No one gets rich playing minor league baseball, and no one goes broke buying a ticket to see a game at that level, either.
Some teams and leagues do better than others but as a whole, some 40 million fans went through turnstyles in Appleton, Beloit and one of the other 158 or so other markes. At these levels, it's more about the sizzle than the steak: sure, you're watching big league hopefuls but you're also getting a relatively cheap night out, full of between-inning distractions, crazy promotions and small-town marketing designed to make sure you come back again. And if the home team wins, all the better.
Full disclosure, for those of you don't already know: my son and I have been hitting the road most every summer since his late elementary school days, doing ballparks major and minor in all parts of the country (see the map above). I admit, I'm biased: I love the smaller stages a lot and would like to see them left alone.
Yet MLB is thinking of eliminating 42 teams (many of them at the lowest levels), claiming it'll improve efficencies in developing talent while improving work conditions. The big league teams pay minor league salaries while the MiLB franchises pick up the tab for everything else.Â
It's no concidence that the push comes after minor league players filed a class-action lawsuit to improve their lot in baseball life, somehow thinking that it's not right that they have to get by on about $8,000 a summer. It forces them to be, um, creative in terms of stretching a buck. They survive on fast food and flop where they can for the night. Living on the game's fringes is part of the charm of the minor leagues, but c'mon. And, with no union representing them the guys in the AAA levels and beneath are left to their own devices.
The system worked for years, but there's a thought that the new analytics-driven big-league management teams do, indeed, want more bang for their statisitical buck, putting their money into guys closer to being sure-things instead of career minor leaguers. If money were an issue for the game at its highest levels, that would be a valid argument. Then again, no one gets rich working for a big league club unless you're between the lines or in the very nicest of the front offices.Â
The free market worked fine for lo these many years and should be allowed to cull the haves from the have-nots in the bush leagues. Teams move when local support dwindles, when communities can no longer provide them with decent facilities. Beloit came close to seeing the Snappers go until new ownership and local business came up with a plan to build the club a sorely-needed new stadium, one that's to be ready in 2021 when the proposed cuts would kick in. Snappers management is full-steam ahead and figures to be open for business then and beyone. Â
Like any other business, a minor league franchise should have its fate decided by performance, not fiat. The ones that falter will sadly go away–my son and I spent a week in Florida a few years ago, attending games where most fans were disguised as empty seats, with crowds that numbered in the low 100's. We've been in other communities where the local club was the height of the social season, where hard-core seamheads shared the sport with young adults savoring another dollar-beer night. Teams do what they can for their towns, supporting local charities and, if nothing else, giving teens summer jobs.Â
The minor leagues of “Bull Durham” days are gone. Yes, there are relics like Beloit's Pohlman Field but they're in the vast minority. Many parks are modern and comfy with seating options galore including the odd luxury box or two. The only thing that lingers from the Crash Davis era seems to be the crappy pay, sketchy living conditions and janky travel (they're called “the bus leagues” for a reason). Rather than cutting teams, it would seem to make sense to bolster pay (would it really cost THAT much to invest in future talent?) and let the system weed itself out.Â
After all, can 40 million fans be wrong?
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