Garrett Broshuis

Garrett Ray Broshuis

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 6' 2", Weight 185 lb.
• School Saint Louis University, University of Missouri
• High School Advance High School

• Born December 18, 1981 in Cape Girardeau, MO USA

BR Minors page

Biographical Information

Garrett Broshuis made it to AAA as a player before becoming a lawyer active in sports law.

Broshuis was All-State in baseball and basketball in high school. Redshirting as a freshman at Missouri, he was 5-6 with a 6.64 ERA and a save in 2002. In 2003, the right-hander fell to 5-3, 7.11. In 2004, he made major strides, going 11-0 with a 2.61 ERA and 1.06 WHIP. He joined J.P. Howell, Zach Jackson and Jason Meyer as the Big 12 Conference All-Conference starters. He was was 6th in the Big 12 in ERA, right behind Sam LeCure, and third in wins (after Howell and Spencer Grogan). The San Francisco Giants took him in the 5th round of the 2004 amateur draft, the first pitcher they selected that year, following position players Eddy Martinez-Esteve, John Bowker and Clay Timpner.

He began his pro career with the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes and excelled (3-0, 1.37 ERA, 23 K in 19 2/3 IP), earning a promotion to the San Jose Giants (4-3, 5.19). In 2005, he was 12-9 with a 4.40 ERA for San Jose and 0-1 with a 5.25 ERA for the Fresno Grizzlies. He tied Jesse Floyd for third in the California League in wins (behind Garrett Mock and John Gragg) and was 7th in ERA (between Gragg and Juan Morillo). Among Giants farmhands, he tied Floyd and Caleb Salankey for the most wins. Baseball America said he had the best control in the Giants chain. With the AA Connecticut Defenders in 2006, he slumped to 7-10, 4.97. He tied for 8th in the Eastern League in losses and tied Chris Begg and Alfredo Simon for third in the Giants farm system in that department.

The Missouri native was only 3-17 for the 2007 Defenders, but with a 3.88 ERA, above league average; the rest of the staff was 60-61. He led the EL in losses by 4 ahead of Josh Shortslef, led the Giants chain by five and tied Zach Ward for the most defeats in all of minor league baseball.

Broshuis posted a nearly identical ERA for Connecticut in 2008 but the breaks went his way this time as he finished 13-9 with a 3.78 ERA. He tied for second in the EL in wins, two behind Brad Bergesen. Among Giants farmhands, he tied for second in wins with Tim Alderson, Jesse English and Daryl Maday, two shy of Madison Bumgarner.

In his final season as a pitcher, Garrett bounced around the Giants chain, appearing for San Jose (6-1, 2.15 in 13 G), Connecticut (6-4, 3.84 in 12 G) and Fresno (0-1, 4 R in 4 IP). He tied Bumgarner, Scott Barnes and Clayton Tanner for second in the Giants system in wins, four behind Craig Clark.

Overall, he had gone 54-55 with a 4.10 ERA in 150 games as a pro (139 starts). In 820 2/3 IP, he allowed 899 hits and walked only 198 while striking out 542. He hit .116/.150/.140 and fielded .911.

Broshuis had written for The Sporting News and Baseball America while still active as a pro and was planning on going into law. Three days after the 2009 season ended, he took the LSAT. He was valedictorian of his law school class and edited the law journal.

He has worked in securities legislation but remained active in baseball by fighting for the rights of minor leaguers, whose salaries had gone up 70% since 1976 while the consumer price index went up 315%. He helped file Senne v. MLB in February 2014 on behalf of 20 former minor leaguers, saying that the sub-minimum wage salaries and lack of overtime pay violated the Fair Labor Standards Act. Baseball's antitrust exemption does not cover wage and overtime laws. The original lawsuit was then consolidated with a second one to cover 34 cases, including four active minor league players. In spite of Major League Baseball's attempt to have the suit dismissed, it moved to discovery, with trial scheduled for February 2017. However, MLB then attacked the lawsuit from another tack, by lobbying Congress to obtain legislative protection from the suit. This was achieved on March 23, 2018, when the "Save America's Pastime Act" was appended without any debate to a 2,000-page spending bill of $1.3 trillion. The Act exempts MLB from various sections of the Fair Labor Standards Act, including those pertaining to overtime and minimum wage, or for the obligation to pay minor league players who take part in spring training and other off-season workouts. Still, the lawsuit proceeded ahead, now covering some 23,000 players, and on July 15, 2022, MLB decided to settle it for $185 million before it reached trial. While this sounded like a lot of money, in effect it was peanuts for MLB and would represent somewhere around $5,000 per plaintiff - with Broshuis in line to take in a signifcant chunk of the $55.5 million allocated to the players' lawyers.

Sources

• Missouri bio
• The Baseball Cube
• Law firm bio
• "In the Strike Zone" by Ian Gordon in Mother Jones, July/August 2014 issue
• Broshuis's articles for Baseball America
• Article on the March 2018 spending bill that overtook the lawsuit

Further Reading

• Ted Berg: "Many minor league baseball players earn less than minimum wage", USA Today, March 8, 2015. [1]
• Ronald Blum (Associated Press): "MLB to pay minor leaguers $185 million to settle lawsuit", Yahoo! News, July 16, 2022. [2]