The Baseball Trust: A History of Baseball's Antitrust Exemption

300 Pages·2013·2.5 MB·English

by  Stuart Banner

THE BASEBALL TRUST
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T H E B A S E B A L L
T R U S T
A HISTORY OF BASEBALL’S
ANTITRUST EXEMPTION
STUART BANNER

3
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Banner, Stuart, 1963–
Th e baseball trust : a history of baseball’s antitrust exemption / Stuart Banner.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-19-993029-6 (hardback : alk. paper)
1. Baseball—Law and legislation—United States.
2. Antitrust law—United States. I. Title.
KF3989.B36 2013
343.7307(cid:99)21—dc23 2012028136
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgments vii
Abbreviations ix
Introduction xi
1
THE RESERVE CLAUSE 3
2
THE BASEBALL TRUST 35
3
THE SUPREME COURT STEPS IN 63
4
THE BIRTH OF THE ANTITRUST EXEMPTION 91
5
BASEBALL BECOMES UNIQUE 123
vi • CONTENTS
6
A POLITICAL FOOTBALL 145
7
THREE MONTHS OF STATE ANTITRUST LAW 169
8
THE CURT FLOOD CASE 187
9
THE END OF THE RESERVE CLAUSE 219
10
A SHRUNKEN EXEMPTION 237
Notes 251
Index 277
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
For help with the research, thanks to Freddy Berowski at the Baseball Hall of
Fame, Jon Kendle at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Glenn Longacre at the
National Archives in Chicago, Charles Miller at the National Archives in San
Francisco, Lesley Schoenfeld at Harvard Law School, Mary Huth at the Uni-
versity of Rochester, Jeff Suchanek at the University of Kentucky, Erika
Gott fried at New York University, Patrizia Sione at Cornell University, Gabe
Juarez at UCLA, and the archivists at the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee
and the Library of Congress.
Baseball statistics are from the indispensable Baseball Reference website,
at www.baseball-reference.com .
For advice on draft s of chapters, I am grateful to participants in work-
shops at Boston University, the University of Iowa, and UCLA.
For advice on the manuscript as a whole, thanks to Dave McBride, Chris
Schmidt, and Brad Snyder.
For fi nancial support, I am indebted to the UCLA School of Law and the
UCLA Faculty Senate.
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ABBREVIATIONS

ABC Albert B. Chandler papers, Margaret I. King Library,
University of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky.
AH August Herrmann papers, BHF.
AJG Arthur J. Goldberg papers, LC.
BB Bert Bell clipping fi le, PFHF.
BHF A. Bartlett Giamatt i Research Center, National Baseball
Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, N.Y.
B R B ranch Rickey papers, LC.
CAH Celler Antitrust Hearings, BHF.
Chicago Case F ederal League of Professional Baseball Clubs v. National
League of Professional Baseball Clubs (N.D. Ill. 1915),
Equity Case 373, RG21, NA-C.
EC Emanuel Celler papers, LC.
FF Th e Felix Frankfurter Papers (Frederick, Md.: University
Publications of America, 1986) (microfi lm).
FLS Papers of the Federal League Suit, BHF.
HAB Harry A. Blackmun papers, LC.
HHB Harold H. Burton papers, LC.
HLB Hugo L. Black papers, LC.
KBK Kenneth B. Keating papers, Rush Rhees Library,
University of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y.