To thread the needle of paying for adult life on a minor league baseball salary, Geoff Hartlieb turns to an Excel spreadsheet on his iPad. On it, he tracks his income and expenses for each month. On this rainy Monday in Altoona, Pa., Hartlieb has allocated a bit more than usual; his fiancee is coming to town.
Hartlieb pays for hotels for the two of them when she travels with the team. He has a car payment and rent. He must budget for those expenditures out of the roughly $1,500 monthly salary he receives as a member of the Altoona Curve, the Pirates’ Class AA minor league affiliate.