Getting to First Base

Think all pro baseball players are rich? Think again.

[Ed. note - today is shoulder surgery day, so I'm not sure when I'll be back at the keyboard. Hopefully there's at least one more post before this blog is taken out back and shot on New Year's, but if not...this is a good enough topic to end on. It means a lot to me.]

Your average baseball fan assumes professional baseball players are all wealthy. Obviously, this is true for Alex Rodriguez, and bizarrely also for guys like BJ Ryan (whom I saw blowing saves in AAA while still making $10 million). However, it’s a frighteningly untrue for most Minor Leaguers.

Maybe you’ve heard this figure, but it bears repeating: The average Minor Leaguer made just $10,000 this year. And a lot of that has to go right back to the team for stuff like clubhouse dues. And of course, many of them have to move all over the place several times per summer on the whims of their parent clubs. And what about the married ones? Being the wife – or child – of a minor leaguer isn’t an easy path. The lack of income, the constant moving, the not-so-great health insurance, the inability to get a job in many of the MiLB towns where the husband pays because they’ll be moving soon anyway…it’s not good.

That's what a chasm looks like.

The problem is, not enough people see that there’s an issue. The assumption still prevails that “pro ballplayer” = “wealthy.” Check out the illuminating blog of Garrett Broshuis, a MiLB pitcher who happens to be a fantastic writer. He explains this whole situation better than I can on his blog and his work at Baseball America.

This post from Broshuis was what finally stirred me into action, after I knew what was going on for several years. And bear in mind, no one’s asking for multimillion deals here. Sayeth Broshuis:

“Minor league players recognize what they are: minor leaguers. They know most are doomed for obscurity, and they don’t expect to be paid richly. They don’t expect to drive Bentleys or to dress as if they’re auditioning for the next Kanye West video. They just want to be able to afford to eat.” -Garrett Broshuis

This isn’t a plea for a personal donation from you. As Broshuis explains in the linked post, the necessary changes to the MiLB pay structures wouldn’t have to cost fans anything – or at most, a tiny amount, like 50 extra cents per ticket. All I want is for more people to see what’s happening all over the country. And hey, if you’re interested in helping to change things, shoot me an e-mail. We’ll need all the help we can get to make this much-needed change.