Rob Manfred’s Latest Gaffe Is About More Than Just the Sound Bite

Minor league players don’t make a living wage, no matter what premise the commissioner rejects. Pressure is mounting for him to change that.

LOS ANGELES — On Monday, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred, requesting information about the league’s antitrust exemption with a particular focus on how it affects minor-league pay. On Tuesday, Manfred shared a few of his thoughts with the media: What could be the problem with minor-league pay? The commissioner apparently does not see one.

Asked if minor-league pay remains low because owners cannot afford to pay the players more or because they simply do not want to, Manfred responded thusly:

“Look, I kind of reject the premise of the question that minor league players are not paid a living wage,” he said. “I think that we've made real strides in the last three years in terms of what minor league players are paid—even putting to one side the signing bonuses that many of them have already received. They received housing, which obviously is another form of compensation. So, you know, I just reject the question. I don't know what else to say.”

AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

If the question seemed designed to trap Manfred, well, it doesn’t particularly matter: He should have seen it coming. The subject of minor-league pay has always been fraught and has only grown more so in recent years. It’s attracted the notice of politicians, like the aforementioned Senate Judiciary Committee, as well as much of the general baseball public. Manfred spoke for half an hour on Tuesday about topics ranging from the draft to league expansion to regional streaming networks. But it was his callous phrasing on the minor leagues—I just reject the question—that ensured this was the sound bite to stand out and take off.

It sounds all the worse given the timing.

Last week, MLB agreed to pay $185 million to settle a federal class-action lawsuit filed by minor leaguers. More than $120 million of that will go directly to thousands of eligible players, who had accused teams of violating minimum-wage and overtime laws. As part of the settlement, MLB also issued a memo saying that clubs will now be allowed to pay the players during spring training. (No, they’re not required to, they’re simply now allowed to if they so choose.) The Senate Judiciary Committee, meanwhile, has continued its inquiry into the antitrust exemption—which has been targeted for various reasons over its century of existence but is now in the crosshairs for its influence on the minor leagues.

MLB is the only of the major professional American sports leagues to hold such an exemption. It was granted in 1922 via the Supreme Court ruling on Federal Baseball Club v. National League. It does not have much of a direct impact on major league players: They’re represented by a union, and in the presence of a collective bargaining agreement, labor law applies instead of antitrust law. (They’re further protected by the 1998 Curt Flood Act, which carved out major league players from the antitrust exemption while keeping it in place for other areas of league business.) But minor leaguers have no union and no similar protection.

The current inquiry began in June with a letter from the committee to the non-profit group Advocates for Minor Leaguers. (The letter, like the one sent to Manfred, was signed by committee leadership from both parties, including Democratic senators Dick Durbin and Richard Blumenthal and Republican senators Chuck Grassley and Mike Lee.) It was a request for information similar to the one that Manfred received on Monday—questions about the role of the exemption in creating and enabling various work conditions across the minors.

Advocates for Minor Leaguers gave its response to the committee earlier this month. Manfred has been asked to give his own by July 26.

This is not the first political challenge to the antitrust exemption. But Advocates for Minor Leaguers’ leadership is hopeful this particular one has a chance for success—because of its timing, its context and its bipartisan nature.

“This isn’t just one politician or even one political party sort of grandstanding or saying they’re going to use this for leverage or publicity,” Advocates for Minor Leaguers executive director Harry Marino said on Tuesday morning. “I think, honestly, it’s the context in terms of the awareness around the way minor league players are treated… It’s been percolating for a little while, but it’s really come to the forefront in the last year.”

The minors’ low pay and grueling lifestyle are not new. But as more players have spoken out about the reality of making as little as a few hundred dollars a week during the season—and traditionally nothing at all during spring training—there’s been public pressure for the league to change. (The players are paid according to a scale agreed on by the 30 major league teams.) As a result, MLB has made some adjustments: The league bumped the minimum salary at every level in 2021 and began providing housing for most players in ‘22. But there is still frustration. The new minimum salaries from Single A to Triple A range from $500 to $700 a week in-season; many players take second jobs to make ends meet, and some struggle still, Advocates for Minor Leaguers noted in a statement. While top draft picks have signing bonuses that can support them for years, as Manfred argued on Tuesday, many players get nothing close to that: A bonus can be as small as $1,000. But activists hope the tide might be turning—even in the face of Manfred’s comments on Tuesday.

“I think the league is very nervous,” Marino said. “And with good reason, right? … Players are the lifeblood of the game. These players are very important right now in the minor leagues, they’re also future major league players, and they’ve had an awakening about the way they’re treated.”