Curt flood made pro athletes8/30/2023 ![]() ![]() The ensuing colorful days are well known. Patrick's Day in 1871, the National Association of Professional Baseball Players was founded and the professional league was born. With only one Cincinnatian on the payroll, this professional team traveled over 11,000 miles that summer, winning 56 games and tying one. The Cincinnati Red Stockings came into existence in 1869 upon an outpouring of local pride. That early game led ultimately to the development of professional baseball and its tightly organized structure. The teams were amateur, but the contest marked a significant date in baseball's beginnings. It is a century and a quarter since the New York Nine defeated the Knickerbockers 23 to 1 on Hoboken's Elysian Fields June 19, 1846, with Alexander Jay Cartwright as the instigator and the umpire. 1Ĭollateral issues of state law and of federal labor policy are also advanced. JUSTICE BLACKMUN delivered the opinion of the Court.įor the third time in 50 years the Court is asked specifically to rule that professional baseball's reserve system is within the reach of the federal antitrust laws. Hoynes, Jr., argued the cause for respondents Feeney, President of National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, et al. Porter argued the cause for respondent Kuhn. Goldberg argued the cause for petitioner. POWELL, J., took no part in the consideration or decision of the case.ĬOUNSEL: Arthur J. 288, filed dissenting opinions, in which BRENNAN, J., joined. JUDGES: BLACKMUN, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which STEWART and REHNQUIST, JJ., joined, and in all but part I of which BURGER, C. Removal of the resultant inconsistency at this late date is a matter for legislative, not judicial, resolution. 356 (1953), is an established aberration, in the light of the Court's holding that other interstate professional sports are not similarly exempt, but one in which Congress has acquiesced, and that is entitled to the benefit of stare decisis. Held: The longstanding exemption of professional baseball from the antitrust laws, Federal Baseball Club v. The District Court rendered judgment in favor of respondents, and the Court of Appeals affirmed. SYLLABUS: Petitioner, a professional baseball player "traded" to another club without his previous knowledge or consent, brought this antitrust suit after being refused the right to make his own contract with another major league team, which is not permitted under the reserve system. Kuhn Supreme Court Decision | Curt FloodĬERTIORARI TO THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT Some of the other justices, and Court observers, felt it was inappropriate for a judicial opinion.įlood v. It is seen by some as an overly strict and reflexive reliance on the legal doctrine of stare decisis that made an earlier mistake "uncorrectable".Įven the text of the decision itself (which appears below), mainly a seven-page introductory encomium to the game and its history by Justice Harry Blackmun that included a lengthy listing of baseball greats, came in for criticism. The opinion has been criticized in several ways. That admission set in motion events which ultimately led to an arbitrator's ruling nullifying the reserve clause and opening the door for free agency in baseball and other sports. Named as initial respondents were baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, MLB and all of its then-24 member clubs.Īlthough the Court ruled in baseball's favor 5-3, it admitted the original grounds for the antitrust exemption were tenuous at best, that baseball was indeed interstate commerce for purposes of the act and the exemption was an "anomaly" it had explicitly refused to extend to other professional sports or entertainment. He sought injunctive relief from the reserve clause, which prevented him from negotiating with another team for a year after his contract expired. Louis Cardinals' outfielder Curt Flood when he refused to be traded to the Philadelphia Phillies after the 1969 season. ![]() Kuhn was a 1972 United States Supreme Court decision upholding, by a 5-3 margin, the antitrust exemption first granted to Major League Baseball (MLB) in Federal Baseball Club v. ![]()
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