The Federal League’s Legal Battle | Pastball Podcast #125

03/08/25 • 1 min

6 Listeners

Beard Laws (00:14)

Welcome back everybody to the Passball Podcast, a podcast where history steps up to the plate. And today we're going to dive into a baseball legal battle that changed the game forever. The Federal League's fight against Major League Baseball. The Federal League, which was a short-lived third major league, as called by some people, that was from 1914 to 1915 and it actually dared to challenge the national and American leagues. They offered higher salaries, they poached players and operated as

arrival. But after just two seasons, financial struggles and legal battles forced most teams to fold. 1915, the Federal League filed an antitrust lawsuit against Major League Baseball, accusing it of a monopolizing professional baseball. The case, Federal Baseball Club of Baltimore v National League, made it all the way to Supreme Court. The 1922 court, led by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, ruled that baseball was not

interstate commerce and therefore wasn't subject to federal antitrust laws. This decision gave MLB a unique legal shield that still exists today. The federal league disappeared, but its challenge shaped baseball's business forever. A legal swing and a miss, or the biggest missed call in sports history. I'll let you make the call. But that's it for the Passball Podcast. Feel free to subscribe and stay tuned for more history from the diamond.

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Beard Laws (00:14)

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Previous Episode

Sammy Sosa Sneezed So Hard He Strained His Back | Pastball Podcast #124

5 Recommendations

🚨 Injuries happen in baseball—but a sneeze? In this episode of Pastball, we dive into one of the strangest DL stints in MLB history. It was 2004, and Chicago Cubs slugger Sammy Sosa, known for launching baseballs into the stratosphere, found himself sidelined by an unexpected foe... his own sneeze.

💨 One mighty achoo! and Sosa strained his back so badly he had to miss games. How does something like that even happen? What’s the science behind a “sneeze strain”? And is this the weirdest baseball injury ever—or does Pastball have an even stranger one up its sleeve?

⚾ Tune in as we break down the absurdity, the aftermath, and where this ranks among baseball’s wildest, most bizarre injuries.

🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts! Don't forget to subscribe, review, and share—but maybe cover your mouth when you sneeze.

#SammySosa #MLB #WeirdBaseball #PastballPodcast #BaseballHistory #SportsInjuries #ChicagoCubs

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Next Episode

The Grudge: Hunter Strickland vs Bryce Harper | Pastball Podcast #126

5 Recommendations

Welcome back to the Passball Podcast, where old grunges come back to haunt the diamond. And today we're going to rewind it back to May 29th, 2017, when Hunter Strickland finally got his revenge on Bryce Harper. Over something that happened three years earlier? Yes, back in 2014, the NLDS Harper took Strickland yard, not once, but twice. Both no doubt bombs. Strickland, then the Giants reliever.

He didn't forget. let's fast forward to 2017. Harper's on the national. Strickland still fuming and boom! First pitch, a 98 mile an hour fastball straight to Harper's hip. Guess what? Harper wasn't having it. He chucked his helmet pretty badly. Charged the mound, landed a couple of wild swings, benches cleared, chaos erupted and Strickland got six games while Harper, he sat for four. The kicker of it all, they weren't even in the same division.

Strickland had to wait three years just to settle the score. Some call it payback, others, well, they call it petty. So let me know, what do you think? And ladies and gentlemen, that's the Passball Podcast of the day where baseball grudges, well, they never die.

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