Minor Leaguers Send Letter To Congress Asking For More Protections

In a letter to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, executive director of Advocates from Minor Leaguers Harry Marino expressed his dissatisfaction with the MLB’s antitrust exemption and the lack of protection given to minor leave players.

Marino asked Congress to expand the Curt Flood Act, a law that revoked the MLBs antitrust exemption in 1998. The exemption allows the MLB to have protection against laws that prevent collusion and anti-competitive practices. This means that the Major League has the ability to relocate franchises more freely and influence media blackouts, among other things. They also have unilateral control of the minor leagues. This allowed the MLB to contract only 42 of their 162 affiliates from the minor leagues. A move that brought major controversy and has the potential to happen again. “It is only a matter of time until the MLB owners inform us that they intend to take a wrecking ball to our national game once more,” Marino wrote. “As we sit here today, another round of Minor League contraction – fewer players and more devastated communities – appears inevitable. The owners have already indicated as much to those who are paying attention.” Before the 2021 season, each minor league team signed a 10-year development license with the MLB.

If the Curt Flood Act is expanded, minor league players would be afforded the possibility of negotiating “the length and terms of their initial Minor League contracts with their Major League teams, knowing that at the end of those initial contracts they would be free to sign with the Major League team willing to provide them the best overall compensation package.”

Under the current system, Triple-A players make a minimum of $700 a week, Double-A $600, Single-A $500, and complex-league players $400. Players are also able to receive signing bonuses, starting at $1,000 and topping out in the seven-figure range. This along with the MLB’s practice of avoiding minimum-wage and overtime laws has created conflict between the minor leagues from the MLB.

This comes just a week after a bipartisan effort led by Sens. Dick Durbin (D), Chuck Grassley (R), Richard Blumenthal (D) and Mike Lee (R) sent a letter to the Advocates for Minor Leaguers that questioned the legality of Major League Baseball’s antitrust exemptions.