Evening star., 1953-10-15
Supreme Court Ends
Baseball Argument,
Record Study Pends
By Robert K. Walsh


Organized baseball settled
down today for off-SeaSon sus-
pense until the Supreme Court
decides whether to call the ma
tional pastime legally safe.
The court took three test
cases under advisement late
yesterday. 1t did not indicate
how soon it would rule or
whether it would reverse
1922 ruling that baseball is not
a trade within the scope OF the
Federal antitrust laws.
Concluding arguments Gen.
tered on contentious that the
baseball situation has changed
greatly in recent years because
of television and radio. This
was a main point raised by at
torneys for two former minor
league players who complain
they were blacklisted by big
league clubs, and for a minor
league club owner who says he
was unjustly penalized by base
ball association authorities.
Games Held Local.
Raymond T. Jackson, an at
torney for these officials, urged
that the 1922 decision be up
held not only as good law
but in the best interests
of baseball, the players and
the public. The player rights
of clubs and the regula-
tions as we'll as operational
methods of organized baseball,
he said, are not "in the line OF
interstate commerce.
They do not unreaSonably re-
strain trade or unduly restrict
persons choosing to play profess
sional ball, he declared. There
fore, he concluded, the "inher-
entity local nature of baseball
exhibition" cannot properly be
subject to the antitrust laws.
Attorney Seymour Martinson,
representing Jack Corbett of the
Ell PaSo, Tex, club, disputed
those views. He told the court
that a real legal and factual dis
tinction exists between the 1922
decision and the issues raised
in the current cases.
He urged the tribunal to open
the way for relief of players and
club owners who feel they are
damaged, kept down, blacklisted
or otherwise unfairly treated.
Under present conditions any
such owner or player who goes
into court with a damage suit
is thrown out because of the
1922 decision that baseball is a
sport.
Cites West Coast Hopes.
Speaking directly to Chief
Justice Warren, former Cover
nor of California, Mr.. Martinson
recalled efforts of West Coast in
terests to get a big league fran
chise. Their lack of success is
proof of restraint of trade and
player slavery" he asserted.
Earlier in the afternoon a live
ly discussion involved Justice
Frankfurter and Frederic A.
Johnson, attorney for Walter
Kowalski, a former minor league
player who sought damages
against the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Mr.. Kowalski and George E.
Toolson. a pitcher ineligible
since refusing to report to a
New York Yankees affiliated
minor league team, aimed their
attack especially at the reserve
clause which gives club owners
absolute control over players.
Doubts Interstate Operation.
Justice Frankfurter said he did
not see how broadcasting and
telecasting of baseball games for
good will or added revenue made
baseball itself an interstate op-
Grafton within jurisdiction of the
Federal antitrust laws. He re-
marked that TV watchers aren't
looking at good will but at run
ming, batting and fielding"
At another stage in the ar
guments which began late Tues
day and took up two more hours
yesterday, he broke in to say:
II don't know why we argue
these cases at such length"
He indicated he thought the
basic issue was clear enough in
view of the 1922 opinion of JUS
tice Oliver Wendell Holmes.
But" Justice Jackson added,
"Some judges are slower than
others. I'm one of the slow ones"