I can share my son's experience:
After signing in 2001, he shared a furnished apartment on the intercoastal waterway in Port Charlotte, FL, while playing in the Gulf Coast League. The rent was $900.00 a month, shared by three guys-this was the first time my son had ever lived away from home, mind you. He thought it was heaven I am sure. (He had just turned 19 yrs. old) - But he was only bringing in $850.00 a month, before taxes, so he was always dipping into his signing bonus and a lot of kids don't get decent signing bonuses.
His next season he was in Savannah, GA. The affiliate there hooked them up in a nice 2 bedroom apartment, a few miles away. It was shared by four players and was $800.00 for rent. (they choose their own roommates). They had to go out and rent furniture for the season and set up their own utilities. Being his second year in the minors and if memory serves me, he was getting $950.00 a month in salary.
Last year he found himself in the mid-west league, a lovely town in IA on the Mississippi river. The sole attraction was a Riverboat gambling casino, a couple of pool halls and one move theather. It was cold and miserable and after the three paid-for days in the local hotel, they were all scrambling to find a place to live before they hit the road for the first away series. There was not much to choose from. Rumor had it that previous teams had left a bad taste in local landlord's mouths so no one wanted to rent to a ball player. So neither the MLB team he plays nor the local team staff had anything set up for the players. He found a house through a local host family, it was about 70 years old and failing badly, but he and a roommate moved in with two mattresses on the floor, a washer and dryer that barely ran, and a few pots and pans. They were paying $400.00 a month in rent and only had to connect phone and cable. They had to remove the overgrown ivy off the front door in order to get inside. Just a few weeks into the season, the roommate got sent back to extended spring training and the new player arrived, took one look at the house and said he would find other arrangements, so there sits my son with all the expenses to cover himself and that was on about a salary of 1020.00 a month, before taxes.
(Mind you, they have to buy their own food, too). They get paid like $15.00 a day for food money and have clubhouse dues taken out of that which is like a $1.00 a day.
{Now that does not even cover the topic of the Latin players. Without the GREAT and I mean GREAT people who open up their homes to these young men and charge them little to nothing a month to provide a roof over thier heads.They are just good hearted baseball fans who treat these players like family, some of whom don't speak a word of the player's language, but somehow make it work. Last year all the Latin boys found themselves alone in the parking lot on the forth day of pratice with no where to live and a few of these kids barely speak English. Someone reached out and took them home with them.}
Well, this subject is near and dear to my heart. Yesterday my son and husband packed his vehicle and headed out on their first road trip together. They are making the long treck from FL to AZ for spring training. My son will work his tail off trying to impress the guys who matter and hope that he gets the much wanted and, he thinks deserved, promotion to the next level. He will find out about two days before he needs to leave, where he is headed. He will once again arrive in a strange city, with a new batch of teammates and I imagine have to find a place to live. As parents, we can't always drop everything and fly to that town and assist in living arrangements. It is always a stressful time for all. Last year he was hoping for one city and packed accordingly in March, only to find himself in weather conditions he had never experienced in his life (no coat to ward off the feezing cold weather.)
He pitched opening day on a mound, on a field where they had to scrape off 1/2 inch of ice in order to play and I think the temp was 28 degrees. This for a boy who played year round in sunny Florida where the daytime average in April is like 70 degrees.
Now, if you get a million dollar signing bonus, I guess you never have to worry - you can afford to buy or rent a place or your own in any place you might end up. You can fly city to city and can afford to ship your wheels. You can eat three great meals a day and not have to worry if the paycheck will hold out. You don't have to worry about calling home for more money.
But that is in now way the majority of minor league players. There is little money to spend on entertainment when you get an occasional day off. (once every 2 or 3 weeks) I guess if you come out of college to this, it would really be an eye opener!
But in the end, it does build character. It is a learning experience and my boy will be better for it.
I hope this shed a little light on what these players experince......and I did not even touch on the long bus trips where 6'5" fellas have to share seats and get bullied around by the senior members of the team.....
