Minor League Baseball Pay

A recent article in ESPN Magazine by Mina Kimes enlightened me to the plight of most minor league players. These young men barely make a living wage. In fact many of them live at or below the poverty line while playing minor league baseball. This is especially disheartening when you read that MLB pulled in $8 billion in gross revenue last year and, according to Kimes, it would cost each major league team only about an extra $1 millions to give all their minor leaguers a $5000 annual raise (major league teams pay the minor league players).

Minor league players only work for their teams 5-6 months a year and they only get checks during the season.  During the off-season they are not getting paid by MLB. However, most of these guys are still working on their baseball careers. They go to the gym and work out. They take hitting and fielding practice. They are trying to better themselves and by extension their big league team. This extra work is not technically required, but teams and fans expect it and the fierce competition for major league jobs demand it.

Most of the arguments against giving the prospects a raise center around the tradition of the minor leagues. It basically boils down to a feeling that minor league players should put in their time and take their lumps because that is what the current major league players did. This is a bogus argument. Just because one group had to suffer does not mean another has to. It is like your parents saying you cannot get a drivers license until you are 18 because they had to wait that long. The goal of each generation should be to better itself.

It is time for MLB to give the minor league players a pay raise.

Sources:

• http://www.baseballamerica.com/minors/players-sue-for-better-salaries/
• http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2014/03/minor_league_baseball_lawsuit_should_we_care_that_low_level_ballplayers.html
• http://www.milb.com/milb/info/faq.jsp?mc=business#11