Antitrust Exemption Holds Baseball Back a Century

Some think Major League Baseball is stuck in the past, from its resistance to using in-game technology such as instant replay to its ever-aging fan base. Yet the most obsolete aspects of the national pastime are the antitrust exemptions that continue to prop up the league more than 90 years after they ceased to be relevant.

And that's actually a quite generous assessment, as many would argue that such exemptions were illogical and incongruous with the baseball and legal climate even back in 1922, when the Supreme Court upheld MLB's exemption. In the decision in Federal Baseball Club of Baltimore v. National League, the court ruled that the sport was not subject to laws such as the Sherman Antitrust Act by emphasizing the supposed distinction of baseball as a game, not a business, while stating that having players travel to different stadiums did not constitute interstate commerce and thus did not fall under federal jurisdiction.