Commentary: As baseball embraces efficiency, scouts and minor league teams fight to hang on
5 years, 2 months ago

Commentary: As baseball embraces efficiency, scouts and minor league teams fight to hang on

LA Times  

Baseball scouts and minor league teams are not alone in America. The major league owners lobbied for better facilities, but the minor league owners did not consider a plan to kill one of out every four minor league teams a reasonable way to address the issue. The doomed minor league teams found an even more powerful champion, and a presidential candidate found an unlikely constituency. For Sanders, though, an embrace of the national pastime also offered the chance to shine a spotlight on the working-class Americans and communities vulnerable to what he often brands as “corporate greed.” Major league owners have pledged to mitigate the loss of jobs and keep some form of baseball alive in towns where official minor league ball might die, although minor league owners have dismissed that vision as a “shell game.” That same ethos of efficiency is the one that encourages companies to outsource jobs to lower-wage countries.

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History of this topic

‘Hit the go button’: The six years that made baseball’s minor league union
2 years, 4 months ago

‘Hit the go button’: The six years that made baseball’s minor league union

New York Times  

When the longtime activist Bill Fletcher Jr. told friends he wanted to help minor leaguers form a union, they reacted the same way they had when he said he wanted to write a novel. “That’s when I fell back in love with baseball,” Fletcher said, “And it was basically for social reasons, social justice.” Many years later, in 2016, Fletcher’s …

Minor league baseball union creates massive change nearly unthinkable 3 years ago
2 years, 6 months ago

Minor league baseball union creates massive change nearly unthinkable 3 years ago

New York Times  

Minor league players have a union, a monumental change for baseball and the culmination of an effort that moved at a blistering pace. “It’s no doubt going to be difficult to start a minor league union,” Garrett Broshuis said in March 2020, on a conference call introducing a new organization, Advocates for Minor Leaguers. Statement from MLBPA executive director Tony …

MLBPA wants to represent minor league baseball players
2 years, 6 months ago

MLBPA wants to represent minor league baseball players

LA Times  

Rob Manfred did not make his name in baseball as a former player, as a general manager or team president or team owner, or as a marketing or broadcasting executive. If enough minor league players agree, Manfred and the major league owners would no longer decide for themselves how much minor leaguers should be paid. “Poverty wages, oppressive reserve rules, …

MLB to Congress: Without our antitrust exemption, players and fans lose
2 years, 7 months ago

MLB to Congress: Without our antitrust exemption, players and fans lose

LA Times  

MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, shown in November, wrote to the Senate Judiciary Committee that players could lose job opportunities and communities could lose minor league teams if baseball is stripped of its antitrust exemption. Instead, players could lose job opportunities and communities could lose minor league teams, the league said in a 17-page letter to the committee exploring whether to …

Dick Durbin wants MLB to boost support for minor-league players
2 years, 7 months ago

Dick Durbin wants MLB to boost support for minor-league players

LA Times  

As summer turns to fall, the baseball spotlight shines on the brightest stars on the postseason stage: Mookie Betts, Aaron Judge, José Altuve. He said a hearing could take place “in September or October.” As the committee considers legislation to kill the antitrust exemption, it has focused on the impact on the minor leagues. What I’d like to see, other …

MLB to pay minor leaguers $185 million to settle lawsuit
2 years, 8 months ago

MLB to pay minor leaguers $185 million to settle lawsuit

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — Major League Baseball agreed to pay minor leaguers $185 million to settle a federal lawsuit alleging violations of minimum wage laws, a case that progressed through the courts for eight years without reaching a trial. “This settlement is a monumental step for minor league players toward a fair and just compensation system,” Garrett Broshuis, the players’ lead …

Minor league baseball, hockey teams seeking COVID-19 relief
3 years ago

Minor league baseball, hockey teams seeking COVID-19 relief

Associated Press  

WASHINGTON — Laying off 17 people in the Charlotte Checkers front office of 25 felt like gutting a team for chief operating officer Tera Black. Two years in and countless jobs and millions of dollars lost, over a hundred minor league baseball and more than a dozen minor league hockey teams are hoping to finally receive some COVID-19 relief from …

MLB sued by 4 former affiliates over minor league cuts
3 years, 3 months ago

MLB sued by 4 former affiliates over minor league cuts

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — Four minor league teams that lost their big league affiliations before the 2021 season have filed an antitrust lawsuit against Major League Baseball, using a law firm that has represented players’ unions. Parent companies of the Staten Island Yankees, Tri-City Valley Cats, Norwich Sea Unicorns and Salem-Keizer Volcanoes filed suit Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, …

MLB decision to provide housing for minor leaguers was sparked by players themselves, could have ‘drastic impact’
3 years, 5 months ago

MLB decision to provide housing for minor leaguers was sparked by players themselves, could have ‘drastic impact’

New York Times  

To a leading voice in the push to reform baseball’s minor leagues, MLB’s decision to require teams to provide housing for minor-league players was a change sparked by the players themselves. “The culture around the minor leagues for decades has been one of silence, where players were expected to keep quiet and endure exploitative and frankly dehumanizing conditions,” said Harry …

‘A collective voice’: Group fighting for minor league player salaries, rights, enters next stage
3 years, 11 months ago

‘A collective voice’: Group fighting for minor league player salaries, rights, enters next stage

New York Times  

Harry Marino’s time as a minor leaguer was short, but long enough to be troubling. “About the antitrust exemption, about the true impact that MLB’s exploitative labor practices have on minor league players and on their families,” Marino said. But our view is that 100 players, a thousand players, 3,000 players speaking out, collectively, that’s a different story.” About 80 …

AP source: Minors prepared to accept cut to 120 affiliates
4 years, 11 months ago

AP source: Minors prepared to accept cut to 120 affiliates

Associated Press  

NEW YORK — The minor leagues are prepared to agree to Major League Baseball’s proposal to cut guaranteed affiliations from 160 to 120 next year, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press, a plan that would impact hundreds of prospects and cut player development expenses. In informal talks, parties have discussed the possibility of a radical overhaul …

MLB threatens to walk away from Minor League Baseball
5 years, 3 months ago

MLB threatens to walk away from Minor League Baseball

LA Times  

Major League Baseball threw a high, hard brushback pitch at Minor League Baseball late Friday night: Shut up and negotiate, or we’ll run our own minor league system without you. MLB quickly responded, choosing not to rebut the MiLB statement point-by-point but instead to threaten to end minor league baseball as we know it. “Otherwise, MLB clubs will be free …

Ohio governor not happy with plan to cut minor league teams
5 years, 3 months ago

Ohio governor not happy with plan to cut minor league teams

Associated Press  

DAYTON, Ohio — Ohio’s governor isn’t a fan of of Major League Baseball’s proposal to drop 42 minor league teams from their leagues after next season. “That’s what I think is so short sighted on behalf of this proposal where you’d knock off over 40 minor league baseball teams and take that entertainment and opportunity to form more fans. “Ohio …

Bernie Sanders criticizes baseball’s plan to eliminate 42 minor league teams
5 years, 4 months ago

Bernie Sanders criticizes baseball’s plan to eliminate 42 minor league teams

LA Times  

The fight against baseball’s plan to eliminate 42 minor league teams hit California on Wednesday, when Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders issued a statement in support of the Lancaster JetHawks. “Closing down Minor League teams like the JetHawks would be a disaster for baseball fans, workers, and communities across the country,” Sanders said. In a letter sent Tuesday to commissioner …

‘If we are forced to defend ourselves and fight for our mere survival, we will’: MiLB president responds to MLB plan
5 years, 5 months ago

‘If we are forced to defend ourselves and fight for our mere survival, we will’: MiLB president responds to MLB plan

New York Times  

Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball have 11 months to bridge an enormous chasm. In an interview Friday, Minor League president Pat O’Conner called the plan radical and said those 42 teams would be “basically given a death sentence.” “Those communities will lose their baseball as a result of the economics,” O’Conner said. If you don’t, we’ll go find …

Baseball players in minors to lose minimum wage protection
6 years, 11 months ago

Baseball players in minors to lose minimum wage protection

Associated Press  

Minor league baseball players who make as little as $5,500 a season were stripped of the protection of federal minimum wage laws under a provision in government spending legislation signed Friday. The “Save America’s Pastime Act” is included on page 1,967 of the $1.3 trillion spending bill and appears to pre-empt a lawsuit filed four years ago in U.S. District …

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