00:00:00.240 - 00:00:16.490

well again. I think that people get confused as to whether this has any significance to, uh, we're Major League baseball ends up putting its teams. I think it's fairly significant. They can do what they want and you can't investigate. That's that's absolutely true, Senator uh, in essence, they put themselves above the law.

00:00:16.490 - 00:00:42.000

They don't have to answer to anybody for any of their behavior. Uh, it's interesting in the when you look at the history of baseball with respect to these various antitrust suits, it's very often that the people who have successfully mounted some kind of of antitrust challenge are the people who ultimately get franchises, for example, in Seattle, uh, the state out there in the city suit and and they bought off with a franchise.

00:00:42.000 - 00:01:06.760

And in fact, you go all the way back to 1922. The Federal League successfully mounted in any trust, challenged, uh, that, uh, baseball, in essence, invited all the teams except the one that decided not to participate. But they bought themselves out of that antitrust problem. And you see that a lot of these decisions apparently being made in knee jerk, I think, in large, large measure to protect and insulate themselves from having to answer questions.

00:01:06.760 - 00:01:27.860

The hard questions about exactly what is going on with respect to baseball and how they abuse their authority. Uh, if there were a full public airing of all the facts, all of the transactions that have occurred and not just the ST Petersburg camp situation but a lot of other ones, I'm sure that there would be a great deal more of public hue and cry to remove the exemption.

00:01:28.940 - 00:01:46.740

Robin, I just wanted to ask you a question that deals directly with the game. And there's one that I guess a number of us here raised with respect to expansion. People say that there's not enough talent out there to expand major league baseball. You've been around long enough in a number of different ways.

00:01:46.740 - 00:02:14.340

What's your reaction to that? I really don't know that when you talk about the expansion teams and they drew so many people, I was a little bit I'm not sure about the quality of the team. It's the game itself and the excitement it creates in these new towns with so much, uh, I would think, uh, probably 32 teams would be would be a real good figure down the road, some place if they came up with four more.

00:02:14.720 - 00:02:30.660

And I think you got to keep them kind of regionally located. And, uh, but like I say, those are the kind of things that I think the player association and the management could really work out as long as they were able to work it out on a time schedule that fit in where the game was played every year when it should be played.

00:02:30.840 - 00:02:50.360

But I do think the quality of those people like but Ceiling and the people involved in it it's their business, and they do. They certainly know a lot about it. I mean, you could tell by the way they they've got everything covered. But as far as the players themselves, I I think, uh down the road for more expansion teams would be a possibility.

00:02:50.360 - 00:03:04.450

But you can see that the quality part of it is something that is a long range view Now, whether the television and the excitement of the new franchises are enough to keep it going for 20 years, you don't know and that's the thing you really got to consider.

00:03:04.940 - 00:03:34.050

Appreciate that, Mr Fair? What does the recent restructuring report adopted by the owners mean to the players in terms of the changes to the office of the commissioner? Well, I think it it essentially does a couple of things. Uh, in the first instance, I think it removes any pretense that might exist in the player's minds, that the commissioner is anything other than someone who is supposed to do the owners bidding and to do the bidding at all times.

00:03:34.340 - 00:04:00.260

And in a way that's healthy. The pretense is gone. Secondly, but you've pretty much implied earlier that that's pretty much the attitude everyone has had. Any way that the commissioner really was speaking on behalf of the owners. Well, let me clarify that. I when I mentioned that what I was specifically referring to was players association staff players that are very active in negotiations and and he paid a lot of attention to it.

00:04:00.740 - 00:04:14.950

Players at large, and especially new players that come in every year, have learned all the same myths that everybody else had learned, and they have to be unlearned. Um, this is a rather stark way to unlearn them in that fashion. The second thing is, and I think this is the really critical point.

00:04:15.640 - 00:04:35.070

Um, the owners have decided that in the exercise of their monopoly power, they don't want anyone, even someone that they hire and pay and can fire looking over their shoulder. Um, they don't want any inquiry. They don't want any standards by which they can be judged by which the public can hold them accountable.

00:04:35.080 - 00:04:59.260

And that suggests to me that whatever limitations, uh, pressure may have put on the owner to curtail their behavior have been, at their own insistence, dramatically lessons. I just really have one more question. Um, and it's a word that is just kind of echoed through the preparation for this meeting and the meeting itself.

00:04:59.960 - 00:05:20.360

And that's the word recourse. It sounds to me that basically, we've ended up with all of these, uh, strikes, lockouts, whatever, because there's no recourse that there's there's, there's no place to go to solve this problem for the players other than to strike. Is that Is that a fair conclusion?

00:05:20.430 - 00:05:39.750

Yes, I think it is that there is no place else to go, And, uh when when faced with that choice you do what you have to do. You can't even consider doing something else. Okay, Thank you, Mr Fair. You and I had talked before this hearing about some of the players coming forward to testify.

00:05:41.440 - 00:05:59.690

Then I understood that some of them are afraid to come forward because they're just not sure whether there might be some repercussions. Could you tell me what are the facts? Basically, as follows, Senator, I've spoken to a number of players and a number of former players that were harmed in the collusion cases.

00:05:59.690 - 00:06:30.030

And their assumption is, and I think it has good basis that if they come forward and identify themselves individually in a public forum as attacking the owners positions, that makes it dramatically less likely that they will have a future career in baseball, Um, career, whether it's as a player or certainly as a coach or manager or trainer or a minor league employee, where they have no protection, even from a union, Um, and I think you see the the indications of it.

00:06:30.040 - 00:06:44.160

I do expect that there will be some former players that are will be prepared to testify at the next round of hearings in Washington. But you're quite right. It's a very difficult proposition. Thank you very much. We appreciate all of your testimony, and this hearing stands adjourned.

00:06:50.140 - 00:08:05.350

Mhm. Mhm. Mhm. Yeah. Mhm. Mm. Yeah, yeah. Mhm. Yeah. Mhm. Mhm. Mm. Yeah, yeah, No.