Baseball Decries Antitrust Threats

Stephen Greenberg, baseball’s deputy commissioner, said Tuesday that the Seattle Mariners probably won’t be sold by opening day and that threats to the game’s antitrust exemption were “the wrong approach.”

A group 60% financed by a Japanese businessman has offered to purchase the team from Jeff Smulyan for $100 million. Officials in St. Petersburg, Fla., have been anticipating that the deal will not gain approval and have indicated they will attempt to buy the team.

Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.) said that if owners do not approve the deal, he would support a lawsuit against baseball on antitrust grounds.

However, if the antitrust exemption was revoked, teams would be able to move without approval of the leagues.

“Whatever group of senators would back the concept of revoking the antitrust exemption will be those who will be responsible for the willy-nilly movement of franchises, possibly out of their own communities,” Greenberg said.