Baseball law refers to the various civil statutes, local ordinances, and court decisions pertaining to the game of

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

and its institutions, as distinguished from the Rules of Baseball, which are a private codification of rules governing the internal workings of baseball games.

Nineteenth-century baseball law

Both the early rules (which act as the laws of the game) and the legal cases surrounding the sport impact the way baseball is played to this day. Documentation of early baseball law exists but has been rarely studied. Nonetheless its presence in legal disputes and records indicate that it was an important part of American life before 1900. In fact, references to baseball are present in 168 legal cases decided before the turn of the twentieth century.

"Blue" laws

In America's past, "blue" laws prohibited business from taking place on the

Sabbath In Abrahamic religions, the Sabbath () or Shabbat (from Hebrew ) is a day set aside for rest and worship. According to the Book of Exodus, the Sabbath is a day of rest on the seventh day, Ten Commandments, commanded by God to be kept as a Holid ...

. This was an issue for baseball teams who were playing for spectators on Sundays. On April 30, 1891, Tim O'Rourk and 19 others were the subject of a criminal complaint that pertained to them playing baseball for an audience of about 3,000 in Lincoln Park the previous Sunday. The case of ''State v. O'Rourk'' ensued. It was illegal at the time for anyone over age 14 "engage in sporting" on a Sunday. The penalty for which was "a fine of $20, incarceration for 20 days, or both." The accused argued that baseball did not fall under the category of "sport" and that they were remotely located enough so as not to have offended those observing the Sabbath. The presiding judge dismissed the case on those grounds. However, Chief Justice Maxwell of the

Nebraska Supreme Court The Nebraska Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Nebraska. The court consists of a chief justice and six associate justices. Each justice is initially appointed by the governor of Nebraska; using the Missouri Plan, each ...

disagreed.Jarvis, R. M. and Coleman, P. ''Early Baseball Law,'' 45 American Journal of Legal History 117, 123-24 (2001) This case showed that there was a growing class of people willing to depart from tradition and attend a baseball game on a Sunday. It also indicates that there were those who adamantly resisted such change.

Star players

Free agency In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under a contract at present ...

" did not exist as it does today in baseball until the 1970s. Instead, players were bound to their teams by something called the "

reserve clause The reserve clause, in North American professional sports, was part of a player contract which stated that the rights to players were retained by the team upon the contract's expiration. Players under these contracts were not free to enter into ano ...

". John "Monte" Ward was the first to oppose this in November 1889. He was a star player for the National League's New York Giants, but was also an author and lawyer. The "reserve" clause did not specify terms of contract, salary or agreements between player and teams. A judge ultimately ruled that with such fundamental questions left unanswered, the clause could not reasonably be enforced. This was the first case of many that ruled in favor of the individual player rather than the team. It allowed star players more choices and the ability to use competition to increase their value.

Baseball Rule

In 1913 a Missouri appeals court heard ''Crane v. Kansas City Baseball & Exhibition Co.'', a

tort A tort is a civil wrong, other than breach of contract, that causes a claimant to suffer loss or harm, resulting in legal liability for the person who commits the tortious act. Tort law can be contrasted with criminal law, which deals with cri ...

case where a spectator at a Kansas City Blues game who had been struck and injured by a foul ball alleged the team had been

negligent Negligence ( Lat. ''negligentia'') is a failure to exercise appropriate care expected to be exercised in similar circumstances. Within the scope of tort law, negligence pertains to harm caused by the violation of a duty of care through a negl ...

. But since he had chosen to sit in an unprotected area of the park, even though tickets were

general admission In live entertainment there are several possible schemes for the seating assignment of spectators, including completely unassigned seating. There are several schemes most commonly used, though there are no firm rules, and alternate or modified sc ...

and seats were available behind the backstop, the court held for the team per the

contributory negligence In some common law jurisdictions, contributory negligence is a defense to a tort claim based on negligence. If it is available, the defense completely bars plaintiffs from any recovery if they contribute to their own injury through their own neg ...

and

assumption of risk Assumption of risk is a defense, specifically an affirmative defense, in the law of torts, which bars or reduces a plaintiff's right to recovery against a negligent tortfeasor if the defendant can demonstrate that the plaintiff voluntarily and kno ...

doctrines. This holding was adopted by courts hearing similar cases in other states, and by the 1920s it had understood that as long as teams made enough protected seats available to meet reasonably anticipated demand, they had met their duty of reasonable care to spectators and could not be held liable for most foul ball injuries to them. Now known as the Baseball Rule, this holding remains good law in many states today, even after

comparative negligence Comparative negligence, called non-absolute contributory negligence outside the United States, is a partial legal defense that reduces the amount of damages that a plaintiff can recover in a negligence-based claim, based upon the degree to which ...

became the primary doctrine of tort law in most states. In the 21st century, it has come under increasing criticism as outdated both legally and in relation to baseball.

"Jim Crow" ball

Hispanic, black and white Americans have all played baseball since the sport began. In the early days of the sport, integrated teams were not uncommon, with players of color able to play alongside their white counterparts. However, dating back to as early as 1867, the

racism Racism is the belief that groups of humans possess different behavioral traits corresponding to inherited attributes and can be divided based on the superiority of one Race (human categorization), race or ethnicity over another. It may also me ...

of the post-

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

era crept into the national pastime.

Jim Crow law The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws introduced in the Southern United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries that enforced racial segregation, "Jim Crow" being a pejorative term for an African American. The last of the Ji ...

s were present from

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

into the 1960s and in some instances applied directly to baseball, relegating black players to the

Negro leagues The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relativel ...

while whites played in Major League Baseball. However, segregation in MLB began to end with the signing and debut of

Jackie Robinson Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first Black American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the Baseball color line, ...

with the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Grays. In 1884, it became a member of the American Association as the Brooklyn Atlantics before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brook ...

in 1947.

Baseball and the legal profession

Baseball is highly legalistic, as It is governed by an elaborate set of rules. At the professional level, a highly trained multi-judge panel of

umpires An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French , , and , : (as evidenced in cricke ...

must implement and interpret the rules. Offensive and defensive plays require rulings by the umpires These include when a pitch is thrown and when a ball is hit. These plays are legal rulings of the game and become part of the official record. Just like the American legal system, each umpire presides over a jurisdiction. The home plate umpire rules a fair or foul ball before it reaches a base. The first or third base umpire makes a call once the ball in play is beyond their bag. In the World Series, extra umpires are present on the field. This creates a mini-

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

superior court In common law systems, a superior court is a court of general jurisdiction over civil and criminal legal cases. A superior court is "superior" in relation to a court with limited jurisdiction (see small claims court), which is restricted to civil ...

, which provides new pairs of eyes to scrutinize plays in the outfield. ''Baseball and the Law: Cases and Materials'' (2016) , published by

Carolina Academic Press Carolina Academic Press (also known as CAP) is an academic publisher of books and software. Since entering the legal education market in the late 1970s, Carolina Academic Press has become a major publisher of law school textbooks. Today, CAP publi ...

, co-authored by Louis H. Schiff and Robert M. Jarvis is considered the seminal law school casebook on baseball law. Innumerable American lawyers and judges have played baseball – amateur or professional – since the game coalesced in the 19th century. Perhaps the iconic legal publication regarding baseball is the article " The Common Law Origins of the Infield Fly Rule", written by

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

attorney William S. Stevens and published in the

University of Pennsylvania Law Review The ''University of Pennsylvania Law Review'', formerly known as the ''American Law Register'', is a law review published by an organization of second and third year J.D. students at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. It is the oldest law ...

in 1975. Five of baseball's ten Commissioners of Baseball have been lawyers: Major league managers who are known to have attended law school: Dave Fultz

MLB players who practiced law after their playing careers: ''Attorneys in the Baseball Hall of Fame'', co-authored by Louis H. Schiff and Robert M. Jarvis is scheduled for publication by

McFarland & Company McFarland & Company, Inc., is an American independent book publisher based in Jefferson, North Carolina, that specializes in academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tert ...

in late 2025.

References

Bibliography

Cases

* ''American League v. Chase,'' 86 Misc. 441 (N.Y. Misc. 1914) () * ''

City of Anaheim v. Angels Baseball LP ''City of Anaheim v. Angels Baseball LP'' is a lawsuit filed in Orange County, California Superior Courts of California, Superior Court by the city of Anaheim, California, against the owners of the Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Angels of Anahei ...

'' (2005) () * '' Federal Baseball Club v. National League'', * '' Flood v. Kuhn'', * ''Gardella v. Chandler,'' 174 F.2d 919 (2d Cir. 1949) () * ''Metropolitan Exhibition Co. v. Ward,'' 9 N.Y.S. 779 (1890) () * ''Philadelphia Ball Club, Ltd. v. Lajoie,'' 202 Pa. 210 (1902) () * '' Popov v. Hayashi'' (2002) (California Superior Court) * ''

Toolson v. New York Yankees ''Toolson v. New York Yankees'', 346 U.S. 356 (1953), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court upheld, 7–2, the antitrust exemption first granted to Major League Baseball (MLB) three decades earlier in '' Federal Baseball Club ...

'', * '' United States v. Cleveland Indians Baseball Company'',

External links

Baseball and the Law

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...

Law Library
Baseball Law Reporter (blog)