While the occasional article is free for everyone, the vast majority of this content is restricted to my Patreon subscribers, whose support allows me to write all of this in the first place. Please consider becoming a subscriber! -Marc Normandin
Unlock with PatreonLet’s talk about antitrust exemptions
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Do you know anything about how the modern incarnation of the National Basketball Association was formed*? There was an NBA union before the NBA as we know it existed, and the actions of that union helped form the much larger, much more stable and lucrative NBA of today.
*I promise, this is related to baseball, just give me a minute.
Minor League unionization, entitlement, and the USLPA
While the occasional article is free for everyone, the vast majority of this content is restricted to my Patreon subscribers, whose support allows me to write all of this in the first place. Please consider becoming a subscriber! -Marc Normandin
Reader mailbag: Extensions and the future of the labor market
While the occasional article is free for everyone, the vast majority of this content is restricted to my Patreon subscribers, whose support allows me to write all of this in the first place. Please consider becoming a subscriber! -Marc Normandin
Ozzie Albies’ awful extension makes sense, and that’s the problem
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We’ve been talking a lot about extensions lately, but, well, extensions keep happening. Ozzie Albies is the latest to sign one, and it’s a doozy: it’s basically the culmination of everything MLB has worked for in terms of suppressing potential outlets for earnings, funneling players into one specific direction that benefits teams more than anyone else.
Jeff Passan reported that agents, scouts, and even team executives think Albies’ seven-year extension worth $35 million guaranteed, that jumps to nine-years and $45 million should his options be picked up, could be “the worst contract ever for a player.” Michael Baumann wrote an article in response to that for The Ringer that does not discredit the notion that Albies and his agent put pen to an awful piece of paper. Craig Goldstein tweeted a thread on how Albies’ deal is a reminder that teams are acting like insurance companies, and if you know anything about myself or Craig, no, that is not a compliment.
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MLB, Cuba agreement on signing players is no more thanks to Donald Trump
While the occasional article is free for everyone, the vast majority of this content is restricted to my Patreon subscribers, whose support allows me to write all of this in the first place. Please consider becoming a subscriber! -Marc Normandin
Scott Boras weighed in on all these contract extensions (and he’s right)
While the occasional article is free for everyone, the vast majority of this content is restricted to my Patreon subscribers, whose support allows me to write all of this in the first place. Please consider becoming a subscriber! -Marc Normandin
Even more economic proposals for the MLBPA to consider
While the occasional article is free for everyone, the vast majority of this content is restricted to my Patreon subscribers, whose support allows me to write all of this in the first place. Please consider becoming a subscriber! -Marc Normandin
The first strike in MLB (and pro sports) happened on this day in 1972
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Navigating the internet on April 1 is an annual nightmare, but worry not, this newsletter comes bearing facts only. This date is the anniversary of an important labor battle in MLB history: April 1, 1972 was the beginning of the first strike in MLB history, and in professional sports.
MLB’s owners were shocked to find out that the players were striking, even though their actions are what pushed the players into this historic moment in the first place. It was an easily avoidable strike, too, given the issue that the Major League Baseball Players Association and MLB were negotiating in the lead-up to it. The union wanted an increase to the owners’ contributions to the players’ pension, in light of the existence of things like “rising cost of healthcare” and “inflation” and “a four-year, $70 million television deal with NBC that injected massive quantities of cash into MLB, cash the players weren’t necessarily going to ever see in a pre-free agency world.” MLBPA Executive Director Marvin Miller even had a plan for this increase to be funded, without the owners having to spend any of their own money to do it: the existing pension fund created income just by being there, and Miller suggested using the surplus $500,000 to fund the players’ retirement benefits.
Continue reading “The first strike in MLB (and pro sports) happened on this day in 1972”
MLB player survey sheds light on labor issues
While the occasional article is free for everyone, the vast majority of this content is restricted to my Patreon subscribers, whose support allows me to write all of this in the first place. Please consider becoming a subscriber! -Marc Normandin