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Show FEDERAL LEAGUE I CASE OUTLINED Two Older Leagues Declared a Monopoly Within Meaning Mean-ing of Sherman Anti-Trust Anti-Trust Law. WASHINGTON, April 2 The case of organized baseball in the $900,000 d Linage suit brought by the Baltimore Federal League elub against the National Na-tional and American Leagues was outlined out-lined today to the jury hearing the case in the District of Columbia su-preme su-preme COUrl by r.enrge Wharton Pepper Pep-per of Philadelphia, counsel for the defendants. The two older leagues, Mr. Pepper said in outlinins the defense after the plaintiffs rested their case, would attempt at-tempt to disprove the contention of the Baltimore club that professional baseball base-ball as constituted during the life time of the Federal League was a monopoly mon-opoly -within the meaning of the Sherman Sher-man anti -trust law The defendants, Mr. Pepper asserted, assert-ed, would seek first to prove that professional pro-fessional baseball was not an interstate inter-state Industry, even though the players play-ers came from various states. The Sherman anti -trust act, he said, covered cov-ered only interstate industries, and never was designed to apply to competing com-peting sporting organizations. The complaint of the Baltimore club, the attorney declared, had narrowerl down to two charges, first that organized or-ganized baseball heads, and especially Ban Johnson, president of the American Ameri-can League, had made serious charges agalnsl ihe Federal. League, and sec-jond, sec-jond, that the heads of orgonized baseball base-ball and three Federal league officials had entered into a conspiracy to disrupt dis-rupt the Federal League with the result re-sult that the Baltimore elub, having I grounds and players and ready to play ! ball, found itself without any body to I play against and was damaged accord ingly. The second complaint, he said, was the more serious. The so-called I "peace pact," he said, amounted to an Invitation from the Federal League for organized baseball to meet that organization on common ground and develop ways and means of aiding the federal league in its difficulties. This offer, he said, was accepted at par value by organized baseball as coming com-ing from representatives of every club in the Federal League. Mr Pepper told the Jury that organized or-ganized baseball was prepared to prove that no matter whether the idea of a I truce originated with the Indianapolis I club or not, the call for a peace conference con-ference wan endorsed b constituent I clubs, all of whom had representatives present when the "peace pact" was agreed to, Baltimore included. He said if the Baltimore representatives remained silent and offered no objection objec-tion to the terms under which the Federal League was dissolved, it was their own fault and organized baseball base-ball had acted in good faith in all its dealings with the defunct league Before resting its case, the Baltimore Balt-imore club presented evidence which I its counsel intimated showed that I I money from the American and National Nation-al Leagues for players taken over (from the Federal League was received by a single individual among the de- I fendants. |