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Federal Baseball Club v. National League

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Citations
  
259 U.S. 200 (more)

End date
  
1922

Federal Baseball Club v. National League wwwpressuillinoisedubooksimages9780252079757

Full case name
  
Federal Base Ball Club of Baltimore, Inc. v. National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs, et al.

Majority
  
Holmes, joined by unanimous

Ruling court
  
Supreme Court of the United States

Similar
  
Flood v Kuhn, United States v E C Knight, O'Bannon v NCAA, Wickard v Filburn

Federal Baseball Club v. National League, 259 U.S. 200 (1922), is a case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Sherman Antitrust Act did not apply to Major League Baseball.

Contents

Facts

After the Federal League folded in 1915, most of the Federal League owners had been bought out by owners in the other major Leagues, or had been compensated in other ways (for example, the owner of the St. Louis Federal League team had been permitted to buy the St. Louis Browns). The owner of the Baltimore Terrapins had not, and sued the National League, the American League and other defendants, including several Federal League officials for conspiring to monopolize baseball by destroying the Federal League. At trial, the defendants were found jointly liable, and damages of $80,000 assessed, which was tripled to $240,000 ($19.6 million as of 2015), under the provisions of the Clayton Antitrust Act.

Court of Appeals

On appeal, the Court of Appeals reversed the trial verdict, and held that baseball was not subject to the Sherman Act, and the case was duly appealed to the Supreme Court.

Supreme Court

In a unanimous decision written by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., the Court affirmed the Court of Appeals, holding that "the business is giving exhibitions of base ball, which are purely state affairs"; that is, that baseball was not interstate commerce for the purposes of the Sherman Act. Justice Holmes' decision was as follows:

Significance

The decision was reaffirmed in Toolson v. New York Yankees, 7 to 2, and Flood v. Kuhn, 5 to 3.

References

Federal Baseball Club v. National League Wikipedia