“I could write several books about the negative experiences told to me by pro ball players. Signed with the Phillies in 1959 and played for 16 years.  It didn't take long for me to realize that MLB was about one thing -- money.  All of the decisions were made to increase their profit margins. It hasn't changed, of course, but now teams have to be sneakier and cleverer about it all. 

MLB is a huge corporation with multiple wealthy CEOs that do what is necessary to maintain complete control over their product and to make it more profitable.“

Dave Baldwin

Former Professional Baseball Player

“Personally I’d prefer MLB concentrate more on promoting the growth of the game around the world. Let teams worry about who they want to sign and how much to pay them.  I am not a fan of the slotted system. I don't have a very high regard for MLB's operations.”

Bob Oettinger, President

International Baseball Association, Inc.

 

 

"When the clock struck 12:01 a.m. ET on Thursday, it marked the end of an era in scouting circles. With the new rules, courtesy of the collective bargaining agreement, teams will no longer be able to select a player late in the Draft, send them off to junior college and then sign them the following season after watching their development closely."

By Jonathan Mayo / MLB.com

05/31/07

“The thing that bothered me most about the collective bargained new draft system is that the amateur players were not represented at the table. As you know, the MLBPA do not represent players unless they are on the 40 man roster, and in this case, they had no fiduciary duty to them and treated them that way. So they were really sold out, fair or unfair.”

Richard Bier, Owner

High Profile Sports, LLC

 

"I am with you 100%; it is entirely un-American to limit a person's ability to maximize their earning potential."

Mark Linden, Owner
Baseball Positive

The time has come to share the story about why slotted bonuses were created!  Have you ever heard of Slotted Bonuses?  If not, this is a must know for all coaches, parents and news media who love the game of baseball as slotted bonuses directly affect an amateur players ability to negotiate a fair contract and signing bonus.  Only American ball players are limited by the current draft and slotted bonus system which is blatantly unfair to American ball players.

Please read the article below from John Perrotto who is a national writer for Baseball Prospectus.com and a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America and thus one of the voters for the Baseball Hall of Fame and other annual Major League Baseball awards.

Article:

Web address:  http://www.timesonline.com/columnists/sports/john_perrotto/nine-years-later-ramirez-trade-still-rankles-bucs-fans/article_aa71a3fd-4783-5229-a90b-ef0d74e82136.html

Quote from article...

"Bruback has lived an interesting life since his short-lived time in the Pirates' farm system.

In 2006, he created a weighted therapy belt (www.miraclebelt.com) that helps increase body awareness for infants and children with development disorders. Bruback also has a blog (mlb-tampering.blogspot.com) in which he writes about his belief that his career path was altered because he angered Major League Baseball by receiving a $765,000 signing bonus.

The bonus led to MLB developing its current slotting system to hold down money going to draft picks.

The MLB lawyer who devised the slotting system was Frank Coonelly. Today, he is the Pirates' club president and has given general manager Neal Huntington the go-ahead to seek trades that would add to the payroll like the one that has brought Rodriguez to Pittsburgh.

My, how times have changed."

 

My goal is to help as many children with developmental disabilities as possible and share the story about how Major League Baseball puts profits over players!

On February 25^th 2012 during the Miracle League Field Dedication Ceremony for the Miracle League of Manasota I had an opportunity to chat with Bob Mitchell who is the President of the league and thanked him for helping bring the league to Sarasota.  During our chat we talked about how the league had come a long way since we first spoke with the Sarasota County Commissioners and also brought up the question about potential publicity to help generate the needed funds for phase two of the Miracle League field.  When I brought up the possibility of doing an article on the league and the belt Bob told me I would have to get permission from the Baltimore Orioles.  Why would a non-profit need permission from a baseball club to do any kind of fund raising or media relations?  About a year earlier on February 9th 2011 Louis Angelos, an owner of the Baltimore Orioles, responded back from an email I sent which said, "Matt, pleasure meeting you at the ballpark today. Please send any information regarding the product at your convenience. Thanks. Louis".  There was no response after I sent the information he requested.  On February 29^th 2012 I sent Louis another email this time asking for "his blessing" on the article and again did not receive a response nor did my email bounce back.  Why no response now?  Did Major League Baseball say something to Louis to change his mind about the belt story?  After seeing what Major League Baseball did to the Los Angeles Dodgers owner it's no doubt why he has had to cut off contact.  What we resist persists and I'm curious how long this charade will continue!

For more information about how the Miracle Belt & Sensory Belt helps children with developmental disabilities such as autism, ADHD and sensory needs, please visit www.miraclebelt.com and www.sensorybelt.com.

Another question people have been asking is; “Why now?”

It’s very simple!  Major League Baseball has known how the belt has been helping children with developmental disabilities for years and has done nothing to help share the story and at times have even stifled the story from being told!

It all began back in 2006 when the Balance Pro SportBelt was first found to help children with sensory deficits.  As soon as the belt had been redesigned for the children I contacted a buddy of mine who had been on the media relations staff for one of the old teams I played for and also subcontracted for the Associated Press (AP) and Reuters.  He told me he would contact some people and look into getting some national publicity for the belt since “it was a good story”, he said.  A week later he contacted me back to tell me there was nothing he could do to help with the story.  Of course being curious I asked my friend why… and He said; “He didn’t know the rationale, but it wasn’t going to happen.” Is Major League Baseball suppressing the story and, if so, why? Being an eternal optimist I shrugged it off and focused on getting local press to help get the word out to those families who could benefit.  On April 8^th 2007, Easter Sunday, we had our first news article printed in the Bradenton Herald and shortly thereafter discovered the first child we helped from this article started walking for the very first time.  The article was aptly titled “Belting out Miracles”.

The testimonial from the parents of this child follows:

"We have tried many things over the years to help in our son's development. At 10 years of age he was unable to walk unassisted. We knew the problem was his balance. After reading about the Miracle Belt™ in the newspaper, we immediately ordered one online. Our son is now walking all around the house without any help. In fact, he constantly surprises us when he just walks into the room. We've dreamt of this moment for ten years. So, in our mind, the Miracle Belt truly is a miracle!"

Drs. Frank and Lisa Lanzisera,
Parents of a Child with Down Syndrome (Bradenton FL)

We had high hopes this article would be picked up and go national but to our surprise and disappointment the article came and went.  Our next article was published in the Sarasota Tribune on Aug 20^th 2007.  This article was titled “Weighted to Win” and featured a young boy by the name of Pacsun who had been resistant to walk with his walker but with the use of the Miracle Belt his confidence and ability to move around was greatly improved!  This article was dealt the same fate as our first news article with no follow up from affiliated newspapers.

We have worked hard to get the word out to help the children through typical media avenues with very little support beyond a local story and a Woman’s World article.  The belt helps children with developmental disabilities so we are dealing with a time sensitive issue for these kids.  What doesn’t Major League Baseball understand? Or do they even care?  If baseball would have helped get this story out to the public years ago we could have dramatically influenced the lives of children who are now 8 and 9 years old but instead they did nothing!

The main reason I felt it was time to share my story is to show how locked down the media has become even when the story could benefit the lives of thousands of children with disabilities.  On June 20^th 2012 an article titled “Former Oriole Pitcher Invents Miracle Belt” came out in the Baltimore Examiner where we received over 300+ likes of Facebook very quickly.  In the next few days I sent over 300 emails to the Baltimore Sun newspaper and didn’t get one response!  Not one!!!  Are you kidding me?  What has journalism turned into or are we really that controlled?  Time is running out for these kids! It’s not a metaphor for them it’s real life and baseball should be ashamed for what they have done to stifle the story.  We have had to work very hard over the past 6 years to build a strong distribution network which has allowed us to help over 10,000 children in that time.  It’s a blessing to be put in a position to help children and I just don’t understand how or why Major League Baseball could stifle this story unless they are trying to cover up their mistakes when handling my signing.  To me, I don’t see any other reason.  This isn’t about me, it’s about the children and how those in power in baseball see nothing but fear.  Because of this fear Major League Baseball has limited its scope to protect themselves from the unethical decision of instituting slotted bonuses.  Slotted bonuses have undoubtedly saved major league clubs tens of millions of dollars since 2001 and all for the “good” of baseball.  It’s time to focus on doing what’s best for the children.  I’m not talking about taking generous fan donations collected through MLB charities, which the clubs then take credit for and then donate the money back into society.  I’m talking about doing the right thing, supporting those who are truly making a difference in our society by paving the way for a brighter future for the developmentally disabled!  Time is running out and now is the time for truly supporting children!