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Do Supreme Court robes come in pinstripes?  

As you've no doubt heard by now, Sonia Sotomayor — President Obama's new pick for the country's top court — grew up in a Bronx housing project just three miles from Yankee Stadium. She has admitted to attending an occasional game at the House That Ruth Built, but her importance to baseball actually runs deeper than most federal judges.

As a federal district judge in New York, she was credited with helping to save the sport from its crippling strike, issuing a 1995 injunction that sided with the players on their labor rights and restored the terms of the old collective bargaining agreement.

Sotomayor also ordered the two sides back to the negotiating table, which resulted in a new CBA that was finally approved in 1996. 

From April 1, 1995 editions of the NY Times:

"Ruling from the bench, Sotomayor chided baseball owners, saying they had no right to unilaterally eliminate the 20-year-old system of free agents and salary arbitration while bargaining continues. With those provisions reinstated, striking players have promised to play ball this season under the terms of the previous contract while the two sides try to hammer out a new deal.

"'This strike has placed the entire concept of collective bargaining on trial,' the judge said."

There's little doubt that Sotomayor is in for a hard fight before she's approved for SCOTUS, but she already has some supporters in the baseball blogosphere.

At least one blogger — Craig Calcaterra of Shyster Ball — already supports the nomination, "not because it indicates how she would approach labor issues, but because by ruling as she did, she made it possible for the Braves to win the World Series that year."

(Meanwhile, I'm guessing Jerry Reinsdorf and his conspiring crew of owners from the strike era will have just a little different view of Sotomayor's approval process.)

 
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10 Comments

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  1. londons84
    1. Posted by londons84 Tue May 26, 2009 10:55 am EDT

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    this article is weak
  2. baseball_manifesto
    2. Posted by baseball_manifesto Tue May 26, 2009 11:13 am EDT

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    1995 was a much, much different time for the US, as well as with baseball. In 1995 the social and economic issues were not nearly as prevalent as they are now and it will be surprising to see if this woman can stand up again, not just to MLB, but represent the US Justice System in a fair and balanced manner. We'll going to find out real soon if her stance is the same as it was then. With MLB salaries far reaching all other sport salaries, I expect the federal government to start getting its hands dirty trying to 'do their part to help America,' as Mr. Obama would say and continue to gut this countries moral and ethical ideals to line their own liberal pockets.
  3. lman12
    3. Posted by lman12 Tue May 26, 2009 11:15 am EDT

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    Duk, can you give me back the 45 seconds i just wasted reading this senseless article? I thought you coverage of the WBC was lame, you've outdone yourself here.
  4. travisf
    4. Posted by travisf Tue May 26, 2009 11:26 am EDT

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    "In 1995 the social and economic issues were not nearly as prevalent as they are now"
    What does that even mean?
  5. Brian K
    5. Posted by Brian K Tue May 26, 2009 11:40 am EDT

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    We need a union buster!!
  6. JOE PA
    6. Posted by JOE PA Tue May 26, 2009 12:06 pm EDT

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    We need a union buster!!
    We just had one for the past 8 years. Nice to see a labor friendly administration as well as court nominees.
  7. felonious_hex
    7. Posted by felonious_hex Tue May 26, 2009 12:12 pm EDT

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    "this article is weak"
    good point
  8. Weedies
    8. Posted by Weedies Tue May 26, 2009 7:43 pm EDT

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    "Nice to see a labor friendly administration"
    Indeed, nice to see an administration screwing GM's private bondholders and printing up stock for the undeserving union.
  9. BrnxBmbr
    9. Posted by BrnxBmbr Tue May 26, 2009 7:58 pm EDT

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    Hey nice to see this administration cares so much about the country... anyone pay attention to their taxes lately, or how much is getting taken from their paycheck? Are you married? Are you single with more than 1 job? Better check those taxes. That glorious stimulus package - making work pay crap... Obama gave us money...yeah, money that was already ours. Nice plan in the grand scheme of things, most people aren't having enough money taken out of their paychecks now... A married couple where both spouses work - both are receiving the $600 seperately in each paycheck. But wait, Mr. Obama I thought married couples would get a max of $600? You are right. And because its not going to be made very public - as well as the IRS changing the tax tables - most of you who are married... expect to be paying this year when you do your income tax return. As much as I would love to slam all you Obama lovers as this being just the first "pull of the cover over our heads" act, I only write this to warn everyone. Just check your taxes. The government, I'm sure, it betting that the majority of people will not check their withholdings... therefor, while alot of these people are used to getting refunds, they'll be paying... $1000's. I am a government employee (on the local, municipality level) and I was handed a notice with my last paycheck on this exact same subject. Check out the IRS website. They have a calculator where you can check and see if you are having enough taken out of your paycheck. My wife and I have gotten around $700 in returns. If we dont change our withholdings, which have not been changed in years, we will end up owing over $2000! So thanks Obama. Thanks all you moron's who voted for him. This is the first step. There will be many more.
    Oh and his little pick for Supreme Court Justice is only a move to get votes in the next election. He only cares about how many Minorities he can put into high ranking roles. Pretty sad,
    But on a non-political note, people check what I was talking about. If you think this is all rhetoric and just another Obama hater... good. I hope you get slammed for money come tax time next year.
  10. 1904
    10. Posted by 1904 Wed May 27, 2009 1:49 am EDT

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    She sucks obama sucks.

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Big League Stew is an MLB blog edited by Kevin Kaduk. Email him, and follow him on Twitter.

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