Puerto Rico team operator files antitrust suit vs league

By The Associated Press

The former operator of the Cangrejeros de Santurce baseball team has filed an antitrust lawsuit against the Puerto Rican winter league, alleging it colluded with Puerto Rico Mayor Miguel Romero to remove him from the franchise. Cangrejeros investor/operator Tom Axon was suspended for two years and fined $5,000 by the league in March after he criticized Romero for poor conditions at the team’s Hiram Bithorn Stadium and threatened to move the club to Humacao. Axon’s lawsuit was filed in federal district court in Puerto Rico. It demands that control of the franchise be returned to Axon’s companies along with triple damages from Liga de Béisbol Profesional de Puerto Rico Inc. and operators of the league’s other teams.