The minor league life was tough for former Colorado Rockies pitcher Christian Bergman
But Christian Bergman wasn’t eating $100+ steaks dinners every night, especially in the minor leagues with the Colorado Rockies. He was asked about the current situation in the minor leagues where they are making pennies (or less than a penny) on the dollar to MLB players.
“(MiLB) players need to be paid a livable wage and provided with tools and resources to succeed, mainly food,” said Bergman. “I would have run out of money if I had to spend one more month in Colorado Springs (which had a cost of living slightly higher than the national average in 2021).
“Trust me, I wasn’t eating $100 steak dinners every night. I was bringing food home from the clubhouse. If you have a family to support, forget it. Unfortunately, the solution so far has been to cut minor league teams, which is a loss to those communities.”
Bergman decided to get retire from baseball after the 2019 season and he had an opportunity to return to the minors as a pitching coach. He got an offer, took a week to think about it, decided to accept, and the team hired someone else in the meantime. He said that the business part of things is why he’s not looking to get back into baseball anymore.
Currently, he is in the real estate business in Scottsdale, Arizona. You can read the full transcript of the conversation here and check out his Instagram page here.