Senators ask MLB why antitrust exemption needed in minors

By RONALD BLUM
AP Baseball Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee have asked baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred to explain the impact of potential legislation stripping the sport’s antitrust exemption from covering the sport’s relationship with minor league players. Sens. Richard Durbin and Charles Grassley asked Manfred to respond by July 26 to a series of questions that could be a prelude to proposed legislation further limiting an exemption created by a 1922 Supreme Court decision. The letter follows a similar request sent last month to an advocacy group for minor leaguers, which asked Congress to end the exemption as it applies to them.