There is Power in a Major League Baseball Players Union

Gerrit Cole thanked Marvin Miller and Curt Flood in his press conference. How does he know so much about baseball labor history? Apparently Pirates catcher John Buck used to drag rookies to the front of the bus and ask them about it: “Get your f——— book reports ready, kids.”

— Stephanie Apstein (@stephapstein) December 18, 2019

apparently MLB is going to voluntarily recognize the minor leaguers' unionization without forcing a vote? i am surprised; can only assume they saw absolutely no hope of it losing

either that or they're excited at the opportunity to make the major leaguers give up serious money in return for the minor leaguers getting a little more money

think it's a few things

1. MLB's reputation is in the dumps after the labor disputes of 2020 and 2022, the bad PR that would come from the pre-election union busting campaign would be disastrous given the low likelihood it would even work.
2. that bad PR would be multiplied 50x fighting against players making $8k a year
3. the union has the weight of AFL-CIO behind it now, and a major union probably offers much better support to the minor leaguers than an independent MLB union could