While Major League Baseball players typically enjoy comfortable salaries, but the same cannot be said of the players in Minor League Baseball.
According to a report from a nonprofit organization called More Than Baseball, most minor league players make less than $10,000 a year and as little as $4,800 thanks to wages that are significantly less than the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. Players in the minor leagues deal with poor living conditions and poor-quality food and are usually forced to work second jobs just to afford basic living expenses.
As a result, players report feeling unsatisfied with workplace conditions and pay, with 72 percent of respondents in a three-year survey of over 800 minor leaguers saying their needs were not met by current wages while 83 percent of players said increased salary was the change they’d most like to see in minor league baseball.
That’s what makes MLB commissioner Rob Manfred‘s recent comments so shocking. In a press conference ahead of Tuesday night’s MLB All-Star game, Manfred was completely dismissive of the current wage issues in Minor League Baseball, according to Evan Drellich.
Rob Manfred: “I kind of reject the premise of the question, that minor league players are not paid a living wage"
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) July 19, 2022
“I kind of reject the premise of the question, that minor league players are not paid a living wage,” Manfred said.
Harry Marino, director of Advocates for Minor Leaguers, called Manfred’s comments “callous and false.”
“Most Minor League baseball players work second jobs because their annual salaries are insufficient to make ends meet,” Marino said in a statement. “The commissioner makes an annual average salary of $17.5 million. His suggestion that Minor League pay is acceptable is both callous and false.”
Naturally, Manfred’s comments caused quite a stir in the baseball world.
I once knew a group of minor leaguers who got every meal at Sonic because their stipends wouldn't afford them to get food at other restaurants and they weren't home enough to keep groceries. https://t.co/O7BhguAcn3
— Mike Sharp (@Sharp208) July 19, 2022
Was hoping this was from the Onion but it was not https://t.co/qKQ4MHPm6u
— Mike Donovan (@TheMikeDonovan) July 19, 2022
"They're alive, aren't they?"
OK, he didn't say that, but I'm sure he was thinking of it. https://t.co/kAJsTDplg5
— Dan Szymborski (@DSzymborski) July 19, 2022
MLB lobbied congress with millions of dollars so that MiLB players are exempt from labor laws https://t.co/kuUnqW47yI
— nick shlain (@electricsnuff) July 19, 2022
Rob Manfred should maybe take a trip to a low minor league town, try to live like a minor leaguer. Dude would last maybe five minutes. https://t.co/4pVxhEqSee
— Matt Lindner (@mattlindner) July 19, 2022
I kind of reject the premise of Rob Manfred as a competent commissioner. https://t.co/q79TmJ5geF
— Slavko Bekovic (@SBekovic) July 19, 2022
good god https://t.co/fP4w5S6iJe
— Arif Hasan, but NFL 🏈 (@ArifHasanNFL) July 19, 2022
Man who makes $17.5 mil a year weighs in https://t.co/gnJaes83Zl
— Logan Mullen (@ByLoganMullen) July 19, 2022
After years of fighting to suppress minor league wages, the MLB did raise the minimum salaries of minor leaguers for the 2021 season, but it’s clear there is still a long way to go.
