Congressional Hearings and Baseball

[Very_Bad_Man]

What gives?

Why does this even exist?

Can anybody tell me why Congress gets involved regarding steroid use?

Isn't that the business of the league?

Why is my tax dollars being used for this?

 

[KRCummings]

Baseballs anti-trust exemption means Congress has jurisdiction.

 

[Johnny_Ray_Wilson]

I never understood it either.

Yet, personally, if it takes an act of Congress to have Pete Rose inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame....then so be it. So shoot me, I still have not got over that shit.

 

[Johnny_Ray_Wilson]

Baseballs anti-trust exemption means Congress has jurisdiction.

Interesting. I plead ignorance on this. Could you explain?

 

[KRCummings]

Interesting. I plead ignorance on this. Could you explain?

What is there to explain? They have an anti-trust exemption. Because of that Congress has jurisdiction over them. That's it.
If MLB wasn't to give up their exemption then we can keep Congress out.

 

[Johnny_Ray_Wilson]

What is there to explain? They have an anti-trust exemption. Because of that Congress has jurisdiction over them. That's it.
If MLB wasn't to give up their exemption then we can keep Congress out.

Okay. I am trying to come to grips with what has progressed with MLB the past couple of decades. I always knew the player strikes fucked up the sport and that Bud Selig is not what I consider a blessing to baseball.

And Clinton, I think, tried to curtail all of the player vs owner labor disputes when he signed the Curt Flood Act into law back in '98.

So, I did a little googling, and came up with the following link. Which actually takes the anti-trust issue back to 1903. Kind of weird coincidence this thread is exactly 10 years to the day of the following link as to why baseball has an antitrust law.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history_lesson/2002/07/baseballs_con_game.html

And I agree with this bit from the same link: The antitrust exemption is an irony. Owners and players prove day after day that they consider baseball above all business.

 

[about_average]

Just because they have jurisdiction doesn't mean they have to spend time on it. There are plenty of other, more important, things they ignore.

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

What gives?

Why does this even exist?

Can anybody tell me why Congress gets involved regarding steroid use?

Isn't that the business of the league?

Why is my tax dollars being used for this?

Well, they've farmed out all their real work to the Federal Bureaucracies so they have to have something to enable the pretense of usefulness...

 

[ChinaBandit]

I know what Roger Clemens would say, "Kiss my ass right on the injection spot!"

 

[4est_4est_Gump]

He could throw that speed ball by ya,
Make you look like a fool, boy...

 

[kbate]

I wouldn't mess with Clemens, guy's neck is bigger around than my waist.