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Butterworth brings big bat to this game of monopoly
© St. Petersburg Times, We are not allowed to form illegal monopolies. You and I can't get together in the business of, say, lemonade stands, with the secret plan of using unfair tactics to drive all the other lemonade stands out of business. Neither can all the dry cleaners in Florida get together and fix their prices. Or the movie theaters. Or the car dealers. The Tampa Tribune and the St. Petersburg Times cannot team up and say to each other, "Hey, I'll jack up all my advertising rates in this market if you will." These all are "anti-competitive" tactics. They are illegal under federal law. They are illegal under state law, too. If you engage in them, then sooner or later a bunch of government lawyers in dark suits will visit you. Unless, of course, you are Major League Baseball. If you are Major League Baseball, you are exempt from antitrust laws. The owners of your individual teams may conspire and collude as they please. The U.S. Supreme Court said so, way back in 1922. To be sure, it was a wacky ruling. The court had to torture logic and the English language to decide that "exhibitions of base ball" were not "interstate commerce." But the ruling has stood ever since. It would take an act of Congress to change it. From time to time, members of Congress have threatened such an act -- especially when their home state wanted a baseball team, and couldn't get one, or was in danger of losing an existing team. But these threats have never amounted to much. Now comes a mere state-level politician, to try his own hand against Major League Baseball. And so far, at least for the first innings, he is winning. On Nov. 13, Bob Butterworth, Florida's attorney general, issued a sweeping subpoena to baseball. He demanded to know almost everything related to the discussion of "contraction," or reducing the number of teams. You might have heard about this. Baseball is in economic trouble and is thinking about killing off a team or two. The rumored targets are in Minnesota and Montreal (although with recent developments, the whole matter may be delayed a year or so). Still, we in Florida, with struggling teams in Tampa Bay and Miami, were rightfully worried. Even if we didn't get whacked this time, we might be in trouble next time. With all the public resources pledged to baseball, and baseball's promises made to Florida taxpayers in return, this is the state's business, the attorney general declared. What power, you might ask, does a mere state attorney general have, given baseball's protection in federal law? Easy -- Butterworth said he was enforcing state antitrust law. According to a 1994 ruling from the Florida Supreme Court, baseball's protection is limited and some state law can be enforced. That 1994 ruling came when Florida wanted to know more about how baseball had blocked the sale of the San Francisco Giants to a group of Tampa Bay investors. (Personally, I think the state court ruling on which Butterworth hangs his hat is off-base too. Most courts in the land say that baseball can do whatever it wants. But until some federal court tells the Florida court it was wrong, well, why not give it a try?) Butterworth's deadline for forking over the answers was Dec. 13, this Thursday. But Major League Baseball, along with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Florida Marlins, went to federal court in Tallahassee to block the state's demand. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle refused to stop Butterworth -- for now. He'll hold a full hearing on Dec. 18 about Florida's power to enforce its laws. Meanwhile, the clock is ticking on Thursday's deadline. Antitrust exemption or no, for the moment, baseball finds itself having to answer to a mere state attorney general. This is sort of like a big-leaguer eagerly coming up to bat against a rookie, only to have the kid blow a fastball by him for the first strike. However, you do get three of them. More, if you have a smart lawyer. -- You can reach Howard Troxler at (727) 893-8505 or at troxler@sptimes.com.
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