Hard as it is to believe now, Harrison “Harry” Marino discovered his vocation a decade ago, shooting the breeze on bullpen benches, on crowded bus rides and on late-night fast food runs in towns from Aberdeen, Maryland, to Peoria, Arizona.
Back then, Marino, a 2017 graduate of the University of Virginia’s School of Law, spent two years as a minor league baseball player in the lowest rungs of the Arizona Diamondbacks’ and Baltimore Orioles’ organizations. He spent hours talking with his teammates, sharing their dreams of making the majors and commiserating about their minuscule salaries. While a few stars go on to earn millions, players in the lowest rungs of the minor league system could earn as little as $500 a week. Many lived below the poverty line.
Last year, Marino led the organizing of minor league players into a union. In late March of this year, in his new role as assistant general counsel for the Major League Baseball Players Association, he helped negotiate the first collective bargaining agreement for minor leaguers. The deal promises to raise salaries and improve working conditions for more than 5,500 players.
It is an unusual road to follow for a former moot court star and appellate clerk, but Marino’s career path has not been as direct as a trip around the bases. Back in 2012, like most graduates of Williams College, Marino had a lot of job options before him, but he wanted to chase his dream of playing professional baseball. Though he had been a good...
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