I studied labor history in college. This is one the best documentaries ive ever seen. This is a perfect example about the effectiveness of labor organizing. The capital owners will do anything to stop it because it works!!! Solidarity forever😀
@YOSSARIAN313 I know this is slightly old but, did it make you sad to see the Amazon workers reject the union? I didnt know much about it other than Amazon running propaganda against it. And if a company fights it, its generally something you want. People are pretty dumb. "I dont want to pay $15 a month for union dues, that's money out of my pocket" is so painful to hear when you realize they're not bothering to listen when people tell them how the union will get them an extra $400 a month to pay for it with.
@@JohnCarver-ns9yr yeah its not just warehouse workers or delivery drivers. Their tech staff has no solidarity either. Software engineers need to unionize badly
This might be the magnum opus of Baseball's Not Dead. The history of players' rights was covered in detail while being very digestable, and the tone created by the music choices and editing was poignant and emotion filled.
Probably opai. Not to be confused with oppai, which means big tits in Japanese culture. If you have those too, please start an account on a different site and let me know.
Legitimately one of the best baseball videos I’ve ever seen. We spend so much time on stats, technique, and players but this is a really important part of the sport’s history.
I could listen Marvin Miller talk for hours, the man had such a unique mastery of communication. It’s no wonder how the players listened and learned from him.
This kind of video is why you’re in the upper echelon on baseball content creators, it was very well researched, well spoken, while also explaining complicated concepts and topics in a way that can be easily understood by all baseball fans. Great job dude 👏
Really enjoying this! Oddly enough, this weekend I was reminiscing about what an absolute badass Curt Flood was for taking on the reserve clause the way he did. Looking forward to that part of the tale. Great job so far and I really appreciate the time and effort that went into this, especially the credits to the sources for the clips.
Flood can’t be brought up enough. The Hall’s special recognition in 2015 at HoF weekend was weak. Hope a future HoF has a display with the HoF grudge snubs part of the story.
This video is truly incredible, documentary tier video for free on RUclips. I can only imagine the work it took to put this together but you should be extremely proud. One of the best videos I've seen on here
Couldn’t help but shed a tear when Bouton came out on the field for Old Timer Day. You set that up well with the letter his son wrote. Still watching but I can tell it’s going to be a great video. Well done!
@@BaseballsNotDead 100% bro. Great video. Thanks for putting in the effort for what is essentially free content. You are becoming the Jxmy of baseball content. You both have your own unique style but in the end two of the best sports content creator out there.
@@BaseballsNotDeadmy dad loves baseball but he’s an abusive asshole and we don’t talk. Your videos are so good, I am tempted to share them with him and break the silence. I won’t but you make it really hard. Your content is top tier and I thank you for it.
This this should an eye opener to what the average worker experiences. How many of you have heard "Don't discuss your pay with your coworkers" at your job? Including the general public being against any pay raise "They don't deserve it". That's a whole other rabbit hole. Great video, keep doing what you're doing ⚾
In 1939 fed min wage was 25 CENTS/hr (about $500/year). DiMaggio's $40k/yr was 80 times the minimum wage. Current fed min wage is $7.25/hr (about $15k/year). 80 times the fed min wage in 2024 ($15k/yr) would be $1.2m/yr. Curt Flood's 1964 $90k/yr was 38 times the fed min wage ATT ($1.15/hr); 38 times 2024 min wage would be $570k/yr. Ohtani's $46m/yr is over 3000 times the current fed min wage.
People who believe major league athletes, specifically the stars/generational players need to stand with their principles/beliefs and not spend a single penny on that sport because they/you are the true problem and the reason those players make so much money. Ohtani is overpaid you say .... Ohtani will bring an additional 1.5 billion profit (honestly likely significantly more) to the Dodgers through ticket sales, jerseys/merchandise sale, food and beverage sales at the games, tv deals and more. Sports is a business for the owners, if you said to any average Joe on the street "hey I'll give you $1000 but you have to give a fraction of that back or else I won't give you anything and we can continue walking our own ways and you'll leave with exact what you have right now" every single person would take you up on the offer. When it comes to the generation talent whether that be Ohtani, Lebron/Antetokou, McDavid/Matthews, Mahomes, Ronaldo/Messi (I could name more) it is easier to argue that they are significantly underpaid then it is to claim they are overpaid; everyone knows who Lebron James is but practically nobody knows you reading this comment or me typing this comment
If nearly every person in the world boycotted professional sports for years on end then the owners would have no other choice, since revenue would be nearly evaporated losing them millions it would make ticket prices dirt cheap since nobody will buy them, merchandise and concession prices would barely be more than costs since nobody is at the games, athletes would make what they did 100 years ago since the owners aren't making millions/billions off of them, tv deals would be near non existent since the networks make nothing ..... but as long as the mass majority continue to watch games on tv, spend thousands buying tickets going to games and buying food and drink at the game, buying merchandise and so on the owners will continue to make millions and pay their athletes the millions they rightfully deserve
@@JackieDaytona1776 while he didn't directly say it his comment heavily implied it as he used numbers to compare earnings of a star from in 1939 and another player in 1964 with the biggest start in professional sports today. The other conclusion the OP heavily implied without direct saying it is that the wealth difference between the richest in the world and the average Joe has drastically increased over the last 100 years but as I indirectly pointed out that is because we the average Joe's continue to spend our hard earned money on what the richest are offering us whether that be sports tickets/merchandise, overpriced coffee from large corporations like Starbucks, personal entertainment like xbox's or alcohol from large brewing companies like Anheuser-Busch and so on. So no my previous comment was not worthless as the OP would have no need to make the original comment if we wasn't trying to point something out by comparing historic figures to current day
Time to submit this to Sundance, hell yeah I'm only at the intro and I'm fuckin pumped to watch EDIT: Holy shit this is even better than I was initially prepared for. One of the best RUclips videos I've watched in YEARS. Keep up the great work, BND. This platform needs creators like you more than ever.
This is probably the best RUclips Baseball video I ever saw. I like to always bring up when I can that prominent baseball RUclipsrs should have a say in Seasonal awards and HoF voting because a lot of you guys just live and breathe baseball and this amazing historical breakdown of the history of player salaries and the MLBPA is S-Tier level evidence proving that point.
I agree with the sentiment but they’d never because professional sports don’t like the implication that a fan outside of an organization might have just as good a mind for the sport as anyone, just maybe not the ability to play it. It’s one of those if you think you know better how about you coach or scout and then next thing you know they’re out of a job lol
As a father and aspiring author and lifelong baseball fan, the ending of the first sixteen minutes has me in tears every time i watch it. When bartolo Colon retired i became older than every active majorleaguer, though pujols and i were the same age heading into his last season. this made his retirement tributes feel like a changing of an era for me. He and Ichiro were nl/al roy in 2001 so i think of ichiro, pujols and along with colon as being the same baseball age. . Thankfully i can still see guys in commercials portraying the same versions of themselves they portrayed when i was younger. Ken Griffey Jr's smile and manner of speech still reminds me of middle school. I remember thinking his Upper Deck Rookie card was way overvalued for what he had done up until then. He was barely a sprout! How could his rookie card be the most valuable object my 12 year old self had ever held? Inside of a case, in a card shop. Let's just say i'm sentimental and baseball has been so entwined with my whole life, it turns every baseball reference pageof a player who played since 1985 , into a personal memory book if i look hard enough. My baseball sentience first came into being during the royals world series run. I even have memories of the nlcs that year. I remember watching the games with my dad and trying not to be too annoying with my many questions (verbosity is a character trait i developed around that age as well) so that's why ANY attempt to discuss ANYTHING related to baseball turns me into a rambling sentimental fool. 🤎⚾‼❣‼❗❕❕❕❕‼❣
Honestly one of the best documentary’s I’ve seen. From the source material to the layout of information to the editing. This would be one of the best documentary’s on any streaming service and love to have bought a physical copy to share with anyone. Will definitely be recommending this to anyone slightly intrigued in baseball history as this would only further interest in baseball
This is honestly better than some baseball documentaries out there. I truly appreciate your dedication to doing the research on both sides of the table and ensuring the facts are laid out in an easy to comprehend formatting and style.
I didn't start really caring about the MLB until this season. This channel has been great in teaching about some history of the game. Much appreciation bro this is quality stuff.
Excellent video and one of the best I've ever watched about baseball and in general. Guys like Marvin Miller and Curtis Flood are heroes and badass men. Never knew exactly how greedy the owners can be and it's eye opening. 1990-94 baseball for me was the greatest time ever. Being a kid and watching baseball tonight every night. As I get older the more I appreciate the beauty and sounds of baseball. America's pastime.
Ohtani got a cheap lesson at less than 5% of his current wealth without considering his future guarantees. Ironic tiny compensation getting Ippei’s baseball card collection.
I really appreciate how willing you are to talk about money and contracts in your videos, and not just on field performance statistics types of things. It’s all incredibly interesting and worth learning about and learning from, that I think content creators avoid too much since it’s not the on field game.
This may be one of the best videos about baseball history ever done, I watched it with my little bro and had fun watching and understanding the concepts you talked about in a pretty understandable and easy way
Lapsed fan and until now only occasional channel watcher, but you all but forced a sub with this one. I put this on initially for some background only to become engrossed in such a fantastic video from top to bottom with the music and dedication at the end being the cherry on top. You should be very proud of this beautiful work of art, history, and solidarity.💪
This video is not your typical RUclips info snack. Instead, it is a full, two-hour long documentary that deserves wide circulation. While framed as a baseball video (or should I say, movie?), and it is, it is a fascinating and important look into labor negotiations in the world of professional sports. After watching this, I now have a significantly better understanding of just how and why baseball contracts are so ludicrously high. This is a very good documentary, and well worth the time, even for those who have no interest in baseball (specifically) or sports (generally). Astounding piece of media.
I had to pre-watch it with some friends that don't care about baseball at all to make sure it was easy to digest. After doing hours upon hours of research, sometimes you can make it too complex or with too much lingo. Appreciate the kind words!
This is the best baseball related video i’ve seen in my life. I don’t even want to know the incredible amount of hours that went into creating this masterpiece. As someone born after this century, this video taught me so many things about the history of baseball - basically everything prior the 2020 season was new to me. This history isn’t coveted much - and covering it in a way that can be super engaging - is incredible. Massive props for such a fantastic video
Really great documentary I knew a lot but the early contracts and unionisation issues I didn’t know of. You did really great research on all of this and it payed of great stuff.
Also I think you did slightly skip over how big both Angelos and Ripken were to the 1994 strike. Angelos made it so the owners never had a united front at all, effectively dooming any actions they wanted to take in retaliation. Ripken was the sword of Damocles hanging over them with his record. Not to mention how, once it ended and everyone was pissed, it was incredible how drastically the mood around baseball changed in September when the chase was nearing the end. And he really was a great face for baseball to use for its "love of the game" image they wanted after the strike. Obviously you couldnt talk about everything so I dont fault you at all just adding an addendum for anyone who wants to look into it. As much as Angelos was (inappropriately) disliked in Baltimore, the man stuck to his principles when it mattered most. Among baseball owners, the only single other instance I can think of someone taking the stance they knew was the right thing to do despite being the lone man in his corner is Branch Rickey. They arent of the same magnitude of course but still, deserves some commendation.
Second comment after watching: Unions for life. Unions for good. Unions forever. Queue me up Joe Hill, its time to raise to raise a glass for the union cause!
Bravo! Wonderful deep dive. Top-of-the-line! The main stream networks should pick this up, ESPN, CBS, etc.. I was a freshman in high school when I Read Ball Four multiple times. Me and my teammates thought it was so cool to get it an inside look of what really happened behind the scenes baseball. I clearly remember the polarization it caused. Anyway… So glad you devoted a nice chunk of time to Jim Bouton. And once again, unbelievable video! Worth watching a second time.
before watching this movie I can probably guess the main reason involves the abolition of the reserve clause and the invention of free agency. so I can expect these names to be heavily involved : george earl toolson, curt flood, marvin miller, catfish hunter, andy messersmith, peter seitz, dave mcnally, bowie kuhn. and then eventually we’re gonna hear scott boras’ name. anyway gonna start watching this masterpiece. what have I done in my life to deserve this ? 🙌🏼🙌🏼 this is a gift from the baseball gods. thanks mate.
Bud Selig and co. don’t get enough blame, we deflect to steroids, but they are the reason the sport even needed a 98 HR race. Reinsdorf in Chicago also should foot that hatred too.
I keep coming back to this, such an important watch for people especially today when contracts seem mythical and where numbers seem to lose meaning due to sheer magnitude
Different sport but this is why I wish UFC fighters would unionize. They're currently doing the equivalent of what you said DiMaggio had to go through. They don't talk about their contracts, they have no collective power & the little payment info that gets released now isn't accurate & only 1 part of the contract so they don't really know what other fighters get to inform their own contracts.
Took me a bit to get around to watching, but goddamn you smashed this. 2 hours about nothing but contracts and I wasn’t bored for a second. Music, editing, storytelling (plus a bois cameo!) all top notch.
What a banger of a video (documentary?) loved hearing the major moments of how we got to baseball today in terms of players and their compensation. Very informative!
Like me, Marvin Miller was a disabled Jewish socialist and union organizer. Solidarity forever to Miller and all the MLBPA members. This IWW member salutes you!
This was an amazing video. I normally can't sit through videos longer than about half an hour without breaks but this kept me hooked the whole time. 11/10
I love going on older players baseball-reference salary sections and changing it to 2024. Sometimes it’s laughable how little they made even after inflation.
Compare it to what other people were making at the time though. DiMaggio was making the equivalent of $1.2m today if you peg his contract to the min wage. Sure that is a joke compared to the insane salaries today, but the market is worldwide now not just the US like in 1939.
This is... an exceptional video. Unbelievably informative, well researched, well edited, and educational in an era when union power has taken significant hits.
Hot take imo.... players are currently overpaid in comparison to the general labor market.... I reason this when sports venue's are often heavily subsidized by public tax dollars.... no more subsidized stadiums, please. Make the wealthy owners pay....
It's a pretty solid book outside maybe the stuff about the late 80s and 90s. Those topics was the first time I went "I don't really agree with him here." Thanks!
What can we take away from this video? Owners are sleezy and short minded idiots. If they had the intelligence to actually pay people early, they'd still have a considerable amount of power. We're going to see it in the minor leagues now. If they had just started paying minor league players livable, reasonable wages, then: A. They'd still maintain more power over the players and; B: Their farm systems, and by proxy, their major league team, will get better. How many players are just one swing adjustment or pitch type away from the majors, but can't train because they can't afford to live? This is not to say that the MLBPA is the paragon. Rather, they are the ones who, more often than not, decide the future of the MLB. You can't have baseball without baseball players. You can't have entertainment without stars. I absolutely loved this video!
It amazes me how stupid and shortsighted the owners were. They could have easily ran over the league and had amazing legal protections, and could have blackballed anf push the players around. Cards on the table, I'm more "pro owner" (more pro stability than anything else) as my Argentine soccer club was run by Argentine Jimmy Hoffa loading it with massive debt. And even I can find a single redeeming quality for the owners.
When I first started researching for this project, I didn't really know the details or nitty gritty of a lot of this history. The more and more I found out and read, the more I was shocked at the conduct of the owners from the early 60s through the mid-90s. The 1972 strike is really the moment were I was shaking my head on how stupid they were being and then it just continued.
Was frantically trying to Shazam the cover of "Power in a Union" just to get to the end and see it was performed by you! Amazing video, new subscriber!
I hate how people were so happy when Boras and all his clients were getting underpaid this offseason. Is it that much of a crime to ask to be paid after career years? Blake Snell not getting a massive contract after literally putting up the best possible year before a free agency and not getting rewarded for it is just sad to me. Thanks for the great research into the topic. Curt Flood for the Hall!
well done! a thoughtful and well researched examination of the economics of professional baseball. I daresay a direct comparison between someone's salary now versus 50-60 years ago is sufficient. You were able to buy a brand new car in the 1960s for 800$. In today's money an entry level car doesn't cost 10x like inflation calculators would have you believe, but 20-25x.
Whenever people complain about Athletes salaries I always say this. Think about all the kids who look up to these players, imagine what message it sends to them to hear people say that players should take less than their worth, sign unfavourable contracts & be grateful for the scraps their billionaire owners deem fit to give them. Calls for players to earn less is a call for owners to earn more. Players don't get to decide how much tickets cost, or cable subscriptions but if the pie is that big anyway then they deserve the lions share, after all their labour is the profit. Not to go full Marx on you but I feel as though Professional sports act like a propaganda tool to normalise worker/owner relations. We are always led to critique the "greed" of the players & never the owners. But here's the real question, these teams are self supporting global corporations, why do they need owners at all? Not gonna here that kinda question on ESPN.
Amazing video, bravo! Knowledge that’s taken for granted but is essential and pivotal to understand how baseball is shaped to be the game is today. AND put into perspective why the Yankees have so many early championships
Uploaded 15 minutes ago, nearly 2 hours long, I have to leave for work in 40 minutes.... Yeah I got time.
Bro, I sympathize.
Woof. Banging it at 1.25 speed and expecting to pause for looking up stuff.
That's what 2x speed was made for! Listen faster, not longer!
HAHAHAHAHAHAH
Simp
I studied labor history in college. This is one the best documentaries ive ever seen. This is a perfect example about the effectiveness of labor organizing. The capital owners will do anything to stop it because it works!!! Solidarity forever😀
Wow, thank you!
@YOSSARIAN313 I know this is slightly old but, did it make you sad to see the Amazon workers reject the union? I didnt know much about it other than Amazon running propaganda against it. And if a company fights it, its generally something you want.
People are pretty dumb. "I dont want to pay $15 a month for union dues, that's money out of my pocket" is so painful to hear when you realize they're not bothering to listen when people tell them how the union will get them an extra $400 a month to pay for it with.
Right. Millionaires vs. Billionaires.
@@MarlinWilliams-ts5ul they are only millionaires due to the union. Highly paid workers are still workers and i will still have solidarity with them
@@JohnCarver-ns9yr yeah its not just warehouse workers or delivery drivers. Their tech staff has no solidarity either. Software engineers need to unionize badly
This might be the magnum opus of Baseball's Not Dead. The history of players' rights was covered in detail while being very digestable, and the tone created by the music choices and editing was poignant and emotion filled.
I hope I have a few more magnum opuses (opi?, opeese?) left in me. Thanks!
Probably opai. Not to be confused with oppai, which means big tits in Japanese culture.
If you have those too, please start an account on a different site and let me know.
@@booradley6832I like big oppai and I cannot lie.
@@booradley6832”Baseball’s not Dead Only Fans…”
@@booradley6832 I like the Japanese version better
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Legitimately one of the best baseball videos I’ve ever seen. We spend so much time on stats, technique, and players but this is a really important part of the sport’s history.
Thanks!
😂😂😂
I could listen Marvin Miller talk for hours, the man had such a unique mastery of communication. It’s no wonder how the players listened and learned from him.
This kind of video is why you’re in the upper echelon on baseball content creators, it was very well researched, well spoken, while also explaining complicated concepts and topics in a way that can be easily understood by all baseball fans. Great job dude 👏
Appreciated!
The best in the game just educates us all on labor strife. Amazing
Wow, thanks!
Really enjoying this!
Oddly enough, this weekend I was reminiscing about what an absolute badass Curt Flood was for taking on the reserve clause the way he did. Looking forward to that part of the tale.
Great job so far and I really appreciate the time and effort that went into this, especially the credits to the sources for the clips.
Thank you very much!
Flood can’t be brought up enough. The Hall’s special recognition in 2015 at HoF weekend was weak. Hope a future HoF has a display with the HoF grudge snubs part of the story.
Marvin Miller coming back to life just to like this video
We could use him, ngl
He is an amazingly charismatic man.
I can't even imagine the amount of work that went into a 2+ hour video - a WELL-DONE video. You're a beast, man. Thank you for a CLASSIC.
Took slightly more than 2 hours of work. Thanks!
This video is truly incredible, documentary tier video for free on RUclips. I can only imagine the work it took to put this together but you should be extremely proud. One of the best videos I've seen on here
Wow, thank you!
Ya it’s ok 👌 ❤
Some might say it’s “pretty good” 👍
Now we have a Detroit Tiger shortstop with a $300 million contract batting .143.
As a tigers fan Baez is so bad
He was over hyped.
Wow, spoiled Brats, when you’re a kid you play for the love of the game and later they want a quintillion dollars to play
Couldn’t help but shed a tear when Bouton came out on the field for Old Timer Day. You set that up well with the letter his son wrote. Still watching but I can tell it’s going to be a great video. Well done!
Glad you enjoyed it
@@BaseballsNotDead 100% bro. Great video. Thanks for putting in the effort for what is essentially free content. You are becoming the Jxmy of baseball content. You both have your own unique style but in the end two of the best sports content creator out there.
This video is superlative. I really enjoy your videos but the research and footage in this one are next-level
Wow, thank you!
God I love this channel. This is Jon Bois level content, and it deserves Jon Bois level views.
I'll never hold a candle to him, but thanks.
@@BaseballsNotDeadmy dad loves baseball but he’s an abusive asshole and we don’t talk. Your videos are so good, I am tempted to share them with him and break the silence. I won’t but you make it really hard. Your content is top tier and I thank you for it.
Wake up babe, Baseball’s Not Dead just dropped a movie
RUclips needs to flag these cliche comments
Baseball might not be dead, but sadly Babe Ruth is
This "RUclipsr" has been awful to me. He's a bully who has called me horrible names.
This this should an eye opener to what the average worker experiences. How many of you have heard "Don't discuss your pay with your coworkers" at your job? Including the general public being against any pay raise "They don't deserve it". That's a whole other rabbit hole.
Great video, keep doing what you're doing ⚾
Thanks!
15:48 "Welcome home big guy" that one really feels good to watch.
In 1939 fed min wage was 25 CENTS/hr (about $500/year). DiMaggio's $40k/yr was 80 times the minimum wage. Current fed min wage is $7.25/hr (about $15k/year). 80 times the fed min wage in 2024 ($15k/yr) would be $1.2m/yr.
Curt Flood's 1964 $90k/yr was 38 times the fed min wage ATT ($1.15/hr); 38 times 2024 min wage would be $570k/yr.
Ohtani's $46m/yr is over 3000 times the current fed min wage.
How much money they making off him though.
People who believe major league athletes, specifically the stars/generational players need to stand with their principles/beliefs and not spend a single penny on that sport because they/you are the true problem and the reason those players make so much money. Ohtani is overpaid you say .... Ohtani will bring an additional 1.5 billion profit (honestly likely significantly more) to the Dodgers through ticket sales, jerseys/merchandise sale, food and beverage sales at the games, tv deals and more. Sports is a business for the owners, if you said to any average Joe on the street "hey I'll give you $1000 but you have to give a fraction of that back or else I won't give you anything and we can continue walking our own ways and you'll leave with exact what you have right now" every single person would take you up on the offer. When it comes to the generation talent whether that be Ohtani, Lebron/Antetokou, McDavid/Matthews, Mahomes, Ronaldo/Messi (I could name more) it is easier to argue that they are significantly underpaid then it is to claim they are overpaid; everyone knows who Lebron James is but practically nobody knows you reading this comment or me typing this comment
If nearly every person in the world boycotted professional sports for years on end then the owners would have no other choice, since revenue would be nearly evaporated losing them millions it would make ticket prices dirt cheap since nobody will buy them, merchandise and concession prices would barely be more than costs since nobody is at the games, athletes would make what they did 100 years ago since the owners aren't making millions/billions off of them, tv deals would be near non existent since the networks make nothing ..... but as long as the mass majority continue to watch games on tv, spend thousands buying tickets going to games and buying food and drink at the game, buying merchandise and so on the owners will continue to make millions and pay their athletes the millions they rightfully deserve
@chrismac5560 OP never said he was overpaid, your tirade was pointless.
@@JackieDaytona1776 while he didn't directly say it his comment heavily implied it as he used numbers to compare earnings of a star from in 1939 and another player in 1964 with the biggest start in professional sports today.
The other conclusion the OP heavily implied without direct saying it is that the wealth difference between the richest in the world and the average Joe has drastically increased over the last 100 years but as I indirectly pointed out that is because we the average Joe's continue to spend our hard earned money on what the richest are offering us whether that be sports tickets/merchandise, overpriced coffee from large corporations like Starbucks, personal entertainment like xbox's or alcohol from large brewing companies like Anheuser-Busch and so on.
So no my previous comment was not worthless as the OP would have no need to make the original comment if we wasn't trying to point something out by comparing historic figures to current day
Came for RUclips's best intro, stayed for detailed and yet digestible info on important labor rights battles
"right after the intro..."
Man that jim bouton story is somethin else, cant believe theres another 1:40 left
Christ on a bike 2 hours??? I'm blessed
Time to submit this to Sundance, hell yeah I'm only at the intro and I'm fuckin pumped to watch
EDIT: Holy shit this is even better than I was initially prepared for. One of the best RUclips videos I've watched in YEARS. Keep up the great work, BND. This platform needs creators like you more than ever.
Thank you!
This is the most impressive historical documentary about baseball contracts. I'm floored by how incredible the research that went into this.
This is probably the best RUclips Baseball video I ever saw. I like to always bring up when I can that prominent baseball RUclipsrs should have a say in Seasonal awards and HoF voting because a lot of you guys just live and breathe baseball and this amazing historical breakdown of the history of player salaries and the MLBPA is S-Tier level evidence proving that point.
Appreciate it!
I agree with the sentiment but they’d never because professional sports don’t like the implication that a fan outside of an organization might have just as good a mind for the sport as anyone, just maybe not the ability to play it. It’s one of those if you think you know better how about you coach or scout and then next thing you know they’re out of a job lol
As a Labour Studies graduate, this tickles the right part of my brain. Thank you so much!
Thank you!
As a father and aspiring author and lifelong baseball fan, the ending of the first sixteen minutes has me in tears every time i watch it. When bartolo Colon retired i became older than every active majorleaguer, though pujols and i were the same age heading into his last season. this made his retirement tributes feel like a changing of an era for me. He and Ichiro were nl/al roy in 2001 so i think of ichiro, pujols and along with colon as being the same baseball age.
. Thankfully i can still see guys in commercials portraying the same versions of themselves they portrayed when i was younger. Ken Griffey Jr's smile and manner of speech still reminds me of middle school. I remember thinking his Upper Deck Rookie card was way overvalued for what he had done up until then. He was barely a sprout! How could his rookie card be the most valuable object my 12 year old self had ever held? Inside of a case, in a card shop. Let's just say i'm sentimental and baseball has been so entwined with my whole life, it turns every baseball reference pageof a player who played since 1985 , into a personal memory book if i look hard enough. My baseball sentience first came into being during the royals world series run. I even have memories of the nlcs that year. I remember watching the games with my dad and trying not to be too annoying with my many questions (verbosity is a character trait i developed around that age as well) so that's why ANY attempt to discuss ANYTHING related to baseball turns me into a rambling sentimental fool.
🤎⚾‼❣‼❗❕❕❕❕‼❣
Honestly one of the best documentary’s I’ve seen. From the source material to the layout of information to the editing. This would be one of the best documentary’s on any streaming service and love to have bought a physical copy to share with anyone. Will definitely be recommending this to anyone slightly intrigued in baseball history as this would only further interest in baseball
This is honestly better than some baseball documentaries out there. I truly appreciate your dedication to doing the research on both sides of the table and ensuring the facts are laid out in an easy to comprehend formatting and style.
Thanks!
Fantastic research and presentation. This is one of the best videos about the business of baseball. Well done!!
Much appreciated!
I didn't start really caring about the MLB until this season. This channel has been great in teaching about some history of the game. Much appreciation bro this is quality stuff.
Glad to hear it!
Excellent video and one of the best I've ever watched about baseball and in general. Guys like Marvin Miller and Curtis Flood are heroes and badass men. Never knew exactly how greedy the owners can be and it's eye opening. 1990-94 baseball for me was the greatest time ever. Being a kid and watching baseball tonight every night. As I get older the more I appreciate the beauty and sounds of baseball. America's pastime.
Wake up babe, Baseball’s not Dead just dropped a soon to be academy award winning movie.
What Ohtani got stolen from him(15 million), is more than what a whole baseball team made back in the day.
As soon as Alex Rodriguez sign with the Rangers 30 million a year and my Expos salary for the entire team was 33 million, I knew it was all over.
"Back in the day" isn't that long ago. The Marlins had a sub-$15 million roster as late as 2006.
@@JonSmith-hk1bqdamn sub 15 million in 2006 is insane
@@quackattackig What's even crazier is that they won the World Series just three seasons earlier.
Ohtani got a cheap lesson at less than 5% of his current wealth without considering his future guarantees. Ironic tiny compensation getting Ippei’s baseball card collection.
BND, this is a masterpiece. I'm so glad I subbed for the movie accuracy rankings and opened up RUclips to this. Keep up the great work.
Thanks!
Of all the baseball videos I’ve watched over the years, this might be the best ever.
Thanks!
amazing, amazing video. i hardly knew any of this beforehand. thank you for all your effort on this
Glad you enjoyed it!
I really appreciate how willing you are to talk about money and contracts in your videos, and not just on field performance statistics types of things. It’s all incredibly interesting and worth learning about and learning from, that I think content creators avoid too much since it’s not the on field game.
incredible video, very detailed in its investigative aspect and one that highlights the player's real feelings towards owners during that era.
Thank you!
This may be one of the best videos about baseball history ever done, I watched it with my little bro and had fun watching and understanding the concepts you talked about in a pretty understandable and easy way
Awesome! Thank you!
Lapsed fan and until now only occasional channel watcher, but you all but forced a sub with this one. I put this on initially for some background only to become engrossed in such a fantastic video from top to bottom with the music and dedication at the end being the cherry on top.
You should be very proud of this beautiful work of art, history, and solidarity.💪
Appreciate it!
Did you sub yet?
This video is not your typical RUclips info snack. Instead, it is a full, two-hour long documentary that deserves wide circulation.
While framed as a baseball video (or should I say, movie?), and it is, it is a fascinating and important look into labor negotiations in the world of professional sports. After watching this, I now have a significantly better understanding of just how and why baseball contracts are so ludicrously high.
This is a very good documentary, and well worth the time, even for those who have no interest in baseball (specifically) or sports (generally).
Astounding piece of media.
Thank you!
Great video man. I love this stuff and you are great at the detail without being overwhelming
I had to pre-watch it with some friends that don't care about baseball at all to make sure it was easy to digest. After doing hours upon hours of research, sometimes you can make it too complex or with too much lingo.
Appreciate the kind words!
This is right up my alley in more ways than one. This video is absolutely a top-notch production and a credit to the industry. 👍🏻
Thank you!
Just want to say this was a great documentary. Hope you make more stuff like this in the future.
Thanks, will do!
This is one of the best baseball documentaries I've seen in a long time. I really appreciate you taking the time to produce this.
Thanks!
Curt Flood is a hero....it takes a lot of courage to stand on your principles even when it comes at great cost
This is a top level professional presentation. One of the best documentaries this old man has ever seen. Thanks
That's a deep cut about the 1994 CBA being the HRE. I got a chuckle out of that one.
This is the best baseball related video i’ve seen in my life. I don’t even want to know the incredible amount of hours that went into creating this masterpiece. As someone born after this century, this video taught me so many things about the history of baseball - basically everything prior the 2020 season was new to me. This history isn’t coveted much - and covering it in a way that can be super engaging - is incredible. Massive props for such a fantastic video
Thanks!
This is so well researched and informative while still being very entertaining. Great video man!
Thank you!
Really great documentary I knew a lot but the early contracts and unionisation issues I didn’t know of.
You did really great research on all of this and it payed of great stuff.
I open up RUclips to watch something while I eat and this masterpiece pops up 😊
Just wanna give props for how much time you put in editing this documentary. Not everyone is willing to go the distance for great quality content.
Appreciate it!
This video is a masterpiece
Baseball's Not Dead always has quality content but this is some next level stuff. VERY informative, I learned so much. Amazing work!!!
Thanks!
Also I think you did slightly skip over how big both Angelos and Ripken were to the 1994 strike. Angelos made it so the owners never had a united front at all, effectively dooming any actions they wanted to take in retaliation. Ripken was the sword of Damocles hanging over them with his record. Not to mention how, once it ended and everyone was pissed, it was incredible how drastically the mood around baseball changed in September when the chase was nearing the end. And he really was a great face for baseball to use for its "love of the game" image they wanted after the strike.
Obviously you couldnt talk about everything so I dont fault you at all just adding an addendum for anyone who wants to look into it. As much as Angelos was (inappropriately) disliked in Baltimore, the man stuck to his principles when it mattered most. Among baseball owners, the only single other instance I can think of someone taking the stance they knew was the right thing to do despite being the lone man in his corner is Branch Rickey. They arent of the same magnitude of course but still, deserves some commendation.
I’m be already commented, but I gotta say it… this video is a work of art. Absolutely amazing. Thanks so much for taking all the time to make this.
Thank you so much 😀
Second comment after watching:
Unions for life. Unions for good. Unions forever. Queue me up Joe Hill, its time to raise to raise a glass for the union cause!
Bravo! Wonderful deep dive. Top-of-the-line! The main stream networks should pick this up, ESPN, CBS, etc..
I was a freshman in high school when I Read Ball Four multiple times. Me and my teammates thought it was so cool to get it an inside look of what really happened behind the scenes baseball.
I clearly remember the polarization it caused. Anyway… So glad you devoted a nice chunk of time to Jim Bouton. And once again, unbelievable video! Worth watching a second time.
Thank you!
1:15:56 Slight correction but there were not 30 teams in 1985, there were 26 teams.
before watching this movie I can probably guess the main reason involves the abolition of the reserve clause and the invention of free agency. so I can expect these names to be heavily involved : george earl toolson, curt flood, marvin miller, catfish hunter, andy messersmith, peter seitz, dave mcnally, bowie kuhn. and then eventually we’re gonna hear scott boras’ name.
anyway gonna start watching this masterpiece. what have I done in my life to deserve this ? 🙌🏼🙌🏼 this is a gift from the baseball gods. thanks mate.
A Baseball's Not Dead day is always a great day!
Every time I watch a BND video I'm incredibly impressed with the intro. It's so good.
Bud Selig and co. don’t get enough blame, we deflect to steroids, but they are the reason the sport even needed a 98 HR race. Reinsdorf in Chicago also should foot that hatred too.
Absolutely. Pure thieves. 280 million stolen from the players. And this prick is in Cooperstown.
I keep coming back to this, such an important watch for people especially today when contracts seem mythical and where numbers seem to lose meaning due to sheer magnitude
Incredible documentary
I had to spend an entire day watching this, but it was well worth it. I learned so much. Thank you for making this.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Different sport but this is why I wish UFC fighters would unionize. They're currently doing the equivalent of what you said DiMaggio had to go through. They don't talk about their contracts, they have no collective power & the little payment info that gets released now isn't accurate & only 1 part of the contract so they don't really know what other fighters get to inform their own contracts.
Everytime this video comes up on my recommended I always watch the whole thing again. One of the best videos I’ve ever seen in my life.
Took me a bit to get around to watching, but goddamn you smashed this. 2 hours about nothing but contracts and I wasn’t bored for a second. Music, editing, storytelling (plus a bois cameo!) all top notch.
Oh sweet a new Baseball's Not Dead. I can't wait to watch this during my lunc2 HOURS LONG!?!?!?!?
After watching this documentary, I'll never look @ contracts and salaries the same again.
Well-researched
I haven't been to a game since 2000 because of that reason.
What a banger of a video (documentary?) loved hearing the major moments of how we got to baseball today in terms of players and their compensation. Very informative!
Thanks you!
If there is one thing George Steinbrenner was good at it was holding a grudge.
This was a fantastic and interesting watch. Thank you for taking the time to make this, it is wonderfully done.
My pleasure!
Like me, Marvin Miller was a disabled Jewish socialist and union organizer. Solidarity forever to Miller and all the MLBPA members. This IWW member salutes you!
Congrats...
You're a Wobbly?
This was an amazing video. I normally can't sit through videos longer than about half an hour without breaks but this kept me hooked the whole time. 11/10
I love going on older players baseball-reference salary sections and changing it to 2024. Sometimes it’s laughable how little they made even after inflation.
Compare it to what other people were making at the time though. DiMaggio was making the equivalent of $1.2m today if you peg his contract to the min wage. Sure that is a joke compared to the insane salaries today, but the market is worldwide now not just the US like in 1939.
This is... an exceptional video. Unbelievably informative, well researched, well edited, and educational in an era when union power has taken significant hits.
Thank you!
#1. Inflation
#2. Bread and Circus is the God of The West.
Fantastic doc! Subscribed
Awesome, thank you!
C.R.E.A.M
- Tangs of Wu
Hot take imo.... players are currently overpaid in comparison to the general labor market.... I reason this when sports venue's are often heavily subsidized by public tax dollars.... no more subsidized stadiums, please. Make the wealthy owners pay....
Fantastic work! It made me order Marvin Millers book from a different university to check out more in depth
It's a pretty solid book outside maybe the stuff about the late 80s and 90s. Those topics was the first time I went "I don't really agree with him here."
Thanks!
What can we take away from this video?
Owners are sleezy and short minded idiots. If they had the intelligence to actually pay people early, they'd still have a considerable amount of power.
We're going to see it in the minor leagues now. If they had just started paying minor league players livable, reasonable wages, then:
A. They'd still maintain more power over the players and;
B: Their farm systems, and by proxy, their major league team, will get better. How many players are just one swing adjustment or pitch type away from the majors, but can't train because they can't afford to live?
This is not to say that the MLBPA is the paragon. Rather, they are the ones who, more often than not, decide the future of the MLB. You can't have baseball without baseball players. You can't have entertainment without stars.
I absolutely loved this video!
My new favorite sports channel.This guy is brilliant.
Thanks!
It amazes me how stupid and shortsighted the owners were. They could have easily ran over the league and had amazing legal protections, and could have blackballed anf push the players around.
Cards on the table, I'm more "pro owner" (more pro stability than anything else) as my Argentine soccer club was run by Argentine Jimmy Hoffa loading it with massive debt. And even I can find a single redeeming quality for the owners.
When I first started researching for this project, I didn't really know the details or nitty gritty of a lot of this history. The more and more I found out and read, the more I was shocked at the conduct of the owners from the early 60s through the mid-90s. The 1972 strike is really the moment were I was shaking my head on how stupid they were being and then it just continued.
I still can’t believe they kept minute record of their own collusion meetings 😂
Was frantically trying to Shazam the cover of "Power in a Union" just to get to the end and see it was performed by you! Amazing video, new subscriber!
Our generation’s Ken Burns!
I messed up for about a week while making this telling people what I was working on. I kept saying it was similar to a George Burns documentary.
@@BaseballsNotDead Which George Burns, the one that played for the Indians and Red Sox, or the one that played for the Giants?
This is peak BND. The best of the best on an already great channel.
Thanks!
I hate how people were so happy when Boras and all his clients were getting underpaid this offseason. Is it that much of a crime to ask to be paid after career years? Blake Snell not getting a massive contract after literally putting up the best possible year before a free agency and not getting rewarded for it is just sad to me. Thanks for the great research into the topic. Curt Flood for the Hall!
well done! a thoughtful and well researched examination of the economics of professional baseball. I daresay a direct comparison between someone's salary now versus 50-60 years ago is sufficient. You were able to buy a brand new car in the 1960s for 800$. In today's money an entry level car doesn't cost 10x like inflation calculators would have you believe, but 20-25x.
Ken Burns level!
Awesome video. Easy to follow and was captivating. Learned a lot i never knew. Keep up the awesome work, looking forward to seeing what’s next!
Awesome, thank you!
Whenever people complain about Athletes salaries I always say this.
Think about all the kids who look up to these players, imagine what message it sends to them to hear people say that players should take less than their worth, sign unfavourable contracts & be grateful for the scraps their billionaire owners deem fit to give them.
Calls for players to earn less is a call for owners to earn more. Players don't get to decide how much tickets cost, or cable subscriptions but if the pie is that big anyway then they deserve the lions share, after all their labour is the profit.
Not to go full Marx on you but I feel as though Professional sports act like a propaganda tool to normalise worker/owner relations. We are always led to critique the "greed" of the players & never the owners. But here's the real question, these teams are self supporting global corporations, why do they need owners at all?
Not gonna here that kinda question on ESPN.
Amazing video, bravo! Knowledge that’s taken for granted but is essential and pivotal to understand how baseball is shaped to be the game is today. AND put into perspective why the Yankees have so many early championships
Amazing work.
Thanks!
Absolutely phenomenal video. I had no idea how much they'd gone through for this.
You and me both!