Baseball

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Baseball The Antitrust Laws

• Caleb Jones
• Jimmy Habecker

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How it Started

• 1914 - A new baseball league, The Federal League
  was formed
• Sued MLB for cornering the market on baseball
  players
• 1922 - Federal Baseball Club of Baltimore v.
  National League went to Supreme Court

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The Ruling

• personal effort, not related to production, is
  not a subject of commerce
• Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes
• Therefore, Major League Baseball is not subject
  to the Sherman Antitrust Act

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United States Code

• Title 15
• Chapter 1
• Section 26b
• Major league baseball subject to antitrust laws
• Limitation of section
• Standing to sue
• Conduct, acts, practices, or agreements subject
  to antitrust laws

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Application of the Law

• The supreme court ruled that Baseballs anti trust
  law did not fit the interstate commerce
• In 1998 the Curt Flood Act offered protection to
  the MLB players

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If there was not a law

• Owners could move teams willingly in order to
  increase revenues
• Minor league teams would have no affiliation
• There would be no major league draft
• Salaries would sky rocket with individual players

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Team Movement
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Should the antitrust exemption for baseball be
eliminated?

• If baseball's exemption were lifted, real fans
  might be able to afford tickets, and teams would
  stop holding cities hostage. Allen Barra

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Congressional Ruling

• In 1972 Flood v. Kuhn case, the Supreme Court
  held that the elimination of baseball's antitrust
  exemption should be decided by Congress. Since
  Congress had addressed this issue on many
  occasions without taking action, it was held that
  longstanding Congressional inaction on this issue
  was a sign that Congress does not intend for
  baseball to be subject to the antitrust laws.

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For more informationvisit the website

• http//www.muc.edu/habeckjc