Minor League Baseball Player Compensation: Legal and Economic Challenges.

The article focuses on the legal and economic challenges surrounding Minor League Baseball (MiLB) player compensation. Despite Major League Baseball’s (MLB) record revenues and high salaries for star players, MiLB players earn significantly less—between $20,000 and $37,000 annually—while often working 60 to 70 hours per week without overtime pay due to the Save America’s Pastime Act (SAPA). Although recent reforms have improved housing and minimum salaries through a collective bargaining agreement (CBA), issues persist, including low offseason pay and service time manipulation that delays players’ free agency and earning potential. The article recommends raising MiLB minimum salaries, extending overtime protections, penalizing service time manipulation, increasing offseason pay, and providing career development programs to address systemic inequities in the baseball developmental system. Extracted from the article