Why Minor League Unionization Is A Home Run For Baseball

Why Minor League Unionization Is A Home Run For Baseball

This past September, as pennant races were heating up across Major League Baseball, Commissioner Rob Manfred and MLB voluntarily recognized a union for Minor League Baseball (“MiLB”) players.^[1] The push for unionization of MiLB has dragged on for a long time, somehow an even longer time than the recent 18-inning Astros-Mariners playoff game.^[2] MiLB joins MLB, the NFL, the NBA, the NHL, and others in a long list of professional sports organizations in the United States to have a players’ union.^[3] The difference is that MiLB represents a swath of players who are comparatively younger, less talented, and less assured for success than their big league counterparts, particularly for players who have not reached Triple-A yet, which is the MiLB’s most competitive level.^[4] That triumvirate has made for far less leverage in labor discussions for MiLB players than MLB players, and has made their push for a union an arduous one.^[5] So why, after decades, did MLB and Commissioner Manfred voluntarily recognize a union for MiLB players, rather than continuing to drag the process out? Because not only is unionization good for players and fans, but it has also now become good for MLB thanks to the exemption from antitrust law that the league can solidify with this move.

First and foremost, MiLB unionization is good for players. For the players, their minimal bargaining power is increased by acting collectively.^[6] Looking at basketball, prior to the establishment of a union in the NBA, players had “no pension plan, no per diem, no minimum wage, no health benefits and the average player salary was $8,000.”^[7] Now, nearly 60 years since a players’ strike at the 1964 NBA All-Star Game,^[8] all of those benefits are given to players and the average player salary has skyrocketed to $7.3 million.^[9] In MiLB, some players make as little as $400 per week while the season is occurring.^[10] With the recognition of the union, and the backing of the MLB Players Association, minor leaguers have the leverage to ask for increased wages, housing, and better field conditions.^[11] Unions for minor league hockey and basketball have succeeded in this country, managing to secure minimum salaries of $52,000 and $40,500, respectively.^[12] While the changes may be gradual, and talks may not always be smooth, minor leaguers now have their foot in the door and can follow the path set forth by every other players’ union in the United States.

Second, for fans, unionization can help eliminate management chicanery that drives away homegrown players. An example of this is service time manipulation. For baseball players, service time is measured by time spent on the 26-man roster or Major League injured list.^[13] A season is 187 days, but a player is deemed to have reached one year of service time after 172 days.^[14] After six years of service time have been accrued, a player is eligible for free agency at the conclusion of that season.^[15] Because of the service time system, teams will sometimes wait to include their best minor league players on their major league roster until 16 days into the season.^[16] By delaying the player’s MLB debut, teams can ensure that the player will not reach a year of service time by the end of the season, and will instead hit the mark at the beginning of the following year.^[17] That 16 day delay ripples to when the player eventually reaches six years of service time at the start of their seventh season, rather than the end of their sixth.^[18] This gives the team one extra year of retention over the player at a lower salary than the player could command as a free agent.^[19] But the cost of that extra year can be the alienation of a fan-favorite player.

Kris Bryant is a standout slugger who helped the Chicago Cubs to a World Series win in his second season in 2016, ending a championship drought lasting over a century for the Cubs.^[20] Bryant’s popularity in 2016 was such that he had the second-highest selling jersey in all of MLB.^[21] Prior to that, Bryant had a stellar spring training in 2015, and seemed ripe for a promotion to the Major Leagues to begin the 2015 MLB season.^[22] But the Cubs held him out to start the season, eventually adding him to the roster just in time for him to fall one day short of a fully accrued season at the major league level.^[23] While Bryant eventually cashed in to the tune of a seven-year, $182 million contract once he became a free agent, that contract was not with the Cubs.^[24] Sports Illustrated reported that after the Cubs manipulated his service time, Bryant was “not inclined to reward the team with a hometown discount.”^[25] As a result, Cubs fans saw their World Series hero traded away to San Francisco before he eventually signed with Colorado.^[26] San Francisco president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi said at the time of the trade, “I’ve never spoken to a player more excited to be coming to a new organization.”^[27]

The MLB union attempted to address service time manipulation during collective bargaining negotiations this past winter, agreeing with the league on several changes including performance goals that can accrue service time and rewards for teams that promote top prospects at the start of the season.^[28] This is just one example of unions identifying areas where management takes advantage of players to the detriment of fans, and working to close or shrink those loopholes.

Finally, minor league unionization is beneficial for MLB. While it may initially appear that giving in to some of the minor leaguers’ demands will hurt MLB’s profits, there is a legal reason that recognizing the union could nevertheless be the right move for the league. According to the Federal Trade Commission, antitrust law exists to preserve “free and unfettered competition as the rule of trade.”^[29] The first antitrust law passed by Congress was the Sherman Act of 1890, which, among other things, outlaws “[e]very contract, combination . . . or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States.”^[30] This would, in theory, include making it illegal for minor league teams to come together to agree to suppress the wages of their players. However, exactly a century ago in 1922, the Supreme Court determined that the game of baseball is not considered interstate commerce, and thus is exempt from the Sherman Act.^[31] What that means practically is that MiLB teams are fully allowed to agree amongst each other to keep wages for players as low as they have. Since that decision in Federal Baseball, other sports like football have attempted to secure the same general antitrust exemption, to no avail.^[32]

This strange loophole has not been without challenge over the past century. George Toolson, a minor league pitcher in the New York Yankees organization, challenged the decision in the 1950s, but the Supreme Court reaffirmed their position.^[33] In the 1970s, the exemption was again at issue in outfielder Curt Flood’s lawsuit.^[34] There, the Court acknowledged that baseball was interstate commerce and that the exemption was “an anomaly.”^[35] But the majority of the Court thought that Congress should be the ones to eliminate the exemption, if they so desired.^[36] Speaking of Congress, there has been a renewed push the past few years to officially end baseball’s antitrust exemption. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont wrote in a letter to Commissioner Manfred in 2019 that “it’s time for Congress and the executive branch to rethink and reconsider all of the benefits it has bestowed to the league including, but not limited to, its anti-trust exemption.”^[37] Additionally, this past June, four senators sent a bipartisan request for information about the impact of the antitrust exemption on minor league players.^[38] Eyes have begun to turn toward the exemption from Congress in a way they have not in the past century, and its future is in question.

Unionization by minor league players will allow MLB access to a different exemption to the Sherman Act. While baseball is the only sport inherently exempt from antitrust law, other sports like basketball still suppress player wages as well.^[39] While this would appear to violate the Sherman Act, other sports leagues are taking advantage of a different exemption, the non-statutory labor exemption to antitrust law.^[40] While antitrust law makes it illegal for a group of employers to conspire to set wages at a certain number, labor law makes it so that employers are forced to collectively bargain with a union over mandatory subjects of bargaining like hours, wages, and working conditions.^[41] Because these two laws are contradictory, courts have created the labor exemption to allow employers to conspire to set wages, provided they are doing so in good faith negotiations with a union.^[42] With MiLB players now being included in the union, MLB can still set wages however they like, as long as they can get the players to agree.^[43] By taking advantage of this exemption to antitrust law, the relevance of baseball’s general exemption to antitrust law decreases. So, while unionization might mean that MLB must bump up salaries and provide other benefits to minor league players to gain their agreement, it also means that the league can continue to take advantage of an exemption to antitrust law, just as their previous exemption was coming under fire.

In conclusion, the unionization of minor league baseball is a win for all parties. For the players, they pool their leverage together to improve their wages and working conditions. For the fans, they get players that are less likely to hold grudges that can mar otherwise romantic ideals about homegrown talent. For the league, they do not have to worry as much about potentially losing their century-old antitrust exemption, and they get to avoid potentially antagonizing players further by opposing the union. Get your brooms out, because with those three victories, unionization is a clean sweep.