On Friday, after Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred responded to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee’s request for information regarding the league’s antitrust exemption and its impact on the minor leagues, Senator Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), the Majority Whip and Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued a statement of his own.
“It is reasonable to question the premise that MLB is treating the Minor Leaguers fairly,” Durbin said in the statement. “Commissioner Manfred’s response to our bipartisan request for information raises more questions than it answers, and the discrepancies between today’s letter and the reality that minor league players are experiencing reinforce the importance of the Committee’s bipartisan review of the century-old baseball antitrust exemption. We need to make sure MLB is stepping up to the plate when it comes to fair treatment of players and communities, which is why the Judiciary Committee is planning an upcoming hearing on the issue.”
Manfred wrote in his 17-page letter to the committee, which was obtained by Sports Illustrated, that “the baseball antitrust exemption has meaningfully improved the lives of minor league players, including their terms and conditions of employment, and has enabled the operators of minor league affiliates to offer professional baseball in certain communities that otherwise could not economically support a professional baseball team.”
“Much of what Manfred wrote in the letter is demonstrably false,” said SI MLB editor Matt Martell. “In actuality, because of the antitrust exemption, MLB does not have to pay minor leaguers minimum wage. Minor league players are not covered by the MLB Players’ Association or any other union, and therefore do not have the protections of a Collective Bargaining Agreement and labor law. Many minor leaguers have to seek outside employment during the season, and sometimes during it.”
The topic of minor leaguers’ wages is nothing new. In May, MLB agreed to pay minor leaguers $185 million to settle a lawsuit regarding violations of minimum wage laws. Right now, the minimum salaries for each level of minor league contracts are as follows: $400 weekly at rookie ball, $500 at Class A, $600 at Double A and $700 at Triple A.
