Minor League Baseball president dismissive of his players
One would imagine that the president of minor league baseball would have a bit of sympathy towards his charges. Well, that may not be the case.
The plight of the players in minor league baseball has been a source of contention over the past few years. The players work long hours, travelling from city to city on long bus rides and eating peanut butter sandwiches. It can be a rough life, especially for the equivalent of less than minimum wage. Understandably, there has been a call to increase the pay of those players, making it where they can have a living wage.
However, there has been resistance to that ideal. The minor leagues, and the assorted major league teams, have resisted the call to raise wages, claiming that minimum wage and overtime rules do not apply. The players are considered interns and apprentices, or seasonal employees at best, although there is a great deal of argument over the designation.
However, change may be coming, due to a very unfortunate interview given by the president of minor league baseball Pat O’Conner that was published on Tuesday. In that interview, he essentially insulted a large portion of his employees.
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One of O’Conner’s arguments is that a spot on a minor league roster is not a career. However, for the vast majority of those players, they do not get the chance to be major leaguers. Likewise, the average minor league career is shorter, in part, because of those financial issues. Minor league players often earn less than $2000 a month, and that only comes during the season. For those players in the short year leagues, that total amount comes to much less.
Understandably, players without other means of support leave the game early. And even those that remain face long odds of ever reaching the major leagues. While they may be in the top 0.0001% of baseball players in the world, McDonald’s workers make more in a year than minor league players.
That needs to change. These players are expected to toil away in the faint hope that they will reach the majors. In that time, they are expected to keep in great shape and have the proper diet, but at a minimal salary. It is time that this changes, and minor league players can get the compensation they deserve.
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That may well happen now. If so, the players may well have the president of minor league baseball to thank for that.