Testimony of a Minor League Player Before a Congressional Committee

The following statement was given before the Senate Judiciary Committee on June 17, 1997, at a hearing to discuss proposed legislation to apply the antitrust laws to major league baseball. Mr. Peltier is a former professional baseball player who played in both the minor and major leagues. His statement is interesting for the insights it gives into the life of a minor league player.

STATEMENT OF DAN PELTIER

Mr. PELTIER. Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, my name is Dan Peltier. I had the opportunity and the pleasure to play professional baseball at all possible levels for 8 years. I played rookie ball with the Butte Copper Kings in the Pioneer League, double A with the Tulsa Drillers, triple A level with the Oklahoma City 89ers and the Phoenix Fire Birds, and I also played with the Texas Rangers and the San Francisco Giants at the major league level. I also had the opportunity to play in the independent Northern League with the St. Paul Saints. I greatly appreciate this opportunity to talk about my experiences and about the realities of baseball in the minors from the players' perspective.

Before beginning, I would like to point out that I recognize that I am one of the lucky ones. Unlike most professional players, I got the chance to play in the majors. Currently, there are approximately 4,500 active minor league players on affiliated minor league teams. Every year, the major league teams draft more than 1,200 new players, more than 1,600 players this year in 1997. So the turnover rate is very high.

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As I understand it, only 1 out of every 10 players drafted even gets 1 day in the major leagues. Only 1 out of every 100 actually has a career in the majors. Moreover, when I retired, I had my college degree, a degree in accounting from the University of Notre Dame. Many players are out of the game by their mid- to late 20's, with a high school degree, a wife, children, and no marketable skills.

There are a lot of myths about playing in the minors. People think that it is the last bastion of professional sports where winning is all that matters, that economics are not as important as talent and the fun of the game. In reality, minor league baseball is a tough business where failure is the norm and success is the rare exception. Here are some basic facts.

First, the primary objective of every player in the minors is not to have a winning season, to have the best team, or to be the league champion. It is to play well enough to get off the team and play in the major leagues. It is better to have a good season for a losing team than to have average statistics for a winner. Rosters are constantly changing and there is little chance to build team chemistry or unity. Everyone in the minors - players, coaches, and managers-have one thing in common; that is, to be in the big leagues.

Second, no one gets wealthy in the minors. Most baseball players do not make in a year as much as Cal Ripken makes for one game. In fact, most minor league players would love to make what I understand you pay your entry-level staffers. When I played rookie ball, although I was under contract for a year, I made $850 a month for 21/2 months. In double A, I made $1,350 a month, and in triple A I made $1,850 a month for 5 months. Clubhouse dues and tips cost roughly $1,500 for the season, leaving me about $7,500 before taxes. I have no idea how some of my friends who were married and had kids were able to make ends meet.

Third, a minor league baseball players has very few rights. Baseball's reserve clause is very much like the indentured servitude of the 1700's. When you first sign, you are owned by that team for basically 7 seasons. A team can buy you, sell you, send you to another country, or fire you whenever they want. They can cut you if you get hurt.

A player, on the other hand, cannot try to play for someone else. He can't try out for his home team. You have to play for the team that drafted you even if they are loaded at your position. I got drafted by the Texas Rangers after my junior year of college as an outfielder. I also played some first base. When I was ready for the majors, the Texas outfield included superstars such as Juan Gonzalez in left, Ruben Sierra in right, and Raphael Palmeiro at first. I got the chance to play when Ruben Sierra got hurt, but was sent back to the minors when he came back, even though at the time I was hitting .385.

Under the standard minor league contract, a player is required to waive all rights to appeal any action by the team in State or Federal court. You can appeal to the commissioner of baseball, except there has been no commissioner for almost 5 years. In addition, you are pushed to leave college or not to attend in the first

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place and play in the minors, even though the chances are that you will never have a career in the major leagues.

Oddly, if you are an American citizen, you have less bargaining power than kids from other countries. Players in the United States can only play for the team that drafts them. The only bargaining power that some have is to stay in college. Players from other countries, such as the Dominican Republic or Cuba, are not subject to the draft. They are free agents and can choose to play for the team that makes the best offer. Because of this fact, teams from the United States and Japan are signing players from Latin and South American countries at an increasingly young age.

Perhaps most important, there is the mindset of the minors which at best is a bit unrealistic. The longer you stay in, the fewer options you have and more desperate you seem to get. You know you are playing against a stacked deck, but in your heart you firmly believe you are different, that you are going to be the exception. One's perspective of reality at 18 tends to be a little different than one's perspective at 28 or 38.

Moreover, there is an incredible pressure to perform. You are al ways a day from being let go and there are hundreds of other guys ready to take your place if you have a problem. At times, the minors seem to be a series of acts of desperation.

Given these facts, I think you can understand my surprise that some want to stack the deck even further and create a new Federal law exempting the owners' actions in the minors from the antitrust laws. Quite frankly, what else do the owners need than what they have already? What are the laws they must be able to break in order to run minor league teams? How much more power do they need when bargaining with an 18-year-old kid whom they own for 7 years, and what minor league player is going to jeopardize his career by challenging the system? If you believe a player would do that, then you really don't understand the mindset of a minor league player.

Having played in an independent league, there are even some differences between these two types of minor leagues. The Northern League was very similar to double A ball in terms of pay and playing conditions, but there is a different atmosphere between the team and the fans. The primary purpose of the St. Paul Saints, which is the team that I played for, was to entertain the fans, and that commitment by the team was mirrored by the commitment from the community. Every game was a sellout. People came hours ahead of the game for tailgate parties even though there was a major league team literally only 10 miles away. The games were more fun.

Despite these observations, I would not give up my experience in playing baseball for anything. There is no greater feeling in the world than the first time you get called up to the majors, and there is also no greater low than the day that you get sent back down. Knowing what I know, I would still do it all over again. The basic fact is that you don't have to sign if you don't want to. However, this obsession with making the majors should not be a justification for the current treatment of minor league players, and I certainly hope it would not be used as an excuse to give major league and minor league owners a legal blank check.

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I understand that the legislation before this committee does not address the minor leagues, however. It does not create any new rights or delete any existing ones. It is only about the relationship between the major league owners and the major league players. Consequently, it should not be changed to award the owners with even more power.

Before giving the owners an exemption for all of their activities in the minors, I hope Congress will take the time to learn more about the legal and economic realities of the minors, and not simply rely upon some of the current myths. Professional baseball owners already have more power than they need, and certainly more than they deserve.

Thank you for this opportunity and I will be happy to answer any questions.

United States. Congress. Senate Committee on the Judiciary. Major League Baseball Antitrust Reform: Hearing Before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate, One Hundred Fifth Congress, First Session on S. 53, a Bill to Require the General Application of the Antitrust Laws to Major League Baseball and for Other Purposes. (Washington: G.P.O. 1997). Pages 13-16.