view raw text
Baseball Must Risk Anti-Trust Suits Special Immunity Legislation Denied Probers Suggest Congress Should Let Industry-Find Own Solutions to Problems By VINCENT J. BURKE United Press Staff Correspondent WASHINGTON, D. C, May 22.— Congressional investigators asserted tonight that organized baseball is a self -regulated "monopoly" which should be left alone to stand the risk of anti-trust suits by disgruntled players. By unanimous agreement, the house monopoly sub-committee, which spent nine months, investigating the national pastime, turned down legislation to grant baseball special immunity from the Sherman antitrust law. The six-man sub-committee also discarded an alternate suggestion that Congress write a baseball code and set up a new federal agency to enforce it. Congress should keep its hands off professional baseball, the group said, and let the industry "work out its own solutions to the problems confronting it." The, sub-committees report was based on hearings on the grounds that it would have protected club owners from a recurrent series of treble-damage suits challenging baseballs so-called "reserve clause." Sponsors of the bills, including Sen. Edwin C. Johnson D.-Colo., president of the Western League, contended the courts should not be trusted to rule on the legality of the clause because an adverse decision would destroy organized baseball. The reserve clause gives a ball club which first signs a player exclusive rights to his services as long as he plays baseball — or until his contract is sold to another club. Thus a player who doesnt like the treatment or salary at one club is barred from going to work for another club. Any Legislation Premature The sub-committee, headed by Rep. Emanuel Celler D.-N.Y., acknowledged that "some form" of the reserve clause is necessary to keep baseball operating "profitably," but it said any legislation on the matter would be "premature." It contended the courts should not be barred from passing on the "reasonableness" of baseball contracts or other baseball rules because the fans dont have the power or -the knowledge to guarantee that the game will always be operated in "the maximum national interest." The proposed legislation would have given baseball clubs blanket immunity from anti-trust laws. The sub-committees 232-page report summed up the history and economics of baseball as well as the disputed regulations, and touched on just about* every controversy except the "lively" ball. It criticized territorial franchise restrictions and terms of minor league player contracts and. said they should not be "sanctified" by exemption from anti-trust suits. Sub-committee complaints that territorial restrictions have prevented any shift in the location of a major league team since 1903, were of particular interest on the West Coast, which has been trying to break into big league baseball. Celler said in a separate statement that baseball cant just "sit tight" and ignore the big westward movement of population during the last half century. Big league baseball presently stops at the Mississippi River. Third Largest City Without Major Club "The third largest city in the United States, Los Angeles the seventh largest metropolitan area, San Francisco-Oakland, and the 12th, 13th and 14th metropolitan areas, namely Baltimore, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Buffalo, do not have major league baseball," the sub-committee pointed out. "Yet we find that Cincinnati, the 15th largest city, does have major league baseball and that one city — St. Louis — smaller in population than either Los Angeles or San Francisco, enjoys the benefits of two major league ball clubs." They said that to grant immunity for the reserve clause "might sanctify all the terms of the standard minor league contract and all of the aspects of the farm system which were targets of criticism during the hearings" and were "condemned" by some of baseballs own representatives. The congressmen also noted that a number of minor leagues club owners testified that baseball should not be given blanket exemption from anti-trust laws. The report said some baseball operating rules would be "entirely inappropriate in an ordinary industry." It added, however, the baseball is a "unique industry" in which in-eer-club cooperation is essential "to the maintenance of honest and vigorous competition on the playing field." The sub-committee said lesser changes in baseball rules might eliminate some of the . conditions blamed on, the reserve clause, such as "ossification of the major league territorial map, and the tendency of farm systems to enable the richest clubs to engross the player market." It noted that players themselves admitted the reserve clause was needed to prevent "chaotic conditions" resulting from players skipping from team to team. No substitute was found which would "guarantee a comparatively even competitive struggle," the report said. The clause is not unreasonable as long as it does not deprive players of a reasonable opportunity to earn pay commensurate with their .ability, it added. Returning to territorial rights, the report said Boston, St. Louis and Philadelphia have been "unable to provide the patronage necessary to support the two clubs in each city during the lean years." 1 Rep. Patrick J. Hillings R.-Cal. a part-time member of the sub -committee, said in a statement that the "geographical unbalance certainly influenced" the antitrust decision. He said baseball "did not come before the Congress jvith clean * hands."
