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Schmidt Wins Baseball Research Award

SABRAs a legal history scholar, IIT Chicago-Kent Professor Christopher Schmidt touches on a wide variety of subjects in his research—including the captivating world of professional baseball. The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) recently recognized Professor Schmidt’s outstanding work on America’s favorite pastime, granting him the 2014 McFarland-SABR Baseball Research Award for his article Explaining the Baseball Revolution, 45 Arizona State L.J. (2013). The award “honors the authors of the best articles on baseball history or biography completed or published during the preceding calendar year.”

In his article, Schmidt explores the “baseball revolution” that occurred between 1966 and 1976, when Major League Baseball players won an unprecedented redistribution of control and revenues from club owners. This revolution ushered in the era of “free agency,” allowing players to hop between teams in search of better contracts and bargaining rights. As Schmidt points out, baseball reform did not come through explicitly legal channels; the claim in Flood v. Kuhn (1972), a U.S. Supreme Court case in which players argued that  baseball’s “reserve” system denied them fundamental rights, was not successful in court. However, by reframing the struggle for money and power as a fight for individual freedom, the case set in motion the events that eventually led to greater players’ rights. Through these and a host of other factors, Schmidt shows how the baseball revolution “offers a valuable case study of the complex interrelation between legal claims, legal institutions, and movement mobilization.”

The SABR selection committee gave these comments about Schmidt’s paper:

“Meticulously researched and argued…. Well researched, well written, while disparaging the legal events surrounding Flood, he shows how they ‘set the table’ for change.”

According to the SABR website, Schmidt and two other award winners will be honored at the 44th annual SABR convention, which will take place July 30-August 3, 2014, at the Royal Sonesta Houston in Houston, Texas.

To see more of Professor Schmidt’s research on baseball and other topics, visit his Selected Works page.

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