Bernie Sanders addresses pay difference between minor league players and MLB owners

Maleeha Syed | Burlington Free Press

Minor League Baseball players don't make enough. Or maybe major league owners make too much. At least that's what Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt, suggested in his letter to the commissioner of the MLB.

Forty-two minor league teams, including the Vermont Lake Monsters, could get booted in lieu of major league restructuring plans. Minor league players could join a separate league that includes undrafted players.

More: Major League Baseball wants to cut minor league teams: What that means for the Vermont Lake Monsters

"While Minor League Baseball players make as little as $1,160 a month ... and are denied overtime pay, the 20 wealthiest Major League Baseball owners have a combined net worth of more than $50 billion," Sanders wrote in a statement to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred.

More: A day in the life of an MiLB Vermont Lake Monster

The plan to cut minor league teams had little to do with baseball, the senator wrote — "but it has everything to do with greed."

.@MLB is proposing to cut 42 Minor League Baseball clubs.



This has nothing to do with what's good for baseball and everything to do with greed.



It would destroy thousands of jobs and devastate local economies.



I'm urging @MLB Commissioner Manfred to stop this proposal. pic.twitter.com/89AZduYrlT — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 25, 2019

The senator expressed concern for the impact cuts like these could have on economies and jobs across the United States.

Pay for Minor League Baseball players

About one thousand minor league players would be out of jobs at a time when they are seeking higher pay, according to the senator.

Minor league players generally make around $7,500 a year, based on an NPR report from 2018. Their major league counterparts typically rack up over $4 million, by comparison.

A separate Associated Press report found that while some minor league athletes get $1,100 a month in a five-month season, major league pay can range from $555,000 to over $30 million each year. Some players in the minor league have diffulty paying for equipment, rent and food.

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Contact Maleeha Syed at mzsyed@freepressmedia.com or 802-495-6595. Follow her on Twitter @MaleehaSyed89.