ARTICLE BY PROFESSOR STEPHEN F. ROSS HIGHLIGHTS RACIAL INEQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY IN BASEBALL
May 2025 — “Would Jackie Robinson Play Baseball Today? How Baseball Owners Conspire to Restrain Trade and Foster Unequal Opportunities for Player Development,” written by Penn State Dickinson Law Professor Stephen F. Ross, has been published in Volume 35, Issue 1 of Marquette Sports Law Review.
Professor Ross noted, “If Jackie Robinson were 15 years old today, he wouldn’t be playing baseball. MLB’s control of player development is a conspiracy in restraint of trade that artificially suppresses the ability of individual MLB teams to make efficient decisions to train players and give poor kids opportunities.”
“This is part of ongoing research on the inefficiency and anti-competitive harms cause by sports league monopolists. It features in my teaching of Sports Law, my ongoing research agenda, and I hope to advocate for policy changes,” said Ross.
Stephen F. Ross is Lewis H. Vovakis Distinguished Faculty Scholar; Professor of Law; and Executive Director, Penn State Center for the Study of Sports in Society. Professor Ross teaches and writes in the disparate areas of Sports Law, Comparative Constitutional Law, and Statutory Interpretation.