How hard can it be for the owners to at least construct dormitory style housing for a team of 30 players and some half decent food?

The greed in the world is sickening.

A friend of mine was a AA starting pitcher. He got injured and called up the same day. He is now a trainer, sending kids to D1 and recently 3 kids to Williamsport. He trains my boys and 20 others, along with camps and group training. He makes more money training kids into stud pitchers than he did as a stud pitcher in milb.

I'm an airline pilot and I sat to a single A minor league player one time when I was getting deadheaded in the back of a plane. We had a great conversation and I sympathized with him greatly. After I graduated with my aviation degree I worked as a flight instructor for a nominal wage of $15/hour but half of that went to the school, so I was really making $7.50/hour. But that figure is derived from the time the engine starts running until the engine stops running and doesn't count any other time. So if I worked from 8-6 realistically I'm getting paid $7.50/hour for 5 hours of flight time. Luckily I was living in a town with 10,000 people and sharing a rent house with two other guys so my rent was a manageable $183/month. I used to think that was the most exploitative job until I talked to this single A minor league guy. Holy shit. The difference between me and him is that once I hit 1000 flight hours I was pretty much guaranteed a job at a regional airline...this poor bastard had to COMPETE with everyone else to move up the ranks. That's just awful.

Unfortunately this has been an issue for a long time. Too many former major leaguers end up in poverty as a result of this.

If an employer requires you to work, you should be compensated. Milb players get no pay for spring training, extended spring training or playoffs. In effect milb players are required to work seven months and get paid for only five.

Not sure how true the AAA average salary of $14,700 is but it’s definitely not true anymore as of the 2023 season. Minimum salary in complex leagues is now $19,800/year and low A minimum is $26,200. Plus they are required to be provided with room and board or a stipend to pay for rom and board if not provided. Also players are additionally paid $625/week during spring training and $250/week for off season workouts at home.

We have a minor league team where I'm at, the Dust Devils an Angels affiliate, I had no idea these guy's had it this bad and they are always happy to sign my sons baseballs, I'm going to start tipping these bros!

Nice Drawfee shirt! I didn't expect to find that here!

MLB players should be in full support of the demands of minor leaguers. They were there themselves and should do what’s right for their baseball brethren. G_d knows the owners can afford to pay living wages.

Those owners with extreme wealth should share it with minor leaguers. It's morally right and can keep going minor league ball, which can best prepare players for the big leagues. Not everyone wants to see pro baseball guilty of exploiting minor leaguers.

These are the minor leaguers affiliated with MLB teams. Can only imagine how worse it must be for players in the independent minor leagues (i.e. Pecos League, Pioneer League, etc.).

This is awful.

This was different from my friend's experience who got signed by the yankees and took him 5 years to make the Majors for 3 seasons. He got 200K signing business on a 1.8 million USD contract. I never asked him how much he got a month but I remember in his first year he bought a BMW M3 and a house in miami. Is this only for top level players? Round 3 draft pick if that helps answer the question

Ironically, my friend's dad is a part owner of a minor league team and we were talking about this and he said that this is why he is on the business side of baseball and not the player side because the lifestyle is brutal to get to the big leagues.

As soon as Minor Leagues had their demands in part met on salaries ( not quite up to par yet ), Owners voted for contraction of Minor League at A Ball Level in number of affiliates. Some affiliates are outright owned by the Major League Baseball Club, while others are affiliated but independently owned. The player and training personnel payroll expenses are picked up by the Major League Club. ] as of now, at least Minor Leaguers have Union Representation, but they are still represented by the MLBPA, whose minor league ballplayers might not be at their heart. Since all of the in Ball Park revenue in operating a Minor League Ball Club is kept by the Franchised Minor League Operator, it means, Major League Owners have little to no interest in the welfare of minor leaguers. They see the whole thing as a feeder and at that, they want to keep the expenses at a fixed bracket. Minor League, short of player transactions, it is seen as a cost center, not a profit center. If you, as a Bal,l Player, are signing up for a pro contract, and your bonus does not meet your projected living expenses, then just walk away. At some point, the owners will get the message and start making due adjustments. Depth and options is what they want, it must then come at a price.

I've only paid to see MLB twice in over 60 years. TWO TIMES TOO MANY. I will never PAY DIRECTLY EVER AGAIN, bad enough i watch some games on cable. In a letter to Manfred I said PAY YOURSELF $14K STARTING **right now**, SEE HOW YOU LIKE IT.

I use to work with a guy he played minor league he also had to work part time!when it was traveling days he wasn’t there

Read alot on this subject, and he's not making this up, and it is a horrible way to treat players that make you millions in the stands speak up America

I recall a former farmhand for the SF Giants , who got his law degree, Garret Brosius , leading a class action lawsuit against Major League on the account of these exploitative practices. Every major league team covers on field payroll at the minors , from the lower levels and up. Affiliate minor league teams only meet payroll for administrative and ballpark personnel. Players coaches, are given minor league prorated pay rates , outside the 40 man playing roster. In the paper a $50,000 a year contract looks good , only it is only paid a portion of it. The lawsuit wrang some concessions , but it also forced the minor league development programs towards contraction , mostly at the lower levels. Which sends borderline talent into independent ball leagues. With lower pay rate. It’s a losing proposition. Only 5 % make it to the show. And yet, young fortune seekers bank to the odds.

In season housing finally just happened 🙌

So upsetting. Minor leaguers need better stuff yet alone pay

The MLB players have the most power to change this if they organize in concert with the minor league players to get them adequate housing, food, and a living wage

There comes a time when you should realize that you are not going to make it to the big show and can make more money at Taco Bell.

You can tell this dude is from the suburbs. You’re not in the big leagues, they’re not gonna pamper you, this is actually BETTER than how most people making 17,000 are living, all I see are some dudes that need to clean their apartment

If you are in the minors 5 years plus and see that you are not heading anywhere maybe just a get a real job ?

Making less than minimum wage is insane.

instead of paying the big league players the extremely exorbitant pay they get, they should set some of that aside for the minor league systems

Damn I thought they would at least get housing this is insane

what's worse is that the owners LOBBIED for this.

I never knew this wow those billionaires could at least give the 1000 a month

I’m to the point in hearing about all kinds of career paths through growing up. That theirs nothing you can do to get a real career any more! Now we are all just rats and slaves to the very few who have more money than they know what to do with it… truth hurts!

some MLB players making the mega dough should contribute to AAA AA A ..david price was class act😎

Ufc needs a union

We're talking only rookie or low A level here right? Surely AAA players get some decent coin...right? EDIT: Seriously??? An average of $14,700 for AAA??? That's not even full time minimum wage!!

Reality: you are a mediocre athlete playing a game.

I'm going to say an unpopular opinion in my opinion do you really have to draft out of high school what do 1 + 5 players maybe make the Major leagues out of high school also all the undrafted players that come from South America you can play four years of college ball and many years in the minors and never make it so you're telling me they would rather take someone that's from South America and I'm not belittling anybody but let's honestly think about that I personally believe that the minor leagues overall hurt Major League baseball and the fact that you can sign international players for next to nothing

the thing is they don't have a lot people show up to minor league games which gives owners the right to pay so little ...its a sad situation

Sob story

'Can't afford a decent meal'. What is a 'decent meal'. I'm homeless. If I have to freaking tell a professional baseball player how to take advantage of the resources in your community, you don't deserve to be anywhere the show. If you don't want that ham and cheese sandwich, I'll take it.

Boo hoo. 😭

It's not about money man. If you play because you want the mone,, your chasing the wrong dream. MLB is a joke and they don't even draft they way they used too.

Stop whining it costs to chase dreams. Y’all acting like it doesn’t happen in other professions

This is a business Jesus Christ. Not Humanitarian org omg

be a minimalist like Correa.

Then don’t play it and go get a job

Boo Hoo

Slavery never died, it just takes different forms. I'm no Communist but it's evident capitalism needs some serious reforms.

Them crowds be having 100 people.

You are playing a game for a living. Go and get a real job, then complain

Minor hockey isn't much better

Fake news. It is well documented that minor league players are compensated extremely well. They get the privilege of opportunity. The ability to dream. That is far greater than the money they seek or the meals they crave. Your teacher told you that the likelihood of you being a major leaguer was not likely to happen and to have a back up. However, you believed in yourself and bet on your talent. You made your bed, now sleep in it.

@mlb @milb

Now you know how a woman feels when she clocks in at work

Last I checked minor leaguers CHOOSE to follow their dreams of making MLB. That is your choice. Live the life or get a real job.

Boo-hoo! Let's feel bad for the jocks. They made the choice. They could have done their own homework, taken their own tests, gone to college and gotten a paying job. But, no. They could even have played baseball AND gone to college, taken real courses and gotten a real degree with a free ride scholarship and no student debt for the rest of their lives. But, no. They knew what the job paid and they took it. Much of the blame goes to parents who value sports over AP calculus and to school systems who give jocks a privileged and pampered experience which does not prepare them for the real world.

bro you are doing gambling yo don’t forget about that😅