THE MINOR LEAGUES
Baseball insiders often refer to Minor League Baseball (MiLB) as a “farm system,” because it’s where new baseball talent “grows” ripe for Major League Baseball (MLB) to pluck it. It’s in the minor leagues that players move up through the ranks–a process called “player development.” However, the threat of being moved back down is ever-present, especially for players who have just recently made it up into the Majors.
Major League Baseball has somewhat of a monopoly on professional baseball. A Supreme Court decision in 1922 that made baseball exempt from antitrust legislation, giving organized baseball enormous control over the industry. MLB and MiLB are tied together through a series of team affiliations. These affiliations are created by Player Development Contracts, which give the Major League team signs with a number of the child team’s players. Not only does the MLB have control over contracted players, but they also have the exclusive right to buy the contract of a non-contracted player from their child team. In exchange, the parent team pays the players’ salaries, benefits, and team materials, while the child team only has to cover operational and travel costs. This is why there are so few independent teams; without money from the major leagues, it is very difficult to keep a team running.
Organized baseball is structured to maximize profit for those at the top. The modern predecessor to Minor League Baseball was originally founded in the early 20th century to prevent the Major Leagues from snatching up their players the instant they showed promise. But with the advent of the farm system, baseball players’ agency became largely illusory.
MINOR LEAGUE FANDOM & THE REAL-LIFE PORTLAND MAVERICKS
In The Brothers K, Papa Toe comments on the sorry state of the stands when he says, “Portland Tug junkies are not your average fans. They don’t come to root They are minor league fans. They know their players’ll be whisked off to the Bigs. They know the entire team’ll be sold to a different major league franchise every few seasons. So why get all loyal and excited about it? To hell with who wins.”
Minor League Baseball teams often run into problems when building a dedicated fanbase. Players often don’t stay for more than a season or two in a team before getting called up to higher division, thanks to the way that organized baseball is structured. Although a few independent leagues exist now, in the 60s and 70s they were virtually (and sometimes completely) nonexistent.
In real life, Portland did have a revival of baseball interest thanks to the entrance of the Portland Mavericks on the scene. In 1973, the Beavers left Portland after 70 years due to low attendance and low enthusiasm. One commenter Noted that “Portland is a baseball town that needs a rest.” In response, actor Bing Russell (star of Bonanza and father of Kurt Russell) decided to start up an independent team that wouldn’t be subjected to the strict governance of organized baseball. When he established the Portland Mavericks as a Short Season Class-A Team, they were the only independent ball team in the country—a rarity due to the costly prospect of having to pay its own players, rather than have a Major League affiliate team pay players’ salaries.
The Mavericks were a wild success. Although they lasted only five years, in that time they broke attendance records, inspired a fiercely loyal fan base, and in 1978 dominated their entire league, much to the dismay of Organized Baseball. The secret to their success? The answer most people give, corny as it is, is that the players were in it for the love of the game. The team was made up of players who for one reason or another couldn’t make it professionally, but who wanted to play ball for a living. The players were loyal to their team, and thanks to their independent status would not be whisked away to higher divisions.
For the full story of the Portland Mavericks, we recommend watching The Battered Bastards of Baseball, a 2014 documentary that can be viewed online through Netflix.
ORGANIZATION
With the exception of a few small independent leagues, the vast majority of baseball in the United States is under control of the Commissioner of Baseball, who is the chief executive of both Major League Baseball (MLB) and Minor League Baseball (MiLB). MLB consists of the National League and the American League. MiLB has a number of classes, listed below:
Class AAA
The highest level of MiLB, consisting of the best players who seem most likely to make it into the majors. (The fictional Portland Tugs in TBK are a AAA league.) AAA baseball consists of the International League (Eastern US, formerly included some Canadian teams) and the Pacific Coast League (Wester US).
Class AA
The first tier of the “upper minor leagues,” representing the most significant threshold for players’ skills until they’re drafted into the Majors.
Class A Advanced
The higher subdivision of Class A, which consists of separate leagues.
Class A
The lowest league classification that plays a full season.
Short Season Leagues
These shortened-season leagues exist to help new players, especially those right out of college, transition into higher leagues
Rookie
The lowest rank, with the shortest seasons. Games don’t sell tickets or even concessions, because this league exists primarily for players to improve their skills.
SOURCES:
The Battered Bastards of Baseball. Dir. Chapman Way. Netflix, 2014. Film.
“Farm Team.” Wikipedia. 13 Feb. 2016. Web.
“Minor League Baseball.” Wikipedia. 13 Feb. 2016. Web.
The Brothers K 