Fehr Ball

The bush-league strategy of baseball's player rep.

Michael McMenamin from the May 1995 issue

(Page 2 of 2)

Second, repeal of baseball's special antitrust exemption will give Fehr a litigation weapon he does not have today. But to use it, he will have to disband his union. Without its antitrust exemption, baseball will be no different from any other professional sport. If the union is no longer representing the players in multi-employer bargaining with the owners, then the team owners may not act together in dealing with their players without violating the antitrust laws. To take advantage of this, however, the Baseball Players Association must "decertify" as the players' union, so there is no collective bargaining unit left in the picture. This is what the NFL Players Association did several years ago. The players then filed and won a protracted antitrust case against the NFL and damages were awarded to many NFL players. After the litigation, the NFLPA returned as the union for the players and negotiated a new collective bargaining agreement--with a salary cap.

Antitrust litigation or litigation before the National Labor Relations Board is the only leverage Fehr has left. But such a course will involve years of lengthy litigation where Fehr and his fellow lawyers will end up making more than most of the baseball players they used to represent. In the meantime, while the litigation is pending, the baseball players will be at the mercy of the individual team owners and will have to rely on the free market to set their salaries.

So, end the antitrust exemption. Give Fehr his fig leaf. As long as the players return, and the World Series commences this October at Jacobs Field in Cleveland, the fans couldn't care less about how a bunch of millionaires go about deciding how to split up their profits.

Comments

nfl jerseys|11.17.10 @ 1:14AM|#

ndgs

سهمي|12.11.10 @ 4:39PM|#

asgsagasg

قبلة الوداع|8.12.11 @ 11:22PM|#

thank u man