Playing for Peanuts

[mefogus]

In my teen years I worked front desk at a Days Inn in Annapolis and we always had the Baysocks' opponents staying in our rooms. What does this mean? No idea -- just thought I'd mention that.

:m

[capanson]

Might be stretching things here a bit, but perhaps this could be part of the reason we're seeing talent move towards sports like football and basketball that pay immediate dividends... why would a talented athlete choose to play professional baseball over the others when the payoff, if it ever comes, is far down the road? Obviously the best players get bonuses, and not everyone is a three sport star, but I don't understand why the MLBPA can't be expanded to fight for the rights of minor league players, since the minor league system player rights are controlled by the same franchises. If baseball was serious about attracting talent, it seems they would at least be willing to pay a living wage for potential players. The same goes for umpires, I think; I know minor league umps make a paltry sum, so if we want to raise the quality of officiating, we should be lifting those wages as well. As essentially a monopsony in its industry, MLB has some strange wage quirks that just don't make sense unless the system is devised to exploit workers until they are stars in their prime.

One could say no one is forcing these players to play at those wages, but why would we intentionally limit the ability of players to pursue a fair wage, using skills that are obviously valued by society (judging from MLB revenues)?

[Miller192]

When I signed with Ozark at an arm farm, I was given a contract of $4,000 for the year, which included a $2,000 signing bonus (which was bogus-more on that later). My clubhouse dues were $210 and insurance was $319 per month. Part of my insurance plan was a membership due paid to the team's trainer, which was an PT intern from a community college. My contract also stated that I was had to play in a fall league at the team's choosing.

We had the option of staying with a host family or getting a monthly stipend to stay in a hotel. No one would do the latter because it was an additional cost and it would insure you would be cut first.

Food wasn't really a problem. There were families of some of these kids who were from the area who would go grocery shopping for the team.

Our clubhouse food came from something called Angel Food Ministries. It wasn't bad but sometimes you were eating some weird stuff for lunch.

Our BP and practice balls came from used pearls and from what was left over from the Padres' spring training. This sucked because sometimes we were using MLB balls in our bullpen sessions. They take some time to get used to and it dinged your confidence somewhat.

My signing bonus was never given to me nor was it going to. Any team who claimed me would have to pay the losing team that bonus. It was just another way for the team to make a dime.

It was an erie feeling to be getting paid to play baseball and it was something I couldn't get comfortable with. We had some fun nights on the town but it just wasn't for me.

I made two starts and got released. My manager brought me into his office (which was a cubicle at the end of our locker room) and told me that a few teams had interest and they would allow me to choose where I wanted to go. I told them that I was done and was going to head home.

He got irate (because they wouldn't get 2 grand) and told me that I would be responsible for my 7 month of expenses and if I didn't report to a new team, a collection company would come after me.

That was bs. The Indy leagues are weird.

[BaltimoreTerp]

In my teen years I worked front desk at a Days Inn in Annapolis and we always had the Baysocks' opponents staying in our rooms. What does this mean? No idea -- just thought I'd mention that.

:m

It meant the team was paying for travel. And if the hotel had any kind of room-service, I doubt it was often utilized by those rooms.

[DrungoHazewood]

Might be stretching things here a bit, but perhaps this could be part of the reason we're seeing talent move towards sports like football and basketball that pay immediate dividends... why would a talented athlete choose to play professional baseball over the others when the payoff, if it ever comes, is far down the road? Obviously the best players get bonuses, and not everyone is a three sport star, but I don't understand why the MLBPA can't be expanded to fight for the rights of minor league players, since the minor league system player rights are controlled by the same franchises. If baseball was serious about attracting talent, it seems they would at least be willing to pay a living wage for potential players. The same goes for umpires, I think; I know minor league umps make a paltry sum, so if we want to raise the quality of officiating, we should be lifting those wages as well. As essentially a monopsony in its industry, MLB has some strange wage quirks that just don't make sense unless the system is devised to exploit workers until they are stars in their prime.

One could say no one is forcing these players to play at those wages, but why would we intentionally limit the ability of players to pursue a fair wage, using skills that are obviously valued by society (judging from MLB revenues)?

The NBA and NFL have recruited the NCAA to serve as a free minor league system, so that probably is a bit of a bonus. Baseball throws a small bonus at an 18-year old so they won't go to college and can live for years on pennies, while basketball and football get colleges and the taxpayers to donate tens of thouands of dollars of scholarships to each of their prospects, even when they have zero chance of sticking around long enough to graduate.

Maybe major league baseball would do better to disband the affiliated minors, refuse to sign anyone under 20 or 21, and tell the NCAA that they're now best buddies.

Would be kind of interesting to see how Duke or Stanford explains giving a full ride to a 16-year-old kid from the Dominican who has little formal schooling and doesn't speak a word of English, but can really pick it at short.

[BaltimoreTerp]

Might be stretching things here a bit, but perhaps this could be part of the reason we're seeing talent move towards sports like football and basketball that pay immediate dividends... why would a talented athlete choose to play professional baseball over the others when the payoff, if it ever comes, is far down the road? Obviously the best players get bonuses, and not everyone is a three sport star, but I don't understand why the MLBPA can't be expanded to fight for the rights of minor league players, since the minor league system player rights are controlled by the same franchises. If baseball was serious about attracting talent, it seems they would at least be willing to pay a living wage for potential players. The same goes for umpires, I think; I know minor league umps make a paltry sum, so if we want to raise the quality of officiating, we should be lifting those wages as well. As essentially a monopsony in its industry, MLB has some strange wage quirks that just don't make sense unless the system is devised to exploit workers until they are stars in their prime.

One could say no one is forcing these players to play at those wages, but why would we intentionally limit the ability of players to pursue a fair wage, using skills that are obviously valued by society (judging from MLB revenues)?

I think you might have a point about the athletes choosing other sports.

There needs to be a players' association for the minor leagues, either as an arm of the MLBPA or as an independent organization that partners with the MLBPA.

I think the former would be a better option because an established union could have benefits like an established organization and possibly some way of avoiding or putting-off contributions from the minor leaguers at first, which would allay some of the costs of unionizing.

[DrungoHazewood]

In my teen years I worked front desk at a Days Inn in Annapolis and we always had the Baysocks' opponents staying in our rooms. What does this mean? No idea -- just thought I'd mention that.

:m

Back in my heckling days you would have been a good guy to know.

[BaltimoreTerp]

The NBA and NFL have recruited the NCAA to serve as a free minor league system, so that probably is a bit of a bonus. Baseball throws a small bonus at an 18-year old so they won't go to college and can live for years on pennies, while basketball and football get colleges and the taxpayers to donate tens of thouands of dollars of scholarships to each of their prospects, even when they have zero chance of sticking around long enough to graduate.

Maybe major league baseball would do better to disband the affiliated minors, refuse to sign anyone under 20 or 21, and tell the NCAA that they're now best buddies.

Would be kind of interesting to see how Duke or Stanford explains giving a full ride to a 16-year-old kid from the Dominican who has little formal schooling and doesn't speak a word of English, but can really pick it at short.

Nah, they would probably create some equivalent of "playing in Europe" for those kids.

Also, that kind of thing does happen in college sports. Someone like Tim Duncan, or the players that come from Africa, come over for college because of their ability and any academic issues are smoothed-over.

[DrungoHazewood]

Nah, they would probably create some equivalent of "playing in Europe" for those kids.

Also, that kind of thing does happen in college sports. Someone like Tim Duncan, or the players that come from Africa, come over for college because of their ability and any academic issues are smoothed-over.

I get the impression that the college basketball players from abroad have some kind of academic background, and meet some kind of minimal standards. Maybe I'm wrong, but I also have the impression that a lot of kids from the DR have little formal education and really can't speak a word of English.

Also, 30% of MLB players and probably a larger percentage of minor leaguers aren't from the US. Again, I'm no college basketball expert, but from what I do know (Virginia Tech) a very small percentage of our football/basketball team is from other countries. Most years it's 0%.

[byrdz]

The NBA and NFL have recruited the NCAA to serve as a free minor league system, so that probably is a bit of a bonus. Baseball throws a small bonus at an 18-year old so they won't go to college and can live for years on pennies, while basketball and football get colleges and the taxpayers to donate tens of thouands of dollars of scholarships to each of their prospects, even when they have zero chance of sticking around long enough to graduate.

Maybe major league baseball would do better to disband the affiliated minors, refuse to sign anyone under 20 or 21, and tell the NCAA that they're now best buddies.

Would be kind of interesting to see how Duke or Stanford explains giving a full ride to a 16-year-old kid from the Dominican who has little formal schooling and doesn't speak a word of English, but can really pick it at short.

I'm not too up on how the NBA drafts and acquires players but don't they sign foreign pro players often? So maybe that idea would work except 16 y/o Dominican kid is actually picked up when he's more mature and ready to hit the ground running.

As to why they choose baseball. Don't they have the potential to make way more money in baseball? The sky's the limit. Not so much in the other sports.

[DrungoHazewood]

As to why they choose baseball. Don't they have the potential to make way more money in baseball? The sky's the limit. Not so much in the other sports.

Depends on how you look at it. In the majors there are 750+ players, each earning $400k or more. In the NFL there are 1300-ish players, each making at least $300k. In the NBA there are, what, 360 players each making at least $450k. In each sport there are a handful of players making $10M+, various others making lesser amounts. Baseball players probably have the longest average careers, NFL the shortest.

Baseball also has the advantage of many thousands of guys who make a "living" playing in the minors. But as we know from this thread only a small percentage of those guys make as much as an average OH poster.

So I doubt that money is really a driving factor - you're probably not going to make much unless you're great, and if you're great you're going to make a lot of money in any of baseball, football, soccer, hockey, basketball, golf, etc.