Last week, we had a few days off for the MLB All-Star break and while I was in the airport flying back to Michigan, I got a call from someone at the MLBPA, Harry Marino, who I’ve worked with closely. News about a huge class action lawsuit had just been tweeted announcing payments would be coming out soon after years of trial. The lawsuit affects thousands of Minor League baseball players for being paid less than minimum wage during Spring Training and other camps. So when I got the phone call I figured it was about that, as many players have been waiting years to receive that payout. The call had nothing to do with that…instead it was a request to submit my name, among others, to the White House to represent the Major League Baseball Player’s Association at a panel for recently unionized workers. I immediately said yes not knowing the full details then got on my flight to Grand Rapids, where the Lugnuts were playing our weekend series.
On Friday right before our game started, I was informed that the White House had selected me to join their panel and that I would have to make a quick decision about going. The panel was on Monday afternoon in the White House and that was all the information that was given. Thoughts were flying through my head at a million miles per hour but then I thought this is a once in a life time opportunity and agreed to move forward with it. I walked out to the bullpen and forgot about the phone call immediately, then threw a scoreless 8th inning. Single, strikeout, double play. Here is the strikeout with an arm side cutter - a pitch I usually don’t throw but after a bunch of two strike foul balls, we had to try something different.
After the game, I checked my phone to find that an email chain was started, which included a short bio about me. The White House staff was trying to coordinate a time to set up a zoom call to meet me and go through logistics of the event. Since I had pitched, I was going to lift at 9:45 AM the next morning but we didn’t have to be at the field until 2:30 PM so we agreed on a 1:30 meeting. I called my parents after the game to let them know I was invited and planned to go. I then realized I was going to need to find appropriate clothes to wear - not a single piece of clothing that I travel with during the Minor League season is wearable for an event like this.
I woke up Saturday morning and went to the gym knowing that I was going to have to find a suit to wear between 11:30 AM when I finished lifting and 1:30 PM when my zoom call began because I’d be heading straight to the field after the zoom. I got back to the hotel after the gym, quickly showered and then speed walked across the street to a Kohl’s - my only hope to find a suit. I was so so so lucky that there was a Kohl’s there because I didn’t have a car and had very limited time to find something. In the store, they had one company that supplied all of the suits and it was very limited but it was going to do. I found a jacket in the blue that I liked, 40S, and then started sifting through the racks for pants. Most of the the sizes were 38 or 40, which was way too big for me. I finally found a pair that matched the jacket with a waist size of 34 - the only pair, which were a little baggy but I had no choice. I grabbed a light purple dress shirt, a brown belt, and brown Cole Haan shoes to match and hustled to the dressing room to try everything on before I paid. I was dripping in sweat while looking for these clothes, mainly because I was moving quickly but also because I was stressed and didn’t have time to try on more options.
At the register, I hadn’t even thought about what this was going to cost me. Can’t put a price on the White House, right? The cashier told me I could save 40% on everything if I opened a Kohl’s credit card so I’ll be cancelling that as soon as I get my hands on it but I did save a couple hundred bucks. I raced back to the hotel and got ready for the zoom call where I was informed about the details. There would be six other guests from other industries of recently unionized workers plus three moderators: acting Secretary of Labor, Julie Sue, Director of the National Economic Council, Lael Brainard, and senior advisor to the President, Tom Perez. It was going to be a closed discussion in the Roosevelt Room located in the West Wing. They gave me three questions to think about before showing up: why was it important to unionize, what are the benefits of our new contract, and why did I think it was important to be a leader. They said I had to arrive at 1:15 on Monday afternoon, the panel would begin at 2:45 and last about an hour, and then I would be done. Simple enough.
I got on the bus and asked my dad to find some flights to D.C.. My original thought was to fly from Grand Rapids on Sunday night after the game and figure out a place to stay and then return to Lansing on Monday night but opted to head back to Lansing with the team and fly early Monday morning from Detroit. We found a 7 AM flight in to DC and a 10 PM flight out of DC and booked them immediately. At the field, I mentioned to my pitching coach that I would be heading to D.C. on Monday for the panel and he proceeded to call me Mr. President for the rest of the weekend.
Saturday and Sunday went by smoothly. I didn’t pitch again and we traveled back to Lansing on Sunday night. A few guys were fairly confused why I was carrying around a suit bag, but they were all stoked when I told them. When we returned to Lansing around 7 PM, I shaved my mustache, tried on the suit one last time, packed a change of clothes, scheduled a Lyft for 4:30 AM, and went right to bed.
My alarm at 4 went off immediately after I closed my eyes and the day had begun. I showered, ate a snack, put the suit on, and was out the door. I got to the airport at 6 and flew through security thanks to my fourteen day free trial of Clear, which I had basically been forced into signing up for the previous week while traveling back to Michigan. I landed in D.C. at 8:45 AM and called a ride downtown to meet up with MLBPA staff. We prepped some talking points and spoke about how to address the moderators properly. There was discussion about the President potentially being included but I really thought there was no chance.
At noon, I chugged a Red Bull (even though I never drink caffeine) because I did not want to be caught yawning in the White House. We walked a couple blocks to the entrance where we were met by the people we had spoken to over zoom. At some point whether over zoom or in person, there had been discussion about taking a covid test before entering so when I got into the building and wasn’t sure where I was supposed to be, I asked the security guard, “Hey man, not sure where I’m supposed to be right now but someone had mentioned something about a covid test.” He responded, “Oh, no, you only have to take those tests if you are meeting the President or the Vice President.” My first thought…Holy f**k. It was no longer speculation. At no point did anyone from the White House say that President Biden would be a part of this panel, but now I knew he was going to be.
I was then taken to a waiting room somewhere in the Eisenhower building before being taken to another waiting room. At around 2:30, the seven panel members were escorted outside and then into the West Wing where the panel was being held. Before we entered the Roosevelt room, we had to put our phones into a cabinet outside. There was brief chatting before we sat down: I got to talk to Secretary Su about Yale since her daughter had just graduated and Mr. Perez about baseball since his parents were from the Dominican Republic and he's a big fan; Director Brainard showed up later. Secretary Su was facilitating the discussion about our various industries, the other union workers were: two Starbucks employees - including the woman that created Starbucks Workers United, a SEGA employee, a graduate worker (graduate student but they prefer to be called workers), a Bluebird employee (electrical bus manufacturer) from Georgia, and a shipping associate for eBay's TCGPlayer.
The first time I spoke was about why unionization for Minor League players was so important and life changing: salaries used to be low, housing was difficult to navigate, food insecurity was prevalent, and almost 20% of our jobs were cut during 2020 when Major League Baseball decided to unilaterally cut teams. I don't think many of the people at the table understood our situation specifically (which was the same way I felt about theirs) so I tried to give as much detail about the Minor Leagues without rambling. About thirty minutes in, a door to my right opened up and the President of the United States of America walked in, "Mind if I join you guys?" My jaw hit the floor. After my interaction with the security guard earlier, I knew he was coming but nothing prepared me for that moment. He walked around the room shaking everyone's hand and then sat down two seats to my right. There was a photographer and a videographer so my fingers are crossed that there is a picture of me shaking President Biden's hand. Right behind the President was Senator Bernie Sanders accompanied by Secret Service and some other staff.
Look how close I'm sitting to the President! After he introduced himself to everyone around the table, he sat down and started to facilitate the conversation. In the middle of the discussion, Mr. Perez turned to the President, "We also have a baseball player in the room, don't you want to hear about that?" For the next few minutes, I spoke directly to President Biden about how life changing our brand new Collective Bargaining agreement has been and how I had been involved. I told him that we have games everyday except for Monday and I was grateful that this panel had been scheduled on my off day. He asked me a question in response to what I had said and then our one on one concluded. After about an hour of discussion with the President and Senator Sanders, they had somewhere to be so we lined up in front of that fireplace behind him for a picture but there wasn't enough room, so he suggested we, "...pop into the Oval Office for the pic." We walked about ten steps through two doors right into the Oval, which looked exactly like the movies. Very bright, yellow walls, pictures of him and Barack and him and his family, just insane to be in that room. After the picture in front of his desk, I shook his hand again and said, "It's an honor to meet you, thank you so much for the time today." He responded, "What is your best pitch?" I told him it's my changeup and he goes, "You're in the right place." You can't make this stuff up.
After some closing remarks from the moderators, I thanked them all and met the group in the West Wing lobby. We then started to hear about the history of the paintings and furniture around us before being taken to a different section of the building. We turned the corner and Vice President Harris opened the door to her office to welcome us in. I really didn't think this day could get any crazier. We sat for about thirty minutes sharing our stories and hearing some anecdotes from her and then snapped a pic.
That concluded my time inside the White House, which was about four hours total. An unbelievable experience that I will never, ever forget. I walked out to meet Harry and just started spewing out as much information as I could. We just kept laughing about how crazy the entire thing was. Harry Marino, middle, and Kevin Slack, right, both played massive roles in helping us Minor Leaguers form a union. I was lucky to have them with me.
We grabbed a beer after to recap everything and I had completely forgotten that I had taken my name card, which has the Presidential Seal on it. Here it is:
After eating, I spoke to Chelsea Janes - a fellow former Yale athlete - who writes for the Washington Post about my day in the White House. Here is the interview:
The day concluded with a flight back to Detroit which landed at midnight. I had trouble finding a ride back to Lansing but finally secured a Lyft and got in at 2 AM. Twenty-two hours later, I was back in my bed. The longest and most memorable day of my life...so far.
Thanks for reading! In less cool news, the Lunguts are at home this week against the Great Lakes Loons (Los Angeles Dodgers affiliate). Go Nuts!