Minor league host families, once a pillar of pro baseball, phased out by new CBA

Long before David Peralta was a veteran outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers, he was an 18-year-old kid from Venezuela who didn't speak much English playing minor league baseball in Johnson City, Tennessee. TeriAnn Reynolds and her family were part of a little-known but vital piece of baseball's minor leagues that dates back decades: host families. Players at the lower levels of the minor leagues in places like Johnson City or Lake Elsinore, California, often stayed at the homes of local families instead of apartments or hotels — a way to save money for low-wage players as they transitioned into their lives as pro athletes.