Bernie Sanders Goes to Bat for Baseball Players as MLB Proposes Terminating Minor League Teams

[Uncle Joe]

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) shares a laugh as he warms up before his baseball game against the Leaders Believers Achievers Foundation at the Field of Dreams Baseball field on August 19, 2019 in Dyersville, Iowa. (Photo: Joshua Lott/Getty Images)

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"Shutting down 25 percent of Minor League Baseball teams, as you have proposed, would be an absolute disaster for baseball fans, workers, and communities throughout the country," Sanders (I-Vt.) wrote in a letter to Manfred. "Not only would your extreme proposal destroy thousands of jobs and devastate local economies, it would be terrible for baseball."

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While Minor League Baseball players make as little as $1,160 a month (less than the $7.25 an hour federal minimum wage) and are denied overtime pay, the 20 wealthiest Major League Baseball owners have a combined net worth of more than $50 billion. The average Major League Baseball team is now worth nearly $1.8 billion and made $40 million in profits last year alone, a 38 percent increase from the previous year.

Let's be clear. Your proposal to slash the number of minor league teams has nothing to do with what is good for baseball, but it has everything to do with greed. Your proposal to throw about 1,000 ball players out of work comes less than three months after an appeals court ruled that Minor League Baseball players could move forward with a class action lawsuit seeking higher wages.

In other words, instead of paying Minor League Baseball players a living wage, it appears that the multi-millionaire and billionaire owners of Major League Baseball would rather throw them out on the street no matter how many fans, communities and workers get hurt in the process. If this is the type of attitude that Major League Baseball and its owners have then I think it's time for Congress and the executive branch to seriously rethink and reconsider all of the benefits it has bestowed to the league including, but not limited to, its anti-trust exemption.

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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/11/25/bernie-sanders-goes-bat-baseball-players-mlb-proposes-terminating-minor-league-teams

[George II]

2. Russia has taken over Crimea, Turkey is slaughtering the Kurds, ISIS is rejuvenated....

....thousands of children are in cages separated from their parents, etc.

Is this really something a president (or would-be president) should be spending his time on?

[Uncle Joe]

3. So if Bernie didn't spend "any time" fighting for minor league baseball players, the fans and

local communities that support them, Russia would leave Crimea, Turkey would quit slaughtering the Kurds, ISIS would disappear and all the children would be reunited with their parents?

I hate to say it but I believe you believe Bernie has greater powers to change the world than even I do, despite your continuous trashing of whatever he does.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

4. Bazinga!!

[LanternWaste]

5. It's fun to pretend hating to say something we actually want to say.

It allows us a pretense of civility and cleverness we may not otherwise have convenient access to.

[ChubbyStar]

7. It's fun to pretend to know what everyone is thinking

It allows us a pretense of civility and cleverness we may not otherwise have convenient access to.

[corbettkroehler]

9. Alright, Cynics, Refute That Logic If You Dare! (n/t)

[George II]

12. You always turn things inside out. NO, I didn't say or hint that, but.....

....someone vying to be president of the United States should be more concerned with the issues facing the entire country and the world instead of propping up minor league baseball teams who aren't attracting fans anyway.

Ever notice he doesn't get into foreign affairs much at all? Why is that?

[TidalWave46]

8. I think this is sometimes where the gulf becomes a bit too wide.

Each thing you mention is of great importance. What many see when they read it is "someone elses problem." International. Not domestic. Whereas what the op covers is domestic. The domestic side of the equation is going to carry more weight with the average voter.

Has to be about both. The thing to highlight is Sanders aversion to some international issues.

[TidalWave46]

6. I'm not that familiar with the structure of the minors.

I do know I go to a lot of minor league games each year. Love our local team and the entertainment. It's my understanding the games I am going to are one level below the minors where they pull people up from. It's also my understanding that it is a MLB minor team.

The two minor league teams close to me are money makers, not losers.

Go Threshers!!!

Love that photo of Sanders.

[whistler162]

13. If I understand it

the Major league is thinking about eliminating/consolidating the leagues below AAA, which is the feeder into the major leagues.

http://www.milb.com/milb/info/affiliations.jsp

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/18/sports/baseball/minor-league-changes.html

[JoeOtterbein]

10. K n R ! Thanks for posting!

[Uncle Joe]

11. Why this Marlins' minor league announcer left to join the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign

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His path to the Sanders campaign, however, was partially rooted in tragedy. During his senior year at San Jose State, his mother passed away from lung cancer following a two-year battle. Having experienced that firsthand, Oas said Sanders’ Medicare for All program was something that really spoke to him.

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"Diagnosis had a bill of $130,000 though, so it was pretty wild to be told that everything was OK because you’re take care of, but in reality, you know that’s not the case for every one, and also that someone’s profiting off what’s probably your darkest moment as a family. So that was a very easy thing to connect with the Bernie campaign.”

While Oas is leaving sports, minor league baseball — and the Clinton LumberKings — has ironically found their way on to Sanders’ platform. A recently introduced proposal from MLB would eliminate 42 minor league teams — including the LumberKings — in a cost-cutting move. On Monday, the senator spoke against the proposal, saying “it would destroy thousands of jobs and devastate local economies.”

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“I would hope Major League Baseball would see the minor leagues for what they are, which is an investment across the country that a lot of other sports are envious of,” Oas said. "Basketball and football can’t go into smaller markets in Montana and Idaho [and] in those small communities like Missoula, Billings or Clinton, Iowa.

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https://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/miami-marlins/fl-sp-marlins-announcer-bernie-sanders-20191126-izdus23nkfbjnakiauzb4s2a74-story.html