A non-profit organization is looking to increase pay for Minor League baseball players, and they’ve gotten the attention of the United States Senate.
Advocates for Minor Leaguers, a group founded in 2020 by a group of former aspiring ballplayers, sent a letter to the Senate blaming the MLB’s antitrust exemption for a plethora of problems facing minor leaguers, including low pay and an inability to collectively bargain for better working conditions.
The bipartisan group of lawmakers, which includes Dick Durbin (D–Illinois), Chuck Grassley (R–Iowa), Mike Lee (R–Utah) and Richard Blumenthal (D–Connecticut) responded last month with a request for more information about the issue, saying “this bipartisan request for information will help inform the Committee about the impact of this exemption, especially when it comes to Minor League and international prospects.”
The Senate’s Judiciary Committee, chaired by Durbin, sent the ask after the advocates after they complained that the Curt Flood Act of 1998 prevented minor league players from seeking higher pay — as their salaries are currently decided by the 30 MLB organizations, with little recourse for players to challenge that arrangement.
“We need to make sure that all professional ballplayers get to play on a fair and level field,” Durbin said.
After the committee sought further information about the situation, the Advocates for Minor Leaguers responded, pushing for a repeal of the decades-old law.
“This would render illegal the entire Minor League Conspiracy — both (1) the owners’ agreement to suppress Minor League player wages and working conditions and (2) the owners’ agreement to artificially limit the number of Minor League teams and in turn the overall number of Minor League players,” said Harry Marino, a leader of the non-profit organization.
For more coverage of the Minor Leagues, head to amNY.com
The MLB had previously disbanded 40 teams from the Minor Leagues before the 2021 season, as The Athletic reported.
As the Minor League players do not have a union (unlike the major league players), they are subjugated to whatever decisions the 30 MLB franchises decide — including the number of teams, and the pay scale for players.
If the act were to be repealed, Minor Leaguers would no longer fall under the exemption that prevents them from advocating on their own behalf, which they cannot do under current antitrust laws in the United States.
That would allow them to take legal action against the MLB, which leans on the exemption to set salaries and have nearly-total control over the MLiB.
“But for baseball’s antitrust exemption, the current treatment of Minor League players would be illegal,” wrote Marino in response to the senators’ request last month, in a letter obtained by the Associated Press.
Minor League baseball players make between $4,800 and $15,400, according to USA Today, which is not enough to live on for many in highly-priced markets, such as New York City (which is home to both the Brooklyn Cyclones and the Staten Island FerryHawks).
It’s not clear whether the recent response to the senators’ letter will lead to legislation, and if any potential bill would pass both legislative bodies in Washington D.C. — though the group will certainly take solace in the fact that legislators are proactively eyeing the problem.
