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April 19
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1922
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May 29
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1922
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Federal Base Ball Club of Baltimore, Inc v National League of Professional Base Ball Clubs et al
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259
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200
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Major League Baseball is not considered interstate commerce under the Sherman Antitrust Act
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1921-1922
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Holmes
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unanimous court
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'', , is a case in which the
U.S. Supreme Court ruled that
Major League Baseball was exempt from the provisions of the
Sherman Antitrust Act .
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 Federal League club (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 under the provisions of the
Sherman Act .
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. 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
{Link without Title} , which are purely state affairs"; that is, that baseball was not
Interstate Commerce for the purposes of the Sherman Act.
The decision was reaffirmed in ''
Toolson V. New York Yankees '', , and ''
Flood V. Kuhn '', .
