In Iowa, Bernie Sanders fights to preserve minor league baseball

Nick Coltrain | Des Moines Register

Show Caption Hide Caption Bernie Sanders plays softball at the Field of Dreams Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., hosted a softball game at the Field of Dreams on Monday, Aug. 19, 2019, in Dyersville.

BURLINGTON, Ia. — U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders brought former minor league baseball players, Iowa team leaders and advocates to his bully pulpit Sunday as part of his fight save Major League Baseball affiliates of 42 teams, including three in Iowa.

Major League Baseball officials have argued the teams don’t have adequate facilities to meet league standards. Clinton LumberKings General Manager Ted Tornow argued the MLB is trying to push more costs onto minor league teams and the communities that support them. The MLB and Minor League Baseball are negotiating their next 10-year contract that formalizes their relationship.

Meanwhile, an ongoing lawsuit alleges team owners are violating minimum wage laws by not paying minor league players for spring training, as well as paying generally low wages. Garrett Broshuis, the attorney for the plaintiffs and a former minor league player himself, speaking Sunday at Sanders’ event at an indoor practice facility said a teammate routinely skipped meals to save money.

Sanders recalled bringing a minor league affiliate to Burlington, Vermont, when he was mayor there in the 1980s. It brought “a sense of community” to the city, he said — an argument echoed by Kim Parker, general manager of the Burlington Bees of Iowa. The Bees, LumberKings and Quad Cities River Bandits were represented at Sanders’ roundtable discussion. All three would lose affiliation under the MLB’s restructuring proposal.

“This team is the heart and soul of Burlington,” Parker said, adding that minor league teams and their easier access to players are “prepping kids to fall in love with baseball.”

Ray Gimenez, a former player on the Clinton LumberKings who is now a pastor at the Faith Center Church in Clinton, said the team is an important institution in an economically struggling town with its shrinking population.

“If you take away baseball, this city will collapse economically,” he said. “I believe that.”

To these communities, baseball is more than just a business’ bottom line, Sanders said. That’s why Congress provides Major League Baseball with cutouts to anti-trust laws, and local governments give teams “hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate welfare” through stadium financing deals, Sanders said.

On Friday night, the Los Angeles Times reported that MLB officials threatened to scrap the entire existing minor league system and build its own. Shortly after, Sanders released a letter to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred saying he was “outraged” at the reported threat, and reminded Manfred that he promised to negotiate “in good faith” with the minor leagues.

“Threatening to walk away from the entire minor league system is the exact opposite of negotiating in good faith,” Sanders wrote.

The support for local issues perked up some likely caucusgoers at a Burlington event Saturday night. Denise and Dan Moore, of Fort Madison, went to see Sanders, hoping to get a better sense of his priorities and campaign organization. Among other platforms that struck them, his attention to their local minor league team helped to elevate him on the couple’s candidate preferences.

Denise Moore’s grandfather played professional baseball in the Bees stadium, and they spoke of being able to take their grandkids to the games.

Sanders’ attention to the Bees “really says a lot about his organization and his commitment to regular people,” Dan Moore said, adding that it helped make Sanders his top candidate. “… It’s important that he talks to the regular people, and he talked to me.”

Preserving the 42 teams has bipartisan support, Sanders said, including from U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa. Grassley said in a press statement that he had concerns with the potential loss of teams in Iowa, and stressed to an MLB official the need to set clear facility standards and to give communities time to comply before eliminating any teams.

U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat who is also seeking his party’s nomination for president, wrote a letter to Manfred in early December urging him to preserve the teams in his home state, Iowa and nationwide.

“These teams have given a lot to their communities, and we should think seriously about the costs of giving up on their players and fans alike,” Bennet wrote. “Americans will see through attempts to frame the destruction of beloved local institutions under the guise of reform.”

Nick Coltrain is a politics and data reporter for the Register. Reach him at ncoltrain@registermedia.com or at 515-284-8361. Your subscription makes work like this possible. Subscribe today at DesMoinesRegister.com/Deal.