How the Phillies, Rangers and Cards play into the Constitution

The Phillies fell to the Cardinals earlier this month on the way to the World Series, but it’s not the first time the two teams had a serious match-up.

Back in 1969, the Cards wanted to trade Curt Flood to the Phils, but Flood was having none of it. Thus began a years-long battle, Supreme Court case and collective bargaining.

The Phillies won’t play in the World Series, but the Cards and the Texas Rangers will face off. Funnily enough, they’re two of the teams with a long history with the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution Daily explains today how the Cards, Rangers and a couple other teams were involved in the 1922 Supreme Court decision that led baseball to become the only professional sports league in the nation not considered an interstate commerce.

That ruling came into play in 1972 when the high court left the Curt Flood debacle up to collective bargaining and pave the way for free agency.

It’s all very interesting, but it doesn’t get us a series win.