Extra Innings · Baseball's Exemption
Sent Down to the Bushes
Toolson v. New York Yankees, Inc. (1953)
Charge: Sherman Act antitrust violation - minor league pitcher challenges the reserve clause after being sent to a lower farm team (suit against the club and organized baseball)Court: Supreme Court of the United StatesDocket: Baseball's Exemption
Can a player sue professional baseball under the federal antitrust laws for binding him to one club through the reserve clause?
The facts
A Triple-A pitcher in a big-league club's farm system believed he was good enough for the majors. When his minor league team folded, the club reassigned him to a lower-level farm team. A standard reserve clause meant no other club could sign him. He refused to report and sued under the Sherman Act, calling the reserve system an illegal restraint of trade. Three decades earlier, the Supreme Court had said baseball was not interstate commerce, and Congress had since studied the issue without acting.
You have the facts the court had. Guilty or not guilty? Call it in the game with your friends, then see what the court actually decided. Wrong call, you drink.
Citation: Toolson v. New York Yankees, Inc., 346 U.S. 356 (1953)
Read more at law.resource.org. The source reveals the outcome.