Debate continued yesterday on the state of baseball's
antitrust exemption. In Manhattan, attorney Carl Person filed a
lawsuit in federal court challenging the exemption. Person is
willing to press the case to the Supreme Court if it will force
the players and owners back to the bargaining table (Ireland &
Kleinknecht, N.Y. POST, 9/16).
LIFT THE BAN: Two papers called on Congress to lift the
ban. The Baltimore SUN: "The first cancellation of a World
Series in 90 years emphasizes the urgency of the problem. We say
to Congress, don't wait till next year. In fact, given the
history of the past two decades, you shouldn't have waited till
this year" (SUN, 9/16). WASHINGTON POST editorial: "It really is
time for Congress to consider doing away with baseball's
antitrust exemption. ... The game's executives are given to dire
warnings about doing this; they warn that it would be the end of
baseball as we have known it. Gee, does that mean we wouldn't
have a World Series?" (WASHINGTON POST, 9/16).
MORE TALK: Richard Sandomir writes, "Baseball has survived
past attempts [to repeal the exemption], but the strike and lost
season have drawn renewed attention to the exemption and, to
many, painted it as the villain behind the labor impasse" (N.Y.
TIMES, 9/16). Peter Passel writes: "Wanna see the baseball club
owners really squirm? Repeal their exemption from antitrust
laws" (N.Y. TIMES, 9/16).
American Enterprise Institute economist Irwin Stelzer says a
repeal is a "no brainer": "It wouldn't do any harm, and it might
do a lot of good" (N.Y. TIMES, 9/16).
