November 30, 2011
I see great things in baseball. It's our game - the American game.
It will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with
oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us
from being a nervous, dyspeptic set. Repair these losses, and be a
blessing to us. - Walt Whitman
Leading sports lawyers and journalists recently came together at
the Law School to consider the future of Major League Baseball
through the lens of the player-management relationship. Hosted by
the
Center for Labor and Employment Law, the Labor Relations
and the Future of Professional Baseball conference covered a
range of issues from varied perspectives: player, management,
legal, journalistic and baseball enthusiast.
Photo Gallery
Conference Program
The dynamic panel discussions moderated by Jack Newhouse ’12 gave
conference attendees a field-level view of the glam and hype that
is American baseball. Topics included:
- Current negotiations between the MLB and Players
Association
- Drug testing
- Salary caps
- Potential MLB collective bargaining agreement changes
- Agents’ roles in labor issues
- Baseball’s globalization
“One of the main themes that rang through the day was the
idea of ‘teachable moments’ introduced by St. John’s University
Provost Dr. Julia A. Upton, RSM, in her opening remarks,” Jack
said. “I was on the receiving end of a teachable moment when Gene
Orza ’73, former COO of the Major league baseball Players
Association, said that a fair playing field in baseball free of
performance enhancing drugs cannot come at the expense of baseball
players' civil rights. His comment reminded me that professional
sports do not exist in their own world, but rather within the
context of American society.”
The importance of looking at professional baseball in proper social
context was also brought home by William B. Gould, IV, former
chairman of the National Labor Relations Board and author of the
book “Bargaining with Baseball: Labor Relations in an Age of
Prosperous Turmoil.” His keynote talk chronicled many issues that
baseball has had to face since 1945 and the significant
transformations that occurred as a result. He touched upon racial
integration in baseball, the advent of free agency, the major cases
controlling anti-trust litigation in professional sports, the
turbulent labor-management relationships and labor peace, which has
lasted through the “steroid era.”
Before the close of the conference, participants and attendees had
an opportunity to ask the panelists questions. They also received a
copy of Gould’s new book, and had the opportunity to have it
autographed.
David L. Gregory, the Law School’s Dorothy Day Professor of Law
and Director of the Center for Labor and Employment Law, said:
“This engaging conference was the fitting close to a year of
landmark conferences sponsored by the Center ― the
Theology of Work and the Dignity of Workers (March 2011) and
Worlds of Work: Employment Dispute Resolution Systems Across the
Globe (Cambridge University July 2011).”