Saving America’s Pastime? Act could mean trouble for Frontier League, Wild Things
Wild Things players are a mix of former major league draft picks looking for a second chance in affiliated baseball, college players who went undrafted and career independent league players. If they are not deemed to be seasonal employees, players in the Frontier League could be in line for a significant bump in pay.
Buried deep in the $1.3 trillion omnibus spending bill the U.S. Congress recently approved, and President Donald Trump signed into law March 23, is a provision about, of all things, minor-league baseball salaries.
On page 1,967 of the bill is a provision, called the “Save America’s Pastime Act” that mandates minor-league baseball players receive at least federal minimum wage for a 40-hour work week. As long as Major League Baseball pays its minor leaguers the federal minimum wage, then the players will not be entitled to additional pay for overtime or offseason work.
Major League Baseball spent two years and a reported $1.32 million lobbying for such a provision that exempts minor leaguers from federal labor laws.
It means minor league players also have struck out in several pending lawsuits that claim violations of wage and overtime laws. A similar lawsuit was filed against the independent Frontier League in 2016 by two former players, including a pitcher who played briefly with the Washington Wild Things, but that case was dismissed in less than a year.
However, the problem for the Frontier League is the spending bill’s provision makes no mention of independent leagues, where many player salaries fall below the minimum-wage standards. For many independent leaguers, the opportunity to start or continue their professional career outweighs the salaries.
A recent Baseball America article suggested the “Save America’s Pastime Act” could instead put many independent leagues, including the Frontier League, out of business because teams will not be able to cover the increased player salaries. The article caused a social media uproar among the independent baseball community.
“If that is the case, it puts us out of business,” Mike Shapiro, president of the independent Pacific Association’s San Rafael Pacifics, told Baseball America. “It would be the ruination of at least lower level independent leagues like ours. We’re struggling enough with worker’s comp . . . It’s the end of independent ball, certainly at the lower levels.”
However, Frontier League commissioner Bill Lee, is not ready to say his league will become the collateral damage of the spending bill.
“We’re going to wait and see what happens. It has been business as usual,” Lee said. “We’ll wait and see how it impacts us.
“This is why smarter people than us are looking at the situation for us. We’ll see what they say and what we have to do. We’re in a holding pattern.”
Seasonal or not?
Independent leagues have a plausible argument they are covered by an exception to the federal minimum-wage and overtime laws, which applys to seasonal amusement or recreational businesses. Under Section 213 of the Fair Labor Standards Act, any business providing amusement or recreational services to the public that operates for seven months or less per year is not required to pay its employees the minimum wage or overtime.
The Frontier League season runs from mid-May to early September, fewer than four full months. Unlike the affiliated minor league teams, which are farm clubs of a Major League Baseball team, independent teams do not have control over their players once the season ends. For example, independent teams do not pay their players to participate in winter leagues or attend offseason instructional programs or workouts.
This allows independent leagues to fall into the seasonal employment category and set salary caps that ensure many players will not make minimum wages. The salary cap for each team in the Frontier League is $75,000 and players can be paid as little as $600 per month up to $1,600. The average Frontier League player salary is about $750 per month. That puts the Frontier League in the middle of the independent pay scale. The Atlantic League, which features many former major league and Class AAA players, American Association and Can-Am League have larger salary caps. The Pacific Association is planning to use a $25,000 salary cap, down from $40,000, because of a rise in worker’s compensation costs. In the Pecos League, some players do not receive a salary but rather are considered “volunteer players.”
Under the “Save America’s Pastime Act” minor-league player salaries must be about $1,100 per player per month. Whether they must apply to be considered seasonal employees has yet to be determined.
Where do independent leagues go from here?
Though the potential wage situation and “Save America’s Pastime Act” were not discussed at the Frontier League’s most recent league meeting, some independent leagues and teams have taken a proactive approach. In St. Paul, where the American Association’s Saints play in the $61 million taxpayer-funded CHS Field that opened in 2015, some players in the league make as little as $800 per month, though the city is prepared to institute its own minimum wage of $15 an hour.
The Saints have gone to the Minnesota legislature for protection, seeking an exemption from minimum wage laws.
The Frontier League hasn’t gone that route, yet. League officials’ thinking is, if teams were already excused from minimum-wage and overtime laws under the seasonal exemption, there is no immediate need to make drastic changes. Several clubs told the Observer-Reporter they are still signing players under the league’s planned salary standards. One team even mentioned the majority of players it has under contract for 2018 will make the $600 per month league minimum.
“We’re going to look into this and abide by the law,” Wild Things owner Stu Williams said. “I don’t see this as being the end of independent baseball by any stretch of the imagination. If it turns out that we have to make changes, then we will at that time. As of now, it’s now business as usual.”