The Athletic’s Levi Weaver on the Save America’s Pastime Act
This week’s episode of Ducksnort Baseball Podcast features The Athletic‘s Texas Rangers beat writer Levi Weaver.
He explains how MLB lobbied Congress to exempt them from paying minor leaguers a living wage, and how Commissioner Rob Manfred tried to justify the behavior during an interview with Levi:
“Just recently the league sent lobbyists to Washington D.C., and part of what the lobbyists were doing is making sure the most recent spending bill had what’s called the Save America’s Pastime Act put into it, which basically specifies that baseball players are to be classified the same as entertainers and seasonal workers, and thus not subject to fair labor laws.
One of the big arguments that I’ve gotten from people is ‘Hey man, this is the free market, right? Everybody wants to play baseball.’ They’re trying to shoehorn supply-and-demand into the conversation… That’s all well and good, if you’re not sending lobbyists to Washington D.C. to artificially depress wages. That’s no longer the free market. What that is, is power making sure that they stay in power…
So I just said [to Manfred], ‘What’s the league’s justification for this?'”
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Plus Greg and Wayland discuss how the initial struggles of many 2017 playoff teams potentially setup a more interesting and competitive the 2018 season, as well as try to comprehend how Shohei Ohtani could change baseball forever.
With thoughts on Kenley Jansen, Giancarlo Stanton’s swing-and-miss problems, Justin Turner, Asdrubal Cabrera and the Mets’ surprising success, Jose Quintana, the division-leading but not fear-inducing Pirates, and more!
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