Norman Sterry Norman Sedgwick Sterry ( July 8 , 1878 – February 3 , 1971 ) was an American lawyer and football player . He represented movie stars and prominent persons as a lawyer in Los Angeles and successfully represented Major League Baseball in the case that resulted in the United States Supreme Court ' s exemption of baseball from the antitrust laws . As a law student at the University of Michigan , Sterry played at the halfback and end positions on the Michigan Wolverines football teams from 1900 to 1902 . Early years . Sterry was born in Emporia , Kansas in 1878 , the son of Clinton Norman Sterry ( 1843 – 1903 ) and Lousie Augusta Slocum . He was educated in the public schools in Kansas . In 1892 , his father , who was an attorney , became the general attorney for the Santa Fe Railroad in the region west of Albuquerque . In October 1896 , at age 18 , Sterry moved with his family to Los Angeles . At the time of the 1900 United States Census , Sterry was listed as a student living with his parents at 2607 Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles . He had two younger sisters , Nora and Ruth , and a younger brother , Philip . Sterry received his further education at Meaney ' s Private School for Boys and the University of New Mexico . University of Michigan . In 1900 , Sterry enrolled in the Law Department at the University of Michigan and received his law degree in 1903 . While at Michigan , Sterry played at the halfback and end positions on the Michigan Wolverines football teams from 1900 to 1902 . He was a member of Fielding H . Yost ' s 1901 and 1902 " Point - a - Minute " football team s that compiled a 22 – 0 record and outscored opponents 1 , 197 to 12 . Sterry ' s father died in May 1903 , the same month Sterry was admitted to the Michigan bar . Legal career . After receiving his law degree , Sterry returned to Los Angeles and was admitted to the California bar in October 1903 . By 1910 , he had partnered with the founders of what became one of California ' s most prominent law firms , Gibson , Dunn & Crutcher . As of 1918 , he was one of six lawyers listed as members of Gibson , Dunn & Crutcher . Sterry remained with the Gibson Dunn firm throughout his career , serving as a senior partner at least into the 1950s . During the 1910s , Sterry was counsel for the Los Angeles Railway and other large companies operating in Los Angeles . In a draft registration card completed in September 1918 , Sterry indicated that he was self - employed as an attorney with an office in Los Angeles at the Merchants National Bank Building , Suite 1111 . In the late 1920s , Sterry represented silent film star Lillian Gish in lawsuits involving slander which received national press coverage due to the salacious allegations . In the mid - 1930s , Sterry also gained national attention for a suit in which he alleged silent film star Mary Miles Minter had been systematically cheated out of her earnings by her mother . Sterry alleged that Minter had earned over $ 1 million , but she did not have lunch money and was left impoverished by the mother . The case was ultimately settled in the middle of the proceedings . Sterry also represented dime - store heiress Barbara Hutton in a child custody dispute with her former husband Cary Grant in the 1940s . In 1953 , Sterry , then a senior partner at Gibson , Dunn & Crutcher , successfully represented the New Yankees in a case before the United States Supreme Court , " Toolson v . New York Yankees " , 346 U . S . 356 , which upheld an exemption from the antitrust laws for Major League Baseball . Family and death . In 1909 , Sterry married Josephine Lewis . At the time of the 1910 United States Census , Sterry and his wife lived in Los Angeles with Sterry ' s mother , Louise , and his three siblings . Sterry and his wife had a daughter , Louisa , and a son , Lewis Trask Sterry . At the time of the 1920 United States Census , Sterry was living in Los Angeles with his wife and two children . At the time of the 1930 United States Census , Sterry lived on South Rossmore Street in Los Angeles with his wife , two children , and two servants . He died in February 1971 at age 92 and was survived by his wife , Josephine , and son , Lewis . He is buried at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery .