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Redeeming the Supreme Court: the Structure Behind the Baseball Trilogy and the Scope of the Baseball Antitrust Exemption Journal of Intellectual Property Law Volume 27 Issue 1 Article 3 March 2020 Redeeming the Supreme Court: The Structure Behind the Baseball Trilogy and the Scope of the Baseball Antitrust Exemption Christian L. Neufeldt Harvard University, Extension School Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/jipl Part of the Antitrust and Trade Regulation Commons Recommended Citation Christian L. Neufeldt, Redeeming the Supreme Court: The Structure Behind the Baseball Trilogy and the Scope of the Baseball Antitrust Exemption, 27 J. INTELL. PROP. L. 21 (2020). Available at: https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/jipl/vol27/iss1/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ Georgia Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Intellectual Property Law by an authorized editor of Digital Commons @ Georgia Law. Please share how you have benefited from this access For more information, please contact [email protected]. Redeeming the Supreme Court: The Structure Behind the Baseball Trilogy and the Scope of the Baseball Antitrust Exemption Cover Page Footnote ALM Candidate, Harvard University, Extension School. Dipl.-Jur. (JD/LLB equivalent), Georg-August University, School of Law, Göttingen (Germany) 2016; LLM, Tilburg University, Law School, Tilburg (The Netherlands) 2017; Grad. Cert. in Legal Studies, Harvard University, 2018. The author would like to thank Harvard Law School’s Professor Peter A. Carfagna and Richard Volante, Esq. for their support on an earlier draft of this article. This article is available in Journal of Intellectual Property Law: https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/jipl/vol27/iss1/3 Neufeldt: Redeeming the Supreme Court: The Structure Behind the Baseball Tr REDEEMING THE SUPREME COURT: THE STRUCTURE BEHIND THE BASEBALL TRILOGY AND THE SCOPE OF THE BASEBALL ANTITRUST EXEMPTION Christian L. Neufeldt1 I. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 23 II. THE BASEBALL TRILOGY .............................................................................. 28 A. FEDERAL BASEBALL CLUB OF BALTIMORE, INC. V. NATIONAL LEAGUE OF PROFESSIONAL BASEBALL CLUBS ......................................... 29 1. Facts … ................................................................................................................... 31 2. The Terrapins’ Argument ..................................................................................... 32 3. Organized Baseball’s Argument ........................................................................... 34 4. The Opinion of the Court .................................................................................... 35 B. THE EVOLUTION OF FEDERAL BASEBALL................................................. 36 1. Scholarly Debate .................................................................................................... 37 2. Gardella v. Chandler .................................................................................................. 38 C. TOOLSON V. NEW YORK YANKEES, INC. ....................................................... 40 1. Facts ........................................................................................................................ 41 2. Toolson’s Argument .............................................................................................. 42 3. The Yankees’ Argument ....................................................................................... 43 4. The Opinion of the Court .................................................................................... 45 a. Federal Baseball and Congressional Intent ................................................... 46 b. Narrow Interpretation ................................................................................. 48 c. Formalist Interpretation .............................................................................. 49 d. Instrumentalist Interpretation ..................................................................... 51 D. FLOOD V. KUHN ....................................................................................................... 55 1. Facts ........................................................................................................................ 56 2. Flood’s Argument .................................................................................................. 57 3. Kuhn’s Argument .................................................................................................. 57 1 ALM Candidate, Harvard University, Extension School. Dipl.-Jur. (JD/LLB equivalent), Georg-August University, School of Law, Göttingen (Germany) 2016; LLM, Tilburg University, Law School, Tilburg (The Netherlands) 2017; Grad. Cert. in Legal Studies, Harvard University, 2018. The author would like to thank Harvard Law School’s Professor Peter A. Carfagna and Richard Volante, Esq. for their support on an earlier draft of this article. 21 Published by Digital Commons @ Georgia Law, 2020 1 Journal of Intellectual Property Law, Vol. 27, Iss. 1 [2020], Art. 3 22 J. INTELL. PROP. L. [Vol. 27:1 4. The Opinion of the Court .................................................................................... 58 a. Restriction to the Reserve System .............................................................. 61 b. Creating the Exemption .............................................................................. 64 c. Excessive Stare Decisis ................................................................................ 65 d. Doctrinal Changes ........................................................................................ 67 e. Systematic Interpretation ............................................................................. 70 III. APPROACHES BY THE LOWER COURTS ...................................................... 72 A. RESERVE SYSTEM..................................................................................................... 73 1. Cases ....................................................................................................................... 73 2. Analysis ................................................................................................................... 74 B. THE BUSINESS OF BASEBALL.............................................................................. 75 1. Cases ....................................................................................................................... 75 2. Analysis ................................................................................................................... 79 C. BASEBALL’S UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS AND NEEDS ........................... 80 1. Cases ....................................................................................................................... 80 2. Analysis ................................................................................................................... 82 IV. THE BASEBALL ANTITRUST EXEMPTION .................................................. 83 A. DEFINING THE SCOPE .......................................................................................... 84 1. Exempt Per Se ....................................................................................................... 84 2. The Business of Baseball ...................................................................................... 85 B. LABOR RELATIONS ................................................................................................. 87 C. LEAGUE STRUCTURE AND BASEBALL RULES ............................................. 88 D. THIRD-PARTY AGREEMENTS ............................................................................. 89 1. Broadcasting Agreements ..................................................................................... 91 2. Licensing Agreements ........................................................................................... 93 3. Sponsorship Agreements and Concessions ........................................................ 93 E. STATE LAW ................................................................................................................. 94 V. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 95 https://digitalcommons.law.uga.edu/jipl/vol27/iss1/3 2 Neufeldt: Redeeming the Supreme Court: The Structure Behind the Baseball Tr 2019] SCOPE OF THE BASEBALL ANTITRUST EXEMPTION 23 I. INTRODUCTION Sports commentator Shawn Krest considers Lena Blackburne’s “Baseball Rubbing Mud”2 to be “baseball’s dirty secret” and its application the “strangest and least-understood ritual in baseball.”3 Admittedly, the thought that a baseball may only be used in a game after “half-naked umps” or clubhouse attendants rub mud on them appears strange.4 Considering that Russel Aubrey Blackburne and his heirs have provided all of Major League Baseball (MLB) and Minor League Baseball (MiLB) with the same special mud since the 1930s, the fact that the reason for his nickname “Lena” is now lost to time seems the least odd aspect surrounding the mud-rubbing ritual.5 Yet, it is not only the umpires’ different techniques for applying the mud that give method to the madness. While new white and shiny baseballs might be easy targets for batters, rubbing them with mud provides the grip that certain pitchers require.6 Still, manually covering all new baseballs in mud is “an odd, inconsistent, dirty practice.”7 However, legal commentators
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