Are minor league baseball players exploited?

I spent a few days in Great Falls, Montana in '89 and the Dodgers' A ball team was there; got to hang out with them one night; young, bright-eyed kids;sure they're playing a game professionally and have a chance to get to the Big Show, but wow it seemed like a grind. But hey chance to put a uni on and play pro? I wanted to do what they were doing.

 

Who pays the players' salaries, the minor league team or the major league affiliate?

If it's the minor league team, then the low salaries are fairly understandable. If it's the major league team, it's inexcusable. Even an extra $200 a month per player is only $5,000 a month. That's a rounding error to a big league club.

 

The interns get screwed over.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/today/minors/season-preview/2010/269688.html

 

Another question comes to mind: Organized ball vs. indie league. Just skimming the OPs link, it discussed organized ball, but things must be more Spartan in the indie leagues.

 

From a 2013 Washington Times story on indy ball:

 

Big leagues pay players.

 

I am pretty sure now the MLB teams pay the salaries of all players they have under contract.

In the indie leagues, the teams are writing the paychecks themselves.

 

This. Even in shottie's example, $2,000 a month plus meal money isn't terrible for a guy in his early 20s. And there is incentive to deal with the low pay for a while if a guy thinks he can make it. But if he hangs on in the minors for even a few years, like into his late 20s, he either just really enjoys the life or is delusional. I don't think I could deal with it, but if I was young enough and thought I had a shot, I'd do it in a heartbeat.

 

The problem is that most of those guys went pro right out of high school and the job market is going to be tough post-baseball.

 

This is also a small quibble and a tangent, but when Hayhurst writes ... And while you might think that nibble is well worth the effort—a shiny merit badge that tells the whole world you once made it to the top—that badge will not pay your bills, get you a job in the real world, or earn health coverage for your family.

This is tremendously incorrect. In this day, a former major league player can run a travel team (12 kids) and give private lessons, and between those two he could make $25,000 a year in his spare time. Turn it into a business, where that's all you're doing and you run multiple teams, and you can make into six figures.

 

This is pretty significant, too. I feel safe in saying a scary high percentage of these guys have put the eggs of their life into one basket.

And while this is a valid point, let's remember that a minority of these guys will be former major league players. The market for your post-pro services drops considerably if you top out in AA.

 

You think a guy like Pete Orr is going to be able to give lessons and make that much?