Minor League Baseball: The Last Bastion Of Acceptable Exploitation In Professional Sports (Not Counting The NCAA)

For every top-flight prospect apprenticing in the minors after receiving a multi-million dollar signing bonus, hundreds of players are drafted every year and get $1,000, tops. Salaries start at $1,100 a month, and the checks only come for half a year. As Lily Rothman says over at Slate, most of these players are "stuck with the sports world equivalent of an unpaid internship." Go read the story. It's a little like opening a time capsule from the days before they blew up the reserve clause. [ Slate]