The Application of Federal Antitrust Laws to Major League Baseball: Hearing before the Committee on the Judiciary, United States Senate
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U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing on the application of federal antitrust laws to Major League Baseball, conducted February 13, 2002 (107th Congress, Second Session) under Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT). The hearing examined the continuing applicability of MLB's antitrust exemption — established in Federal Baseball Club v. National League (1922), reaffirmed in Toolson v. Yankees (1953) and Flood v. Kuhn (1972), and partially removed by the Curt Flood Act of 1998 — in the context of MLB's November 2001 contraction proposal (widely understood to target the Twins and Expos). The 94-page record published as S. Hrg. 107-427 (Serial No. J-107-59) includes statements of committee members, testimony from MLB, MLBPA, and state attorneys general, and prepared materials submitted for the record.
Background
94-page Senate Judiciary Committee hearing record (S. Hrg. 107-427), held February 13, 2002 in the 107th Congress, Second Session. Companion documents in the archive that build out the contraction-era picture: 2001-12-06_testimony_jerry-bell-twins-contraction-house-judiciary (Twins President testimony before House Judiciary, December 6, 2001); 2003-02-10_caselaw_fox-sports-net-v-twins-8th-cir (parallel telecast-rights dispute centered on the same Twins-contraction context). Companion legislative documents: 1998-10-27_legislation_curt-flood-act-of-1998 (the partial Congressional response to Flood the witnesses repeatedly reference).
Key provisions
- Hearing identifiers: S. Hrg. 107-427, Serial No. J-107-59. Single-day hearing on February 13, 2002, before the Senate Judiciary Committee in the 107th Congress, Second Session. Chair: Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT).
- Substantive frame (Leahy opening statement): examined whether MLB's antitrust exemption (Federal Baseball, Toolson, Flood) should be narrowed or removed, building on the partial removal effected by the 1998 Curt Flood Act, in the context of MLB's November 2001 contraction proposal.
- Witnesses (per the record): included MLB Executive Vice President and Chief Legal Officer Bob DuPuy; Florida Attorney General Bob Butterworth; Senator Bill Nelson (FL); and additional witnesses on contraction, antitrust, and Twin Cities-specific issues. Full witness list and prepared statements appear in the Contents section of the hearing record.
- Itemized witness statements and substantive testimony: full content review pending. Re-promotion to
verifiedrequires explicit itemization of each witness statement against the record.
Notable provisions
Major league baseball's claim to a unique antitrust exemption arose not from an act of Congress but from a decision by the United States Supreme Court 80 years ago that has since been discredited. In the subsequent case of Flood versus Kuhn, the Supreme Court explicitly limited its holding to the reserve system and reserved an antitrust law exemption for that reserve system relying as justification on the judicial doctrine of stare decisis, the principle that judicial decisions once made should be respected and upheld.— S. Hrg. 107-427 at __ (statement of Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, D-VT)
Does anybody anywhere in this country think that if baseball was coming in and raising for the first time an antitrust exemption that this Congress or any Congress would grant it for them? Of course not. What about major league baseball, as distinct from other professional sports and businesses, entitles it to special rules of law? I cannot think of it.— S. Hrg. 107-427 at __ (statement of Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, D-VT)
Further context
2002 Senate Antitrust Hearing on MLB (S. Hrg. 107-427)
94-page Senate Judiciary Committee hearing record on the application of federal antitrust laws to MLB. Single-day hearing held February 13, 2002 (107th Congress, Second Session), chaired by Patrick J. Leahy (D-VT). Serial No. J-107-59.
Verification status
needs_review (Pass C demotion, 2026-05-19). Two independent secondary sources (BoB via Wayback + SABR Box) confirm document identity; demotion is for incomplete substantive content. The 2026-05-17 promotion to verified did not itemize witness statements or transcribe verbatim hearing text. Pass C added one substantive key_provisions entry covering the hearing identifiers and frame, and two verbatim quoted_excerpts from Chairman Leahy's opening statement. Promotion to verified requires explicit itemization of additional witness statements and verbatim transcription of substantive testimony from the record.
References
- Primary source: web.archive.org — U.S. Government Publishing Office (Senate Hearing), retrieved 2026-05-17.
- Confirmation source: web.archive.org — businessofbaseball.com via Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Wayback snapshot Oct 10, 2014. 94 pages. PDF creation date May 20, 2002 matches the contemporary Senate hearing timeframe (the hearing was conducted in 2001-2002 in connection with MLB's late-2001 contraction proposal and the negotiation of the 2002 CBA).
- Confirmation source: sabr.box.com — Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), Business of Baseball Files. SABR-hosted Box link. Same 94-page hearing, different PDF encoding (different SHA256: dffbc2eac599a771… vs BoB 48ca2d19c0c1f5f7…). Independent secondary source confirmation.
- Wayback snapshot: web.archive.org.
- File fingerprint: SHA256 48ca2d19c0c1f5f721805233a1f7aa8de70d7628bc7a96301735ceaec3edd985.
Evidence trail
Per archive editorial standards §1.3 and §1.4, verified documents require two independent confirmation sources and an archive.org snapshot. This panel is the integrity record the archive holds for this document.
File integrity
- SHA256
48ca2d19c0c1f5f721805233a1f7aa8de70d7628bc7a96301735ceaec3edd985- Filename
2002-02-13_hearing_senate-judiciary-antitrust-mlb-107-427.pdf- Format
- PDF · 94 pp · 783 KB
- Retrieved
- 2026-05-17 by
claude/cowork-9167cb28 (uploaded by alex) - Primary URL
- https://web.archive.org/web/20141010150738/http://www.bizofbaseball.com/docs/SenateAntiTrustHearing.pdf
Confirmation sources (2)
| Publisher | Retrieved | URL | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| businessofbaseball.com via Internet Archive Wayback Machine | 2026-05-17 | https://web.archive.org/web/20141010150738/http://www.bizofbaseball.com/docs/SenateAntiTrustHearing.pdf | Wayback snapshot Oct 10, 2014. 94 pages. PDF creation date May 20, 2002 matches the contemporary Senate hearing timeframe (the hearing was conducted in 2001-2002 in connection with MLB's late-2001 contraction proposal and the negotiation of the 2002 CBA). |
| Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), Business of Baseball Files | 2026-05-17 | https://sabr.box.com/s/dkmxs2b0rmhfqcerfvyzi0wd11ztnkuo | SABR-hosted Box link. Same 94-page hearing, different PDF encoding (different SHA256: dffbc2eac599a771… vs BoB 48ca2d19c0c1f5f7…). Independent secondary source confirmation. |
Wayback snapshot
Most recent status change
needs_review on 2026-05-19 by claude/cowork-pass-c-followthrough-2026-05-19.
Pass C follow-through rename: `2002_hearing_senate-judiciary-antitrust-mlb-107-427` → `2002-02-13_hearing_senate-judiciary-antitrust-mlb-107-427` per NAMING.md §2.1 (filename date must match metadata `date_precision`, now `day`). SHA256 unchanged (file content identical; only the filename changed). Old filename preserved in `file.previous_filenames`. INDEX, WANTLIST, related_documents cross-reference (`documents/antitrust-and-courts/2001_caselaw_mlb-v-butterworth.md`), and PROVENANCE_LOG updated. No status change.