Minor League Baseball players earn 8.12 million won a year

In 1994, Park Chan-ho made his direct entry to Los Angeles Dodgers in the U.S. only to be sent to the minor league in a few days when he had to grab hamburger and coke for meals. He made a big return with the name of “Special Korean Park Chan-ho.” Looking back on his difficult times, Choo Shin-su of the Texas Rangers said, “My family of three had to live on less than 1.5 million won a month when I was in the Minor League. Sometimes, I only had bread and peanut butter and still had to practice.”

According to the daily USA Today on Wednesday (local time), the cold reality, often likened to “bread with tears” and faced by players in the Minor League, still remains. The average annual salary paid by the Minor League was merely some 7,500 U.S. dollars (approx. 8.12 million Korean won). This translates into that minor leaguers are paid one five-hundred-sixty-sixth of what major leaguers earn, compared to 4.24 million dollars paid by the MajorL right before the opening game this year. The average monthly payment for major leaguers (0.35 million dollars) is 47 times the average annual salary for minor leaguers. Although the MBL secretariat has not revealed the annual salary information for Minor League players, it is known that players in Rookie League make the lowest monthly salary of 1,100 dollars and Triple-A players are paid with the highest 2,150 dollars.

Last year, 34 minor leaguers filed a lawsuit against MLB Secretariat and 30 clubs for unfair treatment. The trial is planned to start in 2017. “The minimum wage and overtime pay regulated by the federal and state laws are not applied to professional baseball players. They are professional, which means that overtime payment can’t be made for them even though they do swing training or play overtime,” strongly responded the secretariat.

Korea’s professional baseball without major or minor league paid some 6 million won (approx. 5,537 dollars) in 1982, the first year of Korean baseball and is now paying 27 million won (approx. 24,918 dollars). According to Korea Baseball Organization, except for 27 players on the first roster with the highest annual salary and foreign players, the average annual salary of the rest 327 players was 29.56 million won (approx. 27,280 dollars).

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