March 4, 2022
Four minor league teams ousted by Major League Baseball
Four minor league teams ousted by Major League Baseball urged a Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday to put the case on track for an appeal challenging the sport’s century-old antitrust exemption.
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“Because MLB is terrified of the possibility of Supreme Court review, it half-heartedly pitches a hodgepodge of non-immunity defenses, hoping one lands so that the complaint strikes out on any basis other than the exemption,” Quinn wrote to Judge Carter. “The court should reject those arguments as meritless and allow plaintiffs to appeal the one real issue in the case.”
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Reached for comment on his letter Wednesday, Quinn told Law360 that the teams’ antitrust arguments would be a “slam dunk” if not for the baseball exemption. The lawyer said he’s focusing on ensuring that the Federal Baseball challenge is teed up for appeal. “Our ultimate goal, which we’ve made clear from the beginning, is to try to get the case to the Supreme Court as expeditiously as possible on the issue of the baseball exemption,” Quinn said.