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Before The Flood: The History Of Baseball’S Antitrust Exemption, Roger Abrams

Roger I. Abrams

This article addresses the historical anomaly of baseball’s exemption from the federal antitrust laws. Starting with Justice Holmes’ opinion in the 1922 Federal Baseball case, the article criticizes the Supreme Court’s rigid adherence to stare decisis despite considerable changes in the legal and economic context. Ultimately, in the Curt Flood case the Court acknowledges the error of its previous ways, but stubbornly refuses to correct the law, leaving to Congress the ultimate power to revise a half century of judicial errors.