Bernie Sanders Fight To Save Minor League Baseball Is One Issue Thats Unifying Congress – Forbes

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders' fight to save minor league baseball is ... [+] rallying bipartisan members of Congress around democratic socialist ideals.

It is not surprising Sen. Bernie Sanders has spent significant time over the last couple of weeks railing against a small group of billionaires whom he thinks are choosing profit over humanity. But in a strange twist, House minority leader Kevin McCarthy agrees with the democratic socialist, along with over 100 bipartisan members of Congressincluding Rep. Elise Stefanik, one of President Donald Trumps most vociferous defenders during the impeachment proceedings.

Last month, the aforementioned 106 congressional members sent a letter to MLB expressing their firm opposition to a cost-cutting proposal that would slash 42 minor league teams across the country. The current agreement between MLB and its minor league affiliates expires at the end of next season.

One proposal would regroup more than 40 teams in an inferior Dream League that would be run jointly by MLB and Minor League Baseball and include players who werent drafted. MLB, which generated a record-setting $10.3 billion in revenue last year, pays the entirety of minor league salaries. The undertaking costs the league as little as $1,160 and $2,150 per month for each Single-A and Triple-A player, per ESPN.

Sanders, like former MLB commissioner Bud Selig, says baseball is more of a public trust than a business. The Democratic presidential hopeful points to the leagues unique antitrust exemption from Congress and practice of using public funds to finance stadiums as reasons why franchises are indebted to their host communities. This week, Sanders met with commissioner Rob Manfred, which prompted MLB to release a vaguely worded statement saying it is committed to negotiating with Minor League Baseball to find solutions that balance the competing interests of local communities, MLB clubs, Minor League owners, and the young players who pursue their dream of becoming professional baseball players.

MLB contests eliminating minor league teams would streamline the player development process and improve conditions for the games best prospects most likely to reach the big leagues.

Sanders doesnt appear to buy MLBs message. In an interview Friday with the L.A. Times, the longtime Vermont senator said he wants the minor league reshuffling plan to be expunged entirely. Baseball is a social phenomenon. It brings people together, from all kinds of backgrounds and races and religions, Sanders told Bill Shaikin. So baseball cannot be looked at as another business, to make as much money as possible, especially given the fact they made $1.2 billion in profits last year. Thats pretty good. And you dont have to shut down minor league teams in order to make a bit more. They should pay attention to the needs of those communities, the fans in those communities, and the city governments that have supported local baseball. Thats the message that I will be conveying to major league owners.

The core of Sanders messagethat corporate profits should not take priority over the wellbeing of people and communitiesis not different from his other rallying points on the campaign trail. Sanders argument for providing universal healthcare coverage, for example, hinges on the notion that healthcare is a human right and not meant to be milked for profit.

And yet even most of the other Democratic contenders for president wont embrace universal healthcare. The widespread galvanization around the crusade to save minor league baseball speaks to how the power of first-person impact can spark politicians to buck the party line. There is a reason why former vice president Dick Cheney is pro gay marriage, and former First Lady Nancy Reagan was a staunch advocate for stem-cell research.

To further prove the point, more than half of the members of Congress who formally admonished MLB for its minor league subtraction plan voted last year for a spending bill that exempted teams from paying minor league players overtime.

But that draconian measure, of course, only affects minor league baseball players. MLBs plan to eliminate 42 teams impacts all sorts of communities, including Representative McCarthys district. The Lancaster Jethawks, an affiliate of the Colorado Rockies, are on the chopping block.

Suddenly, the concept of democratic socialism doesnt appear so frightening. Expect Sanders and other progressives to keep using minor league baseball as a major league issue.

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Bernie Sanders Fight To Save Minor League Baseball Is One Issue Thats Unifying Congress - Forbes