Tag: MLB


Source: New York Times

In the 1969, Major League Baseball (MLB) player, Curt Flood, fought the MLB for the right to play for whatever team he chose instead of a team basically “owning” him. Flash forward almost a century later, Colin Kaepernick has filed a grievance against the National Football League (NFL) for collusion.

During Flood’s time in baseball, a team could play, trade or dismiss a player without any input from the player. Flood was traded to a team, Philadelphia Phillies, he did not want to play with and ended up suing MLB over the Reserve Clause. Flood ended up losing the first legal battle as well as being blacklisted from baseball (collusion). However, twenty-six years later, Flood ended up winning the war with Major League Baseball the Curt Flood Act was enacted by Congress. Upon those words, free agency was born. As Gary R. Roberts, a graduate and author in the Marquette Law Scholarly Journal, explains:

[T]he conduct, acts, practices, or agreements of persons’ in the business of organized professional major league baseball directly relating to or affecting employment of major league baseball players to play baseball at the major league level are subject to the antitrust laws to the same extent such conduct, acts, practices, or agreements would be subject to the antitrust laws if engaged in by persons in other professional sports business affecting interstate commerce.”

Today, Colin Kaepernick is fighting being blacklisted by the NFL. Yep, that’s right . . . blacklisted . . . that’s exactly what is meant by collusion in this case. Kaepernick has the skills, but players with lesser skills, sometimes much lesser like Brandon Weeden, are being selected to fill holes left by injured quarterbacks within the League.

Kaepernick decided last week to file a grievance against the NFL owners for collusion. Collusion takes place within the entertainment, or sports, industry when rival teams, clubs, or organizations cooperate for their mutual benefit. In this case, the benefit would be to protect the shield from the silent protest Kaepernick has started with kneeling during the national anthem to tell the world that police brutality is not acceptable.

Kaepernick is not the first African American player to protest against such social injustices, but he is taking the blunt of fallout as he is being blackballed similar to Curt Flood. It will be interesting to see what happens with his grievance. Will the judicial body remember their mistake with Flood? Or, will it take an Act of Congress to show the citizens


Source: Content News