Meanwhile, as a behind the scenes Ballpark worker who has very little to no contact with the players - the general salary for us grunts is being paid our Holiday rate. That is usually 1.5 our normal rate - so if we make $20/hour, we get paid $30/hour for playoff games. Pay rates for BP employees are usually Union-mandated - so there can be differences in pay rates between employees depending who they are sub-contracted under (Aramark, Delaware North, Ace Parking, Elite Security, Center Plate, etc.) Usually Ushers and Office Staff (Marketing, Entertainment, sometimes Maintenance, etc.) are directly under the ball club they work for, but sometimes they are also Union so they get contractually paid. So, if any grunt employee gets any amount of a share - anything above $2000 would be significant. $40k would be life-altering. And of course anything above $100k is life-changing for a Minimum Wage grunt.
The amount of enthusiasm you have for throwin life-changing shares at people is really beautiful. It's always wonderful to see someone who, being in a good place themselves, wants to help lift those around them up. One of the many reasons I'm a fan, buddy. Keep it up and thanks.
Thank you for spending a bit of time talking about bat boys. I worked as a bat boy in the Padres minor league system in high school and while it was a cool job (and certainly unorthodox) most people have NO IDEA what a bat boy actually does. It’s not just collecting bats/gloves/guards/balls on the field. It’s stocking the dugout with seeds and gum, towels, making all the Gatorade, doing all the laundry, cleaning up the spread, taking out the trash, running errands for players, cleaning, scrubbing the stains out of the uniforms, hanging all the laundry, cleaning shoes, mail, stocking managers/coaches/umpires fridges and anything else my clubbie/manager/players asked me to do. Bad clubhouse staff (including batboys) definitely would affect a team and it’s cool to hear a player reflect on their service respectfully.
Rickey Henderson was famous for yelling "FULL SHARE!" at every name offered at these meetings. He knew how much that money could help the staff and off-field workers around the team. Didn't matter what name was said or the job they did, Rickey was 100% "FULL SHARE!"
Rickey don't need the money. Rickey says give them boys a full share!! Sounds like a thing Rickey would say tho in all honestly. He DID hang up a $1 million check in his penthouse for over a year lol
Amazing info Trevor. Am i the only one who finds it crazy that the players (employees of the team), have an onus put upon them to reward other employees (non-players) out of their share of the playoff money? It’s extremely generous, but shouldnt these bonuses come from management? Show me another business that acts like this? 🤷♂️
1st, for good or bad it is the way the Players Union negotiated for the players. 2nd, They have no obligation to give to employees, they decide to do so. You don't have to give a X-mas bonus to the mailman, but it's always nice to show appreciation to people that do a job for you, especially if you have a relationship with them. Also, who says the organization doesn't/can't hand out bonuses as well. Although who are we kidding, they probably don't.
I remember reading years ago a story where a player got traded from one team ( I'm pretty sure was the Yankees) to another team (Cubs?) and the two met in the World Series. The player was voted for like a quarter share and his former teammates on the Yankees got wind of it and were not happy, arguing he helped that team get to the WS. So they voted him a full winner's share instead of a portion of it. I think this was in the 30s and if my memory is correct about the Yankees and Cubs, either 1932 or 1938 but I can't find any player who played for both those teams in those years. Maybe someone else's memory is better or can find a reference.
Great explanation. Thanks. Yes, the players are the ones most deserving as they’re doing the most, but it’s good to see them show some class and take care of the support staff. They make the players be able to concentrate on the game.
Wow, I was an Usher at Dodger Stadium during the McFraud era from 2003 - 2011 and they went to the playoffs 4 of those seasons. Guess how much they gave us....BIG OL' GOOSE EGG! Wish I didn't know I could have gotten even a minuscule amount from an owner that cared.
Fascinating! I have a question: do high-salary players ever say something like, "Hey, I don't need a share. I'm good"? (Like you said, as crazy as it sounds, Max Scherzer might not even notice an extra $16K in his bank account.)
Idk but I hope so. If I was making upwards of 20 million a year do I REALLY need another $9k-350k? Maybe I'm dumb and that's why I'm not rich but I sure as hell would make sure it goes to someone who needs it more than I.
That's a phenomenal shout 👌. You'd like to think that these players who are on generational money (and they're entitled to earn that kind of money) would be generous enough to pass off their share to those less fortunate, however, They earned that share too.
I drive MLB trams for the past 20 years. Stories about how the bus works for players like seating on the bus and who sits where , making rookies do things like sing between airport and hotel , Lots of inner stories of life on the road of a mlb player
Seems crazy to me that the shares are given out to support staff from the players who are already receiving less than they should. You'd think that would be from the owner side. Would that be the same process? Or because they're the owners, they don't receive any shares since they literally don't have to share?
That's pretty cool, I like that it gets divided up with some employees... don't like that owners get everything from from the from game 5 to 7 (or whatever format the round is) but I get it...
this seems like a lot more work than just prorating the salary based on games played and then giving out bonuses by performance instead of praying you got called up in march not september.
It's really fucked up that you guys have to even give support staff life changing money. Ownership should just be paying them enough to actually thrive.
On the one hand, I like how this system empowers players. On the other hand, it seems like a sneaky way to offload potentially controversial decisions from ownership onto labor.
I totally get why owners get a slice of the pie, hell I think it’s GOOD that they get a slice, as there’s not much as is incentivizing them to be competitive otherwise. But taking a majority of the pool is insane to me. It’s more money for them regardless if it’s $100 or $1,000,000. But ya know, they obviously need to have MORE of the more money. Meanwhile the players, the thing we fans pay our hard earned money to watch, are sending some of their share of the pie to stadium and team staff out of the kindness of their hearts, which is super cool, but that should just be a built in part of the team and stadium staffs contract/employment benefits.
At the end of the day, the players agreed to it. It's just on of those things to pay attention to and adjust accordingly through negotiation each year. I know I sound pretty apathetic when I talk about that type of stuff, but I also acknowledge that this process of noticing an imbalance and correcting it as best you can is an example of a pretty good system working.
Now I understand why there are playoff sweeps. If I understand May correctly, the players really have no financial incentive to play any more playoff games than the minimum required to complete a series.
With 6 teams making the playoffs per League, did they do away with giving bonus money for non-playoff teams that finish in 2nd and 3rd place in their division? Years before they started giving a trophy for finishing in 6th place, they would give playoff shares to teams that finished in 2nd and 3rd place. (Kind of like how bowling leagues do) I'd love to know that please, Trevor.
It's great that the players get to decide how to divvy up the money. But if the Clubs and owners are making so much more on TV and merchandise, shouldn't they be willing to reward those who help the team as well? Follow up question: Are these shares treated like bonus pay or tips and does everyone have to report that as income? (Like your 12 year old batboy?)
If you're the Mets what do you give Luisangel Acuna? 14 games played. First game September 14. Yet would the Mets have made the postseason without him filling in for their best player and doing it excellently?
Honest question: Why does staff get paid out of the player shares? I get that you want thank them for their hard work all year, and you can still do that, but they are team employees right? Shouldn't ownership pay them out of their cut?
Why the hell are the players paying a share to support staff? That should all be coming from the ownership, that's who hired those people, that's who should be giving them the bonus!
I’m a Mets fan, loved you on the team, was sad that you did not come back but understood the West coast part, family. Like your channel and how you give us such detail of being a pro, behind the scenes, ALL THE PLAYER PERKS. But this video, although informative kind of pissed me off. Complaining that the owners want more games to make more money? Why can’t they? It’s their team and really, how does anyone know what they do with their shares? Maybe they’re taking care of stadium people, parking etc. Not all owners are evil like John Fisher. The worst part for me is players making millions of dollars are looking forward to a $16,000 bonus check. Maybe players who make more than $5 million per year only get a 1/4 share and all those people like you said that are first in, last out get extra money which would really help them out. Sure there are players every year that bring it to the post season and definitely warrant a full share. What about the batters who stink at the plate, pitchers who stink on the mound. Same shares as the rest. Just makes me a little angry to hear you talk about how great it is to get a full share and how you dislike the owners getting any.
I think you're seeing complaining that isn't really there my friend. Also, I don't dislike the owners "getting any." I dislike the constant effort to create situations where they get to keep ALL OF IT. Every game past a sweep (ie. games 5-7 in the CS and WS) the owners keep 100% of revenue. Also, you seem to dislike players making millions, but are willing to give owners a pass for making billions. Im sorry it made you angry, but at the end of the day, I will always support the employee over ownership. It's important for holding the decision makers accountable for the decisions they make, especially when they try to spin it in dishonest ways. Thats all.
@@TrevorMayBaseball Salaries are too high and the owners are too greedy. It’s hard on fans to attend games, park, have some food and drinks, buy souvenirs for the kids. Do MLB players think (close to league average) $5 million dollars a year is a lot of money? Taking into consideration life long health benefits after 4 years a long with a pension? I think a full pension after 10 years is $275 K per year. When I see players making well over that and owners who also want to make more money, it’s just so aggravating. Learning the amount of playoff money made it that much more spicy to me. Still appreciate the info on the topic and most other topics you discuss. Doing a fine job and thanks for commenting on mine. I think it’s cool having a discussion with an ex player and one that played for the Mets.
@@TrevorMayBaseballthat job has a lot of responsibility and so many different items to take care of. Have you ever heard what a teams season travel cost is ? Gotta be in the millions hotel, buses , trains , nothing cheap that for sure. No cheap ended hotels either
Thats the dumbest method . Im suprised theres not lawsuits over this . They need to pay the guys that on the roster or ir, all the same amount every game played . Who wants that pressure of making that decision your going to piss someone off.
Brutal part is that the money is awesome, don’t get me wrong, but I bet these owners are so cheap with salaries… imagine being the reds grounds keepers or whatever… making like 40k a year for hard work and every once in a decade getting a 100k check haha.
It’s crazy that players don’t make their salary in the playoffs. Like you’re required to work, but you don’t get your base salary for those work days? If the league wants players to stay ‘regular employees’ rather than the contractors they probably would be if you were designing the system from scratch, they should have to treat them like they are…
@@Azeria but the contract is for the regular season only. It's not a per-game salary. If you're thinking of paying them a per extra game played, a rookie making a million, that's just over $6000 per game. If his team wins, playing at most 22 games, he's actually getting paid more. The Brewers last year got swept by Arizona. They apparently got $8300 per share so not a bad payday for a couple days, even the guys who didn't play. I wouldn't feel too bad for them, certainly not the ones making millions a season.
"Rookies don't get to be in there" so the Tiger's meeting this season was probably like 8 guys then lmao
matt vierling and Riley greene had a solid discussion😂
It was just Tarik dictating his terms 😆
Eight guys deciding whether Jack Flaherty gets to double-dip.
Miguel Cabrera bout to get a 1 day contract just to argue
and they probably made Tork sit outside as well.
Meanwhile, as a behind the scenes Ballpark worker who has very little to no contact with the players - the general salary for us grunts is being paid our Holiday rate. That is usually 1.5 our normal rate - so if we make $20/hour, we get paid $30/hour for playoff games.
Pay rates for BP employees are usually Union-mandated - so there can be differences in pay rates between employees depending who they are sub-contracted under (Aramark, Delaware North, Ace Parking, Elite Security, Center Plate, etc.) Usually Ushers and Office Staff (Marketing, Entertainment, sometimes Maintenance, etc.) are directly under the ball club they work for, but sometimes they are also Union so they get contractually paid.
So, if any grunt employee gets any amount of a share - anything above $2000 would be significant. $40k would be life-altering. And of course anything above $100k is life-changing for a Minimum Wage grunt.
Thanks for the insight
The amount of enthusiasm you have for throwin life-changing shares at people is really beautiful. It's always wonderful to see someone who, being in a good place themselves, wants to help lift those around them up.
One of the many reasons I'm a fan, buddy. Keep it up and thanks.
Thank you for spending a bit of time talking about bat boys. I worked as a bat boy in the Padres minor league system in high school and while it was a cool job (and certainly unorthodox) most people have NO IDEA what a bat boy actually does.
It’s not just collecting bats/gloves/guards/balls on the field. It’s stocking the dugout with seeds and gum, towels, making all the Gatorade, doing all the laundry, cleaning up the spread, taking out the trash, running errands for players, cleaning, scrubbing the stains out of the uniforms, hanging all the laundry, cleaning shoes, mail, stocking managers/coaches/umpires fridges and anything else my clubbie/manager/players asked me to do.
Bad clubhouse staff (including batboys) definitely would affect a team and it’s cool to hear a player reflect on their service respectfully.
Rickey Henderson was famous for yelling "FULL SHARE!" at every name offered at these meetings. He knew how much that money could help the staff and off-field workers around the team. Didn't matter what name was said or the job they did, Rickey was 100% "FULL SHARE!"
Rickey don't need the money. Rickey says give them boys a full share!!
Sounds like a thing Rickey would say tho in all honestly. He DID hang up a $1 million check in his penthouse for over a year lol
But seriously this is why Rickey is the goat
the bat boy that saved Ohtani this season better get a share dawg😭
Real shit 🤣🤣
Oh I’m sure he got paid already and has a full share lmao
Amazing info Trevor. Am i the only one who finds it crazy that the players (employees of the team), have an onus put upon them to reward other employees (non-players) out of their share of the playoff money? It’s extremely generous, but shouldnt these bonuses come from management? Show me another business that acts like this? 🤷♂️
1st, for good or bad it is the way the Players Union negotiated for the players. 2nd, They have no obligation to give to employees, they decide to do so.
You don't have to give a X-mas bonus to the mailman, but it's always nice to show appreciation to people that do a job for you, especially if you have a relationship with them.
Also, who says the organization doesn't/can't hand out bonuses as well. Although who are we kidding, they probably don't.
I remember reading years ago a story where a player got traded from one team ( I'm pretty sure was the Yankees) to another team (Cubs?) and the two met in the World Series. The player was voted for like a quarter share and his former teammates on the Yankees got wind of it and were not happy, arguing he helped that team get to the WS. So they voted him a full winner's share instead of a portion of it. I think this was in the 30s and if my memory is correct about the Yankees and Cubs, either 1932 or 1938 but I can't find any player who played for both those teams in those years. Maybe someone else's memory is better or can find a reference.
I love these videos about the inner workings of the clubhouse from a player’s perspective. Please keep making stuff like this!
Great explanation. Thanks.
Yes, the players are the ones most deserving as they’re doing the most, but it’s good to see them show some class and take care of the support staff. They make the players be able to concentrate on the game.
Wow, I was an Usher at Dodger Stadium during the McFraud era from 2003 - 2011 and they went to the playoffs 4 of those seasons. Guess how much they gave us....BIG OL' GOOSE EGG!
Wish I didn't know I could have gotten even a minuscule amount from an owner that cared.
Fascinating! I have a question: do high-salary players ever say something like, "Hey, I don't need a share. I'm good"? (Like you said, as crazy as it sounds, Max Scherzer might not even notice an extra $16K in his bank account.)
Idk but I hope so. If I was making upwards of 20 million a year do I REALLY need another $9k-350k? Maybe I'm dumb and that's why I'm not rich but I sure as hell would make sure it goes to someone who needs it more than I.
That's a phenomenal shout 👌. You'd like to think that these players who are on generational money (and they're entitled to earn that kind of money) would be generous enough to pass off their share to those less fortunate, however, They earned that share too.
@@GrandSlamScotty 💯
Great video, Trevor! What about the rings? Who decides who gets rings?
I drive MLB trams for the past 20 years. Stories about how the bus works for players like seating on the bus and who sits where , making rookies do things like sing between airport and hotel , Lots of inner stories of life on the road of a mlb player
Very insightful perspective about something we don’t hear talked about. Thanks so much for this interesting video!
Does a big player ever “give” their share to another pool of people?
Great question, I also wonder about that.
Great job Trevor. This is incredible insight to the inner workings of being a big leaguer.
Seems crazy to me that the shares are given out to support staff from the players who are already receiving less than they should.
You'd think that would be from the owner side. Would that be the same process? Or because they're the owners, they don't receive any shares since they literally don't have to share?
Hey Trevor, miss you with the Mets would have loved to see you on this team! Great video too
As someone aspiring to be an MLB PT this is so awesome to hear about!
Thanks for sharing this insight.
Cool vid. Hilarious how they just talk about who deserves what percentage of a share like they’re buddies 😂
That's pretty cool, I like that it gets divided up with some employees... don't like that owners get everything from from the from game 5 to 7 (or whatever format the round is) but I get it...
this seems like a lot more work than just prorating the salary based on games played and then giving out bonuses by performance instead of praying you got called up in march not september.
Fantastic content. That’s the things you want to learn about as a fan
Thank you! Credit to the discord community for asking the question!
It's really fucked up that you guys have to even give support staff life changing money. Ownership should just be paying them enough to actually thrive.
Great content
On the one hand, I like how this system empowers players. On the other hand, it seems like a sneaky way to offload potentially controversial decisions from ownership onto labor.
Does a player's agent collect 10% (or whatever it is) of a player's playoff money? Or do they only get a percentage of the contract?
I totally get why owners get a slice of the pie, hell I think it’s GOOD that they get a slice, as there’s not much as is incentivizing them to be competitive otherwise. But taking a majority of the pool is insane to me. It’s more money for them regardless if it’s $100 or $1,000,000. But ya know, they obviously need to have MORE of the more money. Meanwhile the players, the thing we fans pay our hard earned money to watch, are sending some of their share of the pie to stadium and team staff out of the kindness of their hearts, which is super cool, but that should just be a built in part of the team and stadium staffs contract/employment benefits.
At the end of the day, the players agreed to it. It's just on of those things to pay attention to and adjust accordingly through negotiation each year. I know I sound pretty apathetic when I talk about that type of stuff, but I also acknowledge that this process of noticing an imbalance and correcting it as best you can is an example of a pretty good system working.
Now I understand why there are playoff sweeps. If I understand May correctly, the players really have no financial incentive to play any more playoff games than the minimum required to complete a series.
With 6 teams making the playoffs per League, did they do away with giving bonus money for non-playoff teams that finish in 2nd and 3rd place in their division? Years before they started giving a trophy for finishing in 6th place, they would give playoff shares to teams that finished in 2nd and 3rd place. (Kind of like how bowling leagues do) I'd love to know that please, Trevor.
It's great that the players get to decide how to divvy up the money. But if the Clubs and owners are making so much more on TV and merchandise, shouldn't they be willing to reward those who help the team as well? Follow up question: Are these shares treated like bonus pay or tips and does everyone have to report that as income? (Like your 12 year old batboy?)
Probably bonus pay that has to be reported
This is fantastically interesting. I wonder if share decisions have resulted in bad blood .
How many people typically travel with the team to road games?
If you're the Mets what do you give Luisangel Acuna? 14 games played. First game September 14. Yet would the Mets have made the postseason without him filling in for their best player and doing it excellently?
The guy's going to be a stud. Thems some good genes in that family.
Playeroff lol good one Trevor lol
Honest question: Why does staff get paid out of the player shares? I get that you want thank them for their hard work all year, and you can still do that, but they are team employees right? Shouldn't ownership pay them out of their cut?
That is a very good question, as the players association negotiated this deal and they’re not members. Very interesting, I’m going to look into that.
Cool backroom info 👍
After watching this my only question is how to get an in at a ball club. Can I use you as a reference?
I’ll vouch.
Do the owners ever give the non-players bonuses (shares) off of their profits?
Terrance Gore, who has 3 World Series rings, made about as much in his career from playoff shares as he did from his salary.
"welcome to Ms paint" 😂😂😂😂
Why the hell are the players paying a share to support staff? That should all be coming from the ownership, that's who hired those people, that's who should be giving them the bonus!
i wonder what the tigers did for a dude like javy baez who was there for half the year but they only became good after he was gone lol.
zoom your damn canvas in so you can make smaller more accurate brush strokes mr. "skills", hold Ctrl and use mousewheel for fast scrolling
Trevor! We miss you! Tomas - NYM Chef 🤙
MY GUY! I miss you guys too! Hope you're enjoying this ride, I know I am!
Love the videos Trevor! I hope you’re right! LGM
That was alot of info to try and keep up with it but I did, I honestly thought they still made what they do on contract I knew the owners made bank
Elite paint skills
I’m a Mets fan, loved you on the team, was sad that you did not come back but understood the West coast part, family. Like your channel and how you give us such detail of being a pro, behind the scenes, ALL THE PLAYER PERKS. But this video, although informative kind of pissed me off. Complaining that the owners want more games to make more money? Why can’t they? It’s their team and really, how does anyone know what they do with their shares? Maybe they’re taking care of stadium people, parking etc. Not all owners are evil like John Fisher. The worst part for me is players making millions of dollars are looking forward to a $16,000 bonus check. Maybe players who make more than $5 million per year only get a 1/4 share and all those people like you said that are first in, last out get extra money which would really help them out. Sure there are players every year that bring it to the post season and definitely warrant a full share. What about the batters who stink at the plate, pitchers who stink on the mound. Same shares as the rest. Just makes me a little angry to hear you talk about how great it is to get a full share and how you dislike the owners getting any.
I think you're seeing complaining that isn't really there my friend. Also, I don't dislike the owners "getting any." I dislike the constant effort to create situations where they get to keep ALL OF IT. Every game past a sweep (ie. games 5-7 in the CS and WS) the owners keep 100% of revenue. Also, you seem to dislike players making millions, but are willing to give owners a pass for making billions. Im sorry it made you angry, but at the end of the day, I will always support the employee over ownership. It's important for holding the decision makers accountable for the decisions they make, especially when they try to spin it in dishonest ways. Thats all.
@@TrevorMayBaseball Salaries are too high and the owners are too greedy. It’s hard on fans to attend games, park, have some food and drinks, buy souvenirs for the kids. Do MLB players think (close to league average) $5 million dollars a year is a lot of money? Taking into consideration life long health benefits after 4 years a long with a pension? I think a full pension after 10 years is $275 K per year. When I see players making well over that and owners who also want to make more money, it’s just so aggravating. Learning the amount of playoff money made it that much more spicy to me. Still appreciate the info on the topic and most other topics you discuss. Doing a fine job and thanks for commenting on mine. I think it’s cool having a discussion with an ex player and one that played for the Mets.
madd phat skilz
Does the assistant to the traveling secretary get anything?
Yes, they are also included! Many teams don't have one though.
@@TrevorMayBaseball Thanks, I hear George Costanza is on the market if anyone needs one.
@@TrevorMayBaseballthat job has a lot of responsibility and so many different items to take care of. Have you ever heard what a teams season travel cost is ? Gotta be in the millions hotel, buses , trains , nothing cheap that for sure. No cheap ended hotels either
Thats the dumbest method . Im suprised theres not lawsuits over this . They need to pay the guys that on the roster or ir, all the same amount every game played . Who wants that pressure of making that decision your going to piss someone off.
I dont think players should be liable to vote for employees playoff shares that should come out of the owners share
Makes sense why the Mets won game 5
Brutal part is that the money is awesome, don’t get me wrong, but I bet these owners are so cheap with salaries… imagine being the reds grounds keepers or whatever… making like 40k a year for hard work and every once in a decade getting a 100k check haha.
Bat boy is always the MVP. - 2 shares
IMA Hundred!
Makes sense that series would be manipulated to draw them and out
It’s crazy that players don’t make their salary in the playoffs. Like you’re required to work, but you don’t get your base salary for those work days?
If the league wants players to stay ‘regular employees’ rather than the contractors they probably would be if you were designing the system from scratch, they should have to treat them like they are…
Why would they? They're contractors. Their contracts are based on the 162 games they play. Not the post season.
@@Dezzyyy they are not, they are employees actually
@@Azeria but the contract is for the regular season only. It's not a per-game salary. If you're thinking of paying them a per extra game played, a rookie making a million, that's just over $6000 per game. If his team wins, playing at most 22 games, he's actually getting paid more. The Brewers last year got swept by Arizona. They apparently got $8300 per share so not a bad payday for a couple days, even the guys who didn't play. I wouldn't feel too bad for them, certainly not the ones making millions a season.
If Scherzer or Lindor took a share I’d riot