Dylan Gaffney
For decades, American professional baseball has been defined by an earnings divide. For the lucky few who make it to the big leagues, generational wealth is there for the taking. As of the 2023 season, MLB’s league minimum salary is $720,000,[1] with the league’s top stars earning up to $43 million per year.[2] But for the thousands of players still struggling to get to the show, life is far from glamorous. In 2022, the minimum salaries for players on minor league contracts ranged from $400–$700 a week depending on league level, or up to $16,100 total over the 23-week season.[3] Players are not paid for Spring Training or any additional offseason responsibilities. In order to make ends meet, players often work multiple jobs in the offseason and live without basic appliances.[4]
This situation is possible due to baseball’s antitrust exemption. The Supreme Court created the exemption in Fed. Baseball Club of Balt. v. Nat'l League of Pro. Base Ball Clubs, which held that professional baseball does not constitute interstate commerce for the purposes of the Sherman Antitrust Act.[5] While the MLBPA’s formation, Curt Flood’s landmark lawsuit, and Congressional legislation have removed the exemption’s bite with regard to major league employment issues, it remains the foundation of the minor league business model.[6] MLB’s vertical monopoly over professional baseball forces players to participate in MiLB for a shot at the majors. The antitrust exemption shields the league from suit for the abuses that result. This is no political accident either—in 2018, Congress passed the “Save America’s Pastime Act,” which explicitly exempted minor league baseball from federal minimum wage laws.[7]
However, the tide may be turning for minor league conditions. In September 2022, the MLBPA issued union-authorization cards to the roughly 5,500 minor leaguers under contract, and a majority voted in favor of joining the MLBPA.[8] Within a week, the league voluntarily recognized the MLBPA as the players’ bargaining representative.[9] Minor leaguers, thus far at the whim of their organizations, now have a powerful bargaining group behind them. It stands to reason that the owners will need to take the concerns of minor leaguers much more seriously going forward.
However, this new arrangement will not be without challenges. After all, major and minor league players still have somewhat oppositional interests. Many major leaguers feel that they earned their wealth and success by surviving the minor league grind.[10] When negotiating with the league, they may not be happy to compromise their own interests for minor leaguers’ benefit. But even assuming the MLBPA can effectively advocate for both MLB and MiLB pay increases, there are only 26 roster spots per MLB team (780 total). Major leaguers have a vested interest in protecting their roster spot from minor league prospects.
Perhaps because of this conflict, the MLBPA has generally not prioritized issues like service time manipulation. Currently, players need to be on an MLB roster for six seasons to become a free agent and gain the ability to sign with any team.[11] In recent years, teams have commonly abused this system by refusing to call up capable prospects until they can no longer accrue a full year of service time.[12] The upshot is that teams can essentially secure a player for seven seasons by keeping them in the minors a few more weeks, delaying the player’s free agency and potentially costing them millions of dollars.
The MLBPA obviously wants players to reach free agency as quickly as possible to maximize their earning potential. However, the MLBPA has not previously represented minor league players yet to make their MLB debut—the group most affected by service time manipulation. Meanwhile, a prospect’s promotion threatens the job of current major league players who are part of the MLBPA. So, while the 2022 collective bargaining agreement did create some draft pick incentives to curb service time manipulation, such issues have generally been on the backburner.[13] Instead, the MLBPA has focused on issues that more directly affect major league payrolls, like luxury tax thresholds.[14]
Now, with thousands of minor league players joining the MLBPA, minor league conditions and service time manipulation could become the predominant issues in future CBA negotiations. Going forward, the MLBPA will need to strike a delicate balance between supporting the interests of both its tenured veterans and the minor leaguers fighting for an opportunity to take their place.
[1] Mark Feinsand, MLB, MLBPA Agree To New CBA; Season To Start April 7, MLB (Mar. 10, 2022), https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-mlbpa-agree-to-cba [https://perma.cc/5T8D-HWZN] [https://web.archive.org/web/20230320194549/https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-mlbpa-agree-to-cba].
[2] MLB Contracts, Spotrac, https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/contracts// [https://perma.cc/9NYP-GPDT] [https://web.archive.org/web/20230320195316/https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/contracts//] (last visited Mar. 19, 2023).
[3] Lyndon Suvanto, Baseball Contracts: How Much Does a Minor League Baseball Player Make in 2022?, Sportskeeda (Oct. 26, 2022), https://www.sportskeeda.com/baseball/how-much-does-minor-league-baseball-player-make-2022 [https://perma.cc/7EWM-MC3E] [https://web.archive.org/web/20230320200107/https://www.sportskeeda.com/baseball/how-much-does-minor-league-baseball-player-make-2022].
[4] Dirk Hayhurst, An Inside Look into the Harsh Conditions of Minor League Baseball, Bleacher Rep. (May 14, 2014), https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2062307-an-inside-look-into-the-harsh-conditions-of-minor-league-baseball [https://perma.cc/PT3Z-T5MK] [https://web.archive.org/web/20230320200636/https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2062307-an-inside-look-into-the-harsh-conditions-of-minor-league-baseball].
[5] Fed. Baseball Club v. Nat'l League of Pro. Baseball Clubs, 259 U.S. 200, 208 (1922).
[6] Sam C. Ehrlich, Probing for Holes in the 100-Year-Old Baseball Exemption: A New Post-Alston Challenge, 90 U. Cin. L. Rev. 1172 (2022).
[7] Save America’s Pastime Act, 29 U.S.C.A. §213(a)(19) (West 2023).
[8] Alden Gonzalez et al, Minor Leaguers Are Joining the MLBPA: Here's What the Unionization Means, ESPN (Sept. 14, 2022), https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/34586802/minor-leaguers-joining-mlbpa-here-unionization-means [https://perma.cc/BMP6-EBQL] [https://web.archive.org/web/20230320204405/https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/34586802/minor-leaguers-joining-mlbpa-here-unionization-means].
[9] Id.
[10] Dirk Hayhurst, An Inside Look into the Harsh Conditions of Minor League Baseball, Bleacher Rep. (May 14, 2014), https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2062307-an-inside-look-into-the-harsh-conditions-of-minor-league-baseball [https://perma.cc/PT3Z-T5MK] [https://web.archive.org/web/20230320200636/https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2062307-an-inside-look-into-the-harsh-conditions-of-minor-league-baseball].
[11] Service Time, MLB, https://www.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/service-time [https://perma.cc/7AYZ-WDRG] [https://web.archive.org/web/20230320205147/https://www.mlb.com/glossary/transactions/service-time] (last visited Mar. 20, 2023).
[12] Dayn Perry, MLB Service-Time Manipulation: Why Longstanding Baseball Practice Is a Major Issue in 2021, CBS Sports (Mar. 2, 2021), https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-service-time-manipulation-why-longstanding-baseball-practice-is-a-major-issue-in-2021/ [https://perma.cc/HK3N-6GRL] [https://web.archive.org/web/20230320205320/https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-service-time-manipulation-why-longstanding-baseball-practice-is-a-major-issue-in-2021/].
[13] Mark Feinsand, MLB, MLBPA Agree To New CBA; Season To Start April 7, MLB (Mar. 10, 2022), https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-mlbpa-agree-to-cba [https://perma.cc/5T8D-HWZN] [https://web.archive.org/web/20230320194549/https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-mlbpa-agree-to-cba].
[14] R.J. Anderson, MLB Lockout Ends as MLBPA, Owners Reach CBA Agreement: Five Takeaways with Baseball Set To Return, CBS Sports (Mar. 12, 2022), https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-lockout-ends-as-mlbpa-owners-reach-cba-agreement-five-takeaways-with-baseball-set-to-return/live/ [https://perma.cc/XA8U-8AML] [https://web.archive.org/web/20230320205801/https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/mlb-lockout-ends-as-mlbpa-owners-reach-cba-agreement-five-takeaways-with-baseball-set-to-return/live/].