The U.S. Supreme Court recently re-affirmed that antitrust laws apply to football. More particularly, they apply to relationships between the teams -- the National Football League is not to be treated as a single entity selling a single product.
Go here for the decision.
This is in contrast to baseball, and "Major League Baseball," and the disparity in the legal treatment of the two favorite sports of the US came about through an intriguing historical accident. Back in the 1920s, judges still cared (at least sporadically) about the separate spheres of the federal and state governments, and still interpreted the interstate commerce clause to mean something specific -- movement of people or goods across state lines.
So when the subject of enforcing federal antitrust laws in a baseball context first arose, the courts said the laws can't apply, because baseball teams aren't engaged in moving anybody or anthing anywhere. The stadium stays in one place! Customers coming to it may cross state lines, but that is their concern. This visiting team generally crossed state lines to get to the home team's park, but that is incidental. The actual game is intra-state. That was the justification for the immunity.
In the 1930s, the commerce clause came to mean anything it had to mean. So logically, the antitrust immunity for baseball could have been reconsidered. But it wasn't. It remained in place as a sort of relic of the old days.
In 1972,in the Curt Flood case, the Supreme Court admitted that this makes baseball an "established aberration," but said the immunity will stand until Congress changes it.
I'm okay with that. As I believe I've indicated in this blog before, I think the result is rational as to baseball, for reasons the SCOTUS opinion didn't so much as mention. When the Red Sox play the Yankees, they are both in the business of putting on a show -- the same show. More broadly, all of the teams in the two leagues of MLB are in the business of puttinbg on the season-long show that begins with spring training and ends with the World Series. They have the same overriding interest in maintaining public fascination with that show, and this retaining their viability for the television audience ands the advertisers who pay the big bucks. It is all a single enterprise.
Still, I'd like to see the NFL get the benefit of the same immunity. Their stadiums (stadia?) stay in place, too.
Showing posts with label baseball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baseball. Show all posts
29 May 2010
24 April 2009
Active Roster, Boston Red Sox
The baseball season is still new. Let's say who is who on our favorite team.
Active Roster
Pitchers B/T Ht Wt DOB
19 Josh Beckett R/R 6-5 220 05/15/80
17 Manny Delcarmen R/R 6-2 205 02/16/82
62 Hunter Jones L/L 6-4 235 01/10/84
31 Jon Lester L/L 6-2 190 01/07/84
48 Javier Lopez L/L 6-4 220 07/11/77
63 Justin Masterson R/R 6-6 250 03/22/85
37 Hideki Okajima L/L 6-1 195 12/25/75
58 Jonathan Papelbon R/R 6-4 225 11/23/80
36 Brad Penny R/R 6-4 230 05/24/78
56 Ramon Ramirez R/R 5-11 190 08/31/81
24 Takashi Saito L/R 6-2 215 02/14/70
49 Tim Wakefield R/R 6-2 210 08/02/66
Catchers B/T Ht Wt DOB
16 George Kottaras L/R 6-0 185 05/10/83
33 Jason Varitek S/R 6-2 230 04/11/72
Infielders B/T Ht Wt DOB
22 Nick Green R/R 6-0 180 09/10/78
25 Mike Lowell R/R 6-3 210 02/24/74
15 Dustin Pedroia R/R 5-9 180 08/17/83
51 Gil Velazquez R/R 6-3 190 10/17/79
20 Kevin Youkilis R/R 6-1 220 03/15/79
Outfielders B/T Ht Wt DOB
55 Jeff Bailey R/R 6-2 200 11/19/78
44 Jason Bay R/R 6-2 205 09/20/78
54 Chris Carter L/L 6-0 230 09/16/82
7 J.D. Drew L/R 6-1 200 11/20/75
46 Jacoby Ellsbury L/L 6-1 185 09/11/83
Designated Hitters B/T Ht Wt DOB
34 David Ortiz L/L 6-4 230 11/18/75
Active Roster
Pitchers B/T Ht Wt DOB
19 Josh Beckett R/R 6-5 220 05/15/80
17 Manny Delcarmen R/R 6-2 205 02/16/82
62 Hunter Jones L/L 6-4 235 01/10/84
31 Jon Lester L/L 6-2 190 01/07/84
48 Javier Lopez L/L 6-4 220 07/11/77
63 Justin Masterson R/R 6-6 250 03/22/85
37 Hideki Okajima L/L 6-1 195 12/25/75
58 Jonathan Papelbon R/R 6-4 225 11/23/80
36 Brad Penny R/R 6-4 230 05/24/78
56 Ramon Ramirez R/R 5-11 190 08/31/81
24 Takashi Saito L/R 6-2 215 02/14/70
49 Tim Wakefield R/R 6-2 210 08/02/66
Catchers B/T Ht Wt DOB
16 George Kottaras L/R 6-0 185 05/10/83
33 Jason Varitek S/R 6-2 230 04/11/72
Infielders B/T Ht Wt DOB
22 Nick Green R/R 6-0 180 09/10/78
25 Mike Lowell R/R 6-3 210 02/24/74
15 Dustin Pedroia R/R 5-9 180 08/17/83
51 Gil Velazquez R/R 6-3 190 10/17/79
20 Kevin Youkilis R/R 6-1 220 03/15/79
Outfielders B/T Ht Wt DOB
55 Jeff Bailey R/R 6-2 200 11/19/78
44 Jason Bay R/R 6-2 205 09/20/78
54 Chris Carter L/L 6-0 230 09/16/82
7 J.D. Drew L/R 6-1 200 11/20/75
46 Jacoby Ellsbury L/L 6-1 185 09/11/83
Designated Hitters B/T Ht Wt DOB
34 David Ortiz L/L 6-4 230 11/18/75
18 October 2008
Half a century
I reach the half-century mark today.
Birthdays are arbitrary, and the idea of giving special significance to one birthday per decade is doubly so. But there is that human impulse to divide the flow of time, and the digital imperative of making the divides subservient to the base ten number system.
There's an episode of Monk, in fact, in which Adrian complains about the packaging of eggs by the dozen. A new acquaintance, trying to become his buddy, says, "I see what you mean. We've got a base ten system, let's stick with it!"
So we watch the odometer of our lives spin about and look with some awe at those moments when another "0" comes up on the right side.
Since I was born in mid-October, and I've long been a baseball fan, one way to measure my life and its landmarks involves the fall classic, the World Series. I was delighted Thursday by the Red Sox' come-from-behind win to keep alive their chances for a World Series appearance this year. But I was reminded that the event itself is creeping forward in the calender, creeping toward colder days.
Looking at the big picture, over the decades, the trend has been toward expansion of the leagues and then division. The marketing folks have felt the need to get more teams involved in the post-season play, so more fans stay interested longer. This in turn has made the post-season longer.
There is a lesson in that, I suppose. As any set gets larger it tends to break up into sub-sets, and those into further sub-sets, and so on in fractal fashion.
As people age, likewise, we find that we've had more experiences, so we divide them too into sets and sub-sets. We have more categories of "things to think about" and ways to try to think about them. And our efforts at them sorting out ... need sorting out. The sorting efforts break up into subsets and sub-subsets!
The World Series of sorting-outs arrives, if at all, on one's death bed. That would be one of those classically literary death beds, where the protagonist says, "Aha!" and then imparts the distilled wisdom of his years to young'uns gathered round.
I'll try to avoid my death bed for a few decades yet. Obviously, I need a lot more time with this wisdom-distilling stuff. When I try to come up with something these days I end up reaching for Monk and baseball.
Let's end, instead, with a quote from Herbert Spencer. He thought it described the history of civilization -- it might better describe a human life, or at least mine as I look back in self-definition and forward in hope.
"Civilization is a progress from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity toward a definite, coherent heterogeneity."
Birthdays are arbitrary, and the idea of giving special significance to one birthday per decade is doubly so. But there is that human impulse to divide the flow of time, and the digital imperative of making the divides subservient to the base ten number system.
There's an episode of Monk, in fact, in which Adrian complains about the packaging of eggs by the dozen. A new acquaintance, trying to become his buddy, says, "I see what you mean. We've got a base ten system, let's stick with it!"
So we watch the odometer of our lives spin about and look with some awe at those moments when another "0" comes up on the right side.
Since I was born in mid-October, and I've long been a baseball fan, one way to measure my life and its landmarks involves the fall classic, the World Series. I was delighted Thursday by the Red Sox' come-from-behind win to keep alive their chances for a World Series appearance this year. But I was reminded that the event itself is creeping forward in the calender, creeping toward colder days.
Looking at the big picture, over the decades, the trend has been toward expansion of the leagues and then division. The marketing folks have felt the need to get more teams involved in the post-season play, so more fans stay interested longer. This in turn has made the post-season longer.
There is a lesson in that, I suppose. As any set gets larger it tends to break up into sub-sets, and those into further sub-sets, and so on in fractal fashion.
As people age, likewise, we find that we've had more experiences, so we divide them too into sets and sub-sets. We have more categories of "things to think about" and ways to try to think about them. And our efforts at them sorting out ... need sorting out. The sorting efforts break up into subsets and sub-subsets!
The World Series of sorting-outs arrives, if at all, on one's death bed. That would be one of those classically literary death beds, where the protagonist says, "Aha!" and then imparts the distilled wisdom of his years to young'uns gathered round.
I'll try to avoid my death bed for a few decades yet. Obviously, I need a lot more time with this wisdom-distilling stuff. When I try to come up with something these days I end up reaching for Monk and baseball.
Let's end, instead, with a quote from Herbert Spencer. He thought it described the history of civilization -- it might better describe a human life, or at least mine as I look back in self-definition and forward in hope.
"Civilization is a progress from an indefinite, incoherent homogeneity toward a definite, coherent heterogeneity."
20 January 2008
American Pastoral
I finally broke down and bought a Philip Roth novel.
I keep hearing how wonderful he is. All I can say in reply is that I read "Portnoy's Complaint" once, and was underwhelmed by it. But I figured I owed him (Roth, not Portnoy) another chance.
Also, my uncle and aunt (bless them) got me a coupon for use at any Barnes & Noble as a Christmas gift this year. I used most of the value of the card to buy a non-fiction book on a subject that of course holds some interest for me but that will be unlikely to warm up any entries in this blog. So I inferred I should cut loose and use the remainder of it for something more literary.
So ... Roth it was. I bought a paperback copy of AMERICAN PASTORAL, a novel published eleven years ago.
I was the managing editor of a journal of political polemics at that time, and I edited a rave review of this book. [To be frank, I took a passage in a letter from a friend and turned it into a review with a little editing, but ... hey ... let's just say I edited it.]
Early on, Roth (or, rather, Nathan Zuckerman, the famous author who serves as the first-person narrator) recounts the plot of a novel he read as a boy called THE KID FROM TOMKINSVILLE -- a novel about baseball and a particular baseball player. We can't credit Roth with the plot. There really was such a book:
http://brothersjudd.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/reviews.detail/book_id/127/Kid%20from%20Tom.htm
Yet the way Roth writes about the book, its illustrations, and Nathan's reactions to reading that book as a kid is a thing of beauty itself.
Here's just a bit:
"The drawings seemed conceived out of the dark austerities of Depression America. Every ten pages or so, to succinctly depict a dramatic physical moment in the story -- 'He was able to put a little steam in it,' 'It was over the fence,' 'Razzle limped to the dugout' -- there is a blackish, ink-heavy rendering of a scrawny, shadow-faced ballplayer starkly silhouetted on a blank page, isolated, like the world's most lonesome soul, from both nature and man, or set in a stippled simulation of ballpark grass, dragging beneath him the skinny statuette of a wormlike shadow."
You gotta love it.
I keep hearing how wonderful he is. All I can say in reply is that I read "Portnoy's Complaint" once, and was underwhelmed by it. But I figured I owed him (Roth, not Portnoy) another chance.
Also, my uncle and aunt (bless them) got me a coupon for use at any Barnes & Noble as a Christmas gift this year. I used most of the value of the card to buy a non-fiction book on a subject that of course holds some interest for me but that will be unlikely to warm up any entries in this blog. So I inferred I should cut loose and use the remainder of it for something more literary.
So ... Roth it was. I bought a paperback copy of AMERICAN PASTORAL, a novel published eleven years ago.
I was the managing editor of a journal of political polemics at that time, and I edited a rave review of this book. [To be frank, I took a passage in a letter from a friend and turned it into a review with a little editing, but ... hey ... let's just say I edited it.]
Early on, Roth (or, rather, Nathan Zuckerman, the famous author who serves as the first-person narrator) recounts the plot of a novel he read as a boy called THE KID FROM TOMKINSVILLE -- a novel about baseball and a particular baseball player. We can't credit Roth with the plot. There really was such a book:
http://brothersjudd.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/reviews.detail/book_id/127/Kid%20from%20Tom.htm
Yet the way Roth writes about the book, its illustrations, and Nathan's reactions to reading that book as a kid is a thing of beauty itself.
Here's just a bit:
"The drawings seemed conceived out of the dark austerities of Depression America. Every ten pages or so, to succinctly depict a dramatic physical moment in the story -- 'He was able to put a little steam in it,' 'It was over the fence,' 'Razzle limped to the dugout' -- there is a blackish, ink-heavy rendering of a scrawny, shadow-faced ballplayer starkly silhouetted on a blank page, isolated, like the world's most lonesome soul, from both nature and man, or set in a stippled simulation of ballpark grass, dragging beneath him the skinny statuette of a wormlike shadow."
You gotta love it.
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