I had not heard anything about this. Interesting but obviously stupid too.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/sports/mlb/2014/08/17/mlb-minor-league-pay/14191877/

Larussa looks like a zombie in that pic.

There might be a point if they only focused the article on career minor leagues but they then interview all these MLB superstars that talk about how tough it was, kind of loses it's luster at that point.
My guess this is more a union movement than anything else? Why hasn't the MLB Players Assoc taken the minors under their wing?

My take: I was drafted by the blue Jays and sent to the GCl in Florida. I was told the Jays took better care of their rookies than most.

I was a Senior drafted in the 15th round so my signing bonus was the minimum $1000. Monthly pay for rookies was $1100 for only the months we played. I lived with a host family and paid them $200 month which paid for my room and food (we ate family dinners together).

We had the typical club house dues. We were fed breakfast every morning and we had lunch provided to us M-Saturday. My shoulder crapped out in 2 years so I never got to find out what the higher levels were like.

As you can see, we were paid peanuts. In the offseason (Fall) I finished my degree and worked and internship. Regardless of who gave the interviews, the truth is still the truth in the minor leagues. I however am not complaining as it was my dream to be in the position I was in.

Notice it was three former players and not current players who went to court. Players want to play and they don't even think about organizing against their employer. Bonus money or at least the hope of making even the big league minimum is enough to keep the wolves at bay. The last thing any player wanted was to be the skunk in the clubhouse and risk a shortened career.

The reality is that the working conditions aren't bad at all unless you just like to complain. Its a lifestyle almost all of us wanted and were satisfied with (until we weren't and we did something else). We were worth what they paid us because we had no real alternative. The idea that we were making any money to play was enough. A dream was accomplished.

We always joked about the true hourly wage and we just laughed about it. We weren't generating the kind of revenue that warrants larger pay days after bonus money is distributed (which is a rounding error for clubs).

This is in large part why I think college football and basketball players are getting hosed. They are directly involved in the billion dollar industry and you can't buy them lunch. Their pristine working conditions and the myth of the free education is exactly how those wolves are kept at bay.

A college athlete... basketball and football specifically... college is their minors.

As opposed to the $5K you get from MiLB... college kids get $15-20K worth of school each year... a roof over their head and all meals paid... their "spread" at the dining hall.

True they don't get ca$h, beyond selling books.

It costs schools far more maintain athletes than it does MiLB. And there are FAR more opportunities.

120 +/- D1 programs @85 scholarships each = 10,200.

MiLB: AAA, AA, A+, A, rookie, dev league...

Say 50 Rds X 30 picks = 1500 drafted each year, with 5 years => 7500. And a percentage of these are from college.

Yeah except those scholarships are only actually fractions of a scholarship per person.

I was comparing MiLB vs Football and Basketball scholarships.

Not baseball partials. The point of stating some of those are from college was to note that of the 7500 players drafted by MLB... they are not all from HS.

So, the 7500 opportunities for MiLB is even that much less than it is for college football scholarships.

And as of now... those kids don't have to pay taxes on scholarships, where as, even the $5K/yr is subjected to SS and Medicaid.