By Tom

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The Major League Baseball Players Association has sent out authorization cards to minor leaguers, taking the first steps in making them MLBPA members. The move comes after decades of indifference and legal obfuscation from the MLB over the rights and treatment of minor league baseball players. 

“Minor leaguers represent our game’s future and deserve wages and working conditions that befit elite athletes who entertain millions of baseball fans nationwide,” players’ association executive director Tony Clark said Monday in a statement. “They’re an important part of our fraternity and we want to help them achieve their goals both on and off the field.”

For minor leaguers to unionize, they would need 30% of their players to sign authorization cards, following that they would need a majority vote. The National Labor Relations Board would then require MLB to recognize the union. Under MLB’s antitrust exemption, minor leaguers are not guaranteed the same protections as MLB players who are protected by labor laws. This power imbalance allows MLB organizations to set their own pay for minor leaguers.

The working and living conditions for minor leaguers has been scrutinized heavily in the last few years. In 2018 Congress passed the Save America’s Pasttime Act, exempting them from minimum wage and overtime laws, this leaves players taking home annual salaries between $5,000 and $14,000. 4 years prior Aaron Senne and two other minor league players filed a class action suit over MLB’s labor practices. That suit was settled earlier this year in May, with MLB paying $185 million with $120 million of that going to thousands of players who played before 2018.

Some of the abuses committed against minor leaguers has not only been their low pay, but the absence of it. Players are paid during the season and playoffs, but are expected to train and maintain their bodies in the offseason, which is not compensated for. Players also sign the Uniform Contract Player agreement, which ties them to their respective organization for a minimum of 7 years. This agreement prohibits players from competing in a fair market system, in the event they would want to sign with a team that has better working conditions.

If controlling a player’s future for 7 years wasn’t bad enough, minor league baseball players do not own the rights to their likeness. Teams are permitted to exploit each player’s ability, name, and talent however they see fit. Minor leaguers have fewer rights than college athletes, and are unable to profit off even their own name.

Training facilities and food insecurity are also major concerns plaguing players. You may have seen conditions like that provided by the Oakland A’s to their farm players. Conditions like these, combined with a meager salary, have created needless food insecurity among minor league players. 

Players in the Oakland A’s organization shared these photos of their recent post-game meals.

No employer would serve these meals to employees they care about. Why are the A’s serving them to their future Major Leaguers? pic.twitter.com/cIFqiPg6iX

— MiLB Players (@Milb_players) June 1, 2021

The Cardinals have also engaged in this level of abuse for years. Whether it’s failing to properly procure hotel rooms for players on the road, or paying them $72 a day against a daily cost of $75 for food and lodging. Bill DeWitt Jr’s net worth eclipses $4 billion, and the Cardinals are valued at $2.45 billion, up 9% from 2021.

Until 2022, Minor Leaguers had to procure their own housing. As noted above, the average salary for a minor league player is $12,000–$800 below the federal poverty line. Catcher Caleb Joseph endured housing insecurity after signing with the Mariners in 2021, often sleeping in the team clubhouse. “Why are we putting guys in a position where they can afford either food or a bed?” Players have often slept out of their cars, clubhouses, in shoddy apartments, and/or with multiple players living under the same roof. In 2022 MLB directed organizations to provide fully furnished housing for all minor league players. These conditions were fought and won by activists like Advocates for Minor Leaguers and the players that were abused by this system.

While conditions have improved, Minor Leaguers and the MLBPA will have an uphill, but necessary, fight against the MLB. With more press coverage and advocacy groups emerging, MiLB players are becoming more informed about their value and the importance of their labor.