Document Type
Comment
Abstract
In her comment, the author fashions a compelling argument for congressional elimination of baseball's exemption from federal antitrust laws. After noting that the exemption had been formulated in 1922 by the Supreme Court, the author explains that it has been abused by baseball club owners to create a virtual monopoly over ballplayers through the reserve system. Although the reserve system's control was somewhat diluted in 1976, with the advent of free agency and collective bargaining, club owners are currently negotiating for mandatory compensation for the loss of free agents. The resultant threat of a player's strike has served to focus attention on the anomalous situation created by the antitrust exemption. The comment's thorough analysis of the history of the reserve clause, vis-a-vis the federal antitrust laws, and the ballplayers' continuing efforts to bargain freely for their services, lays a formidable framework for the argument against the exemption.
Recommended Citation
Nancy Jean Meissner
Nearly a Century in Reserve: Organized Baseball: Collective Bargaining and the Antitrust Exemption Enter the 80's,
8 Pepp. L. Rev.
Iss. 2
(1981)
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/plr/vol8/iss2/2
Included in
Antitrust and Trade Regulation Commons, Contracts Commons, Dispute Resolution and Arbitration Commons, Entertainment, Arts, and Sports Law Commons
