[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 19 (Tuesday, January 31, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E236]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


   LEGISLATION TO REPEAL ANTITRUST EXEMPTION REGARDING MAJOR LEAGUE 
                                BASEBALL

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                       HON. ESTEBAN EDWARD TORRES

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, January 31, 1995
  Mr. TORRES. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing legislation to repeal 
the antitrust exemption under which Major League Baseball has operated 
since 1922.
  I am doing this for two reasons. For the short term, I believe 
repealing the antitrust exemption will accelerate the end of the 
baseball shutdown, which threatens the livelihoods of thousands of 
Americans and the economies of cities and towns across the country.
  For the long term, I believe repealing the antitrust exemption will 
restore fairness to the fragile relationship of labor and management in 
professional baseball. And in doing that we will help preserve the 
institution of baseball and protect the livelihoods of Americans for 
generations to come.
  Although my own background has deep roots in the labor movement, I do 
not mean to take sides in the current struggle between the players and 
management. All I want to do is restore fairness to the negotiating 
process and allow the courts to help accelerate the negotiations where 
necessary.
  As long as professional baseball enjoys its exemption from the 
antitrust statutes, management can impose its own salary structure free 
from constraints of the courts or the open market. I have no doubt that 
removing the antitrust exemption would drastically alter the escalating 
rate of ticket prices which are currently set by an unfettered cartel 
of 28 team owners.
  Removing the antitrust exemption would put professional baseball in 
the real world of corporate America where it belongs. If we allow the 
free market to determine the cost of doing business in professional 
baseball, the owners will discover they can discipline their business 
practices and the players will discover their real value on the open 
market.
  We must recognize once and for all that professional baseball is a 
business, a big business. And if we can bring baseball's fiscal house 
in order, I have no doubt we can bring back fans to ballparks across 
the country and restore the game of baseball, not the business of 
baseball, and America's national pastime.


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