JJ Cooper of Baseball America continued to enlighten us today on the upcoming new Player Development Contract for the minor leagues.
There will be no more clubhouse dues deducted from players paychecks. Up till now the players were responsible for paying a significant chunk of clubhouse managers ( clubbies ) reimbursements and for food purchases. Under the new agreement MLB will pay the clubbies directly ...
In addition MLB will pay or provide for the player and coaches meals at the stadium.
“Under the old system, clubbies generally were paid through a stipend from the MiLB team (usually in the low four-figures per month) as well as mandatory clubhouse dues and voluntary tips from players. Those dues, which ranged from roughly $8 to $15 or more a day per player, were also the funds clubbies used to buy food for pregame and postgame meals. In recent years, many MLB teams opted to pay for and provide postgame meals for the players, but in most of those cases the pregame spread was still the responsibility of the clubbie funded from dues.”
In the new proposal clubbies will be direct employees of the major league club unless designated by the club as the affiliate’s employees. Regardless the funding for their pay will be the responsibility of the Major League team. Clubhouse managers are generally paid for in season services only ... that amounts to about $ 16,200 per employee according to the article.
In addition all snacks, drinks, towels and beverages in the clubhouse will be funded by the MLB team. The agreement prohibits the collection of clubhouse dues from players however if they chose to give the clubbies tips they can do so at their own choice.
As part of this new process for meals all MILB teams must now provide adequate areas for food preparation and dining for both home and visiting teams.
One other tidbit ...
Clubbies will now be expected to travel with the teams ... previously this wasn’t a requirement. This likely will lead to additional jobs for folks to clean the home clubhouse when the clubbies are on the road trips ... they used to do that themselves while the team was away.
One alteration to game times from what was reported before ...
On getaway days the proposal was adjusted to allow games to start at 7:05 PM local time if neither team is traveling more than 150 miles away ... those games must start no later than 6:05 PM local time otherwise.
Teams are also going to be allowed to schedule one game per season between 11 AM and Noon local time as long as it’s preceded by a day game of off day.
Lastly for warm weather teams ... if the average daily temp is higher than 90 degrees in a particular half month of the year then no games can be scheduled before 6 PM local time during that month.
To be honest it sounds like a lot of good things for the players ... I know folks are upset about the contraction of teams but the protocol changes to me are positive.
Happy Day, Happy Baseball ⚾️
Photo by Cheryl Pursell
