems quite reasonable to me.

[atomic]

I read somewhere that (probably Blue Crabs) players get about $15 a day in meal money, but are required to pay about $12 a day to the clubhouse guy for the pregame spread of cold cuts and peanut butter.

Last time I traveled.for work per diem was 67 dollars per day and I was getting free breakfast at hotel and a free lunch from client. So I had 67 for dinner. Another job they have me corporate card and I could spend as much as I want. I can't imagine eating on 15 bucks a day while traveling. That sounds like two meals at McDonalds. I guess if you can't get a 100k signing bonus you should forget about baseball.

[NJ BIRD FAN]

How much does it cost the parents of an Olympic hopeful. How much do college football player make within the NCAA guidelines, have we noticed a deterioration of the MLB product because of a lack of qualified players? I think you are spot on.

But there is an affect to this cause. The poor payment to minor league players has directly led to the large influx of foreign born players in baseball. I personally think that this will have a negative affect on the sport long term. Others may not.

[Flosman]

You know the owners of baseball teams are people that are very hard to like. They get away with this because of the combination of selling a unlikely to occur dream and the antitrust exemption. ML teams NEED the minor league fodder in order to develop and offset some of the cost of developing the future profitable players. I bet all ML teams want their players training year round. I bet when they call a low A guy in the off season to attend some event they expect him to drop everything and make himself available. The truth is the only guys this applies to are the low level guys and the MLB should just bump their pay to a minimum around 20K a year. We are talking literally a drop in the bucket for guys that are helping produce the ML money in their small way. Those uber prospects have to have someone to play!! Players are indentured servants at this point in their career and it is probably the only workable way to run baseball. When a situation like this occurs then in exchange for the antitrust exemption the MLB owners have a duty to protect the interest of the MiL players has stakeholders with no power.

Football and basketball's model won't work because MLB playrs take to long to develop and to identify. On top of that college baseball is not a revenue sport to a degree that makes a college feeder system viable for enough players that would produce an adequate supply. Also by the time a college player is done with his 4 years he is not, other than rare cases, ready to play in the majors.

The bottom line is the owners are being greedy and shortsighted. But throughout the history of the game that is the role they have played.

[El Gordo]

Not sure how sorry I feel for the players, but I know I don't feel sorry for the owners.

[Plutarch]

Previous quote that I forgot to add:

Yeah, I know we're flirting with politics here, but I don't buy into the "living wage" argument. Maybe you can force baseball to do this because of their unique circumstances but in general that's a failed economic policy imo. Also, don't minor leaguers receive housing/travel and meal allowances? Maybe I'm wrong about that.

Actually it's not failed economic policy. If a living wage law passed the number of teams would decrease as the payroll increased unless there was an offsetting revenue gain (increase in ticket prices). In general the minor league system is not one of the free market but one of subsidies and monopolistic protection by a larger organization (MLB). They players have no other options if they want to play baseball - they cannot jump to another baseball organization (made up example:National Baseball League) for better pay or working conditions.

[srock]

My basic feeling is, while it would be nice if MLB and the MLBPA were a bit more generous to the minor leaguers, the bottom line is that the players are there by choice. If they feel the pay is too low and they need to go get a higher-paying job, they can do that. If they want to keep chasing the major league dream, or if they just find that playing baseball for a living gives them more enjoyment than some other job they might get, they can do that. It's up to the individual, and so far, it appears than not too many are being disouraged by the low pay.

What about a guy who's skill sets make him a good AA pitcher or a good fry cook? Does he really have the ability to go get a higher paying job?

This argument could be made for literally any job. Yet in other professions people have more capability to unionize or negotiate for another job with a different company at higher pay. Due to the limited number of employers, anti-trust exemption, the MLBPA ignoring them, and the tradition of treating minor league players poorly, they do not have the same capability as in other industries.

The economics of the entertainment industry make compensation top heavy. But it doesn't mean the current setup for minor league players can't be improved.

[srock]

:agree: This seems quite reasonable to me.

But why should we treat ballplayers (legally) any different than any other job? If you're working the equivalent of 60+ hour weeks during the year shouldn't you be getting paid the legal minimum wage and any applicable overtime?

I'm pretty sure McDonalds couldn't require its employees to work 60 or 80 hours a week, including regular long bus rides to work at other McDonalds several states away, yet pay them the equivalent of 40 hours a week times the minimum wage.

I'm certainly no labor expert, but I would think the players would have a case that they should earn at least ($40 x 7.25) + ($25 x 7.25 x 1.5) = $561 a week during the year. Or roughly $17k a year from March-September.

This is exactly the primary point. Why should minor league baseball players be treated differently from a legal perspective then any other industry? Its only a free labor market if you let it be.

[weams]

Bill Rowell used to sleep in his truck. They say he used the field for other essential actions.

[osfan83]

And I'm a firm believe that a job is a contract between two people without outside influence. If I agree to wash your car for a $1, and you agree to pay me that...what is the problem? If a team says they will pay me $5000 to play second base for 6 months, and I say I want to play second base for 6 months for $5000, then why should that be illegal?

[DrungoHazewood]

But there is an affect to this cause. The poor payment to minor league players has directly led to the large influx of foreign born players in baseball. I personally think that this will have a negative affect on the sport long term. Others may not.

At least in the short term (say 1950-today) it has led to a rather dramatic increase in the quality of play.

[DrungoHazewood]

And I'm a firm believe that a job is a contract between two people without outside influence. If I agree to wash your car for a $1, and you agree to pay me that...what is the problem? If a team says they will pay me $5000 to play second base for 6 months, and I say I want to play second base for 6 months for $5000, then why should that be illegal?

We are not a heartless or vindictive society for the most part. So we have some form of a social welfare system. For better or worse that sets a floor below which few people will work. I probably wouldn't take a backbreaking job for $10k a year unless I was otherwise going to starve. The line between a voluntary agreement to work for $5000 a year and desperately accepting such a job can be blurry.

[CA-ORIOLE]

We are not a heartless or vindictive society for the most part. So we have some form of a social welfare system. For better or worse that sets a floor below which few people will work. I probably wouldn't take a backbreaking job for $10k a year unless I was otherwise going to starve. The line between a voluntary agreement to work for $5000 a year and desperately accepting such a job can be blurry.

Ayn Rand would say you are the heartless one.