Posted By:
Frank WakefieldAn area to discuss could be the legal issues involved in 21st century internet baseball card transactions.
Or, lawyers in the Hall of Fame.
Or both.
Or those 2 plus the legal issues in baseball... Delehanty's league jumping and contract breaking (read Sowell's book July 2, 1903, a GREAT baseball book) which explains why the leagues formed as they did, and then the National Agreement. And it get's you to the beginning of the Reserve Clause. The Players' Association. You can see why baseball "outed" Ed Reulbach (who'd be in the Hall but for the owners putting him out), Curt Flood's case, free agency. Some of those law students may well end up in sports law, or being an agent. An lawyer friend of mine who has been an agent for a few players, an umpire, a few drivers, suggested I read License to Deal, about baseball agents. He says the players flock to whoever tells the biggest lies....
I'd stick a bit of it all in there, but not too much of any of it.
Might even add a minute about why the area behind home plate is screened off... the real reason is because back there a patron is safe, if we sit anywhere else we assume the risk of thrown or batted balls, players falling into the stands, or a bat or part of it. If a patron doesn't want to take that risk, he should buy a seat in the safe, screened area. There are turn of the century cases in the old reports about that... The clubs provide a screened area to avoid liability, that is the real reason.
Frank.