Baltimore Orioles Limited vs. Northshore Sports Inc.

Bramjot Uberoi
For the Plaintiff
In the case, Baltimore Orioles v. Regan, or properly known as Baltimore Orioles Limited v. North Shore Sports Inc., the Baltimore Orioles wants the Court and Cook County (Ill.) Circuit Court Judge Albert Green to decide that the original card, the copies of the line-up card, and related items also being sold by Regan. A key related item that Regan took from the Baltimore Orioles is the line-up card from the previous game, in which Cal Ripken tied Lou Gehrig's record of 2,130 consecutive games. The plaintiff, the Baltimore Orioles Limited believes that these items do not belong to Regan, but belonged to the team because they are items that Phil Regan used while he was within the scope of employment. The line-up cards are property of the Baltimore Orioles and Phil Regan uses these line-up cards in order to execute the duties of his employment. He does not have the right to take items from the company, make copies of the items, and then sell both the original and the copies to third parties for his own financial benefit.
Summary or Statement of the Facts:
To begin the statement of the facts, the incident when Phil Regan filled out the lineup card for the game that Cal Ripken broke baseball’s consecutive game records was on September 6, 1995. Phil Regan worked for the Baltimore Orioles as the team’s Manager. Phil Regan made five carbon copies and took one with him after the game, giving it to his daughter. Phil Regan stated that he gave it to his daughter so that she could take care of the card. Later in the year after Phil Regan left the Orioles, he arranged for the card to be auctioned off by using North Shore Sports, a telephone auction service. The collector interested in the lineup card, Mark Lewis, agreed to directly buy the card from Regan for $15,000. After purchasing the card, Mark Lewis utilized North Shore Sports Inc. and wanted to sell it to Jim Ancell for $35,650. However, at this time the Baltimore Orioles won a temporary restraining order to prevent Ancell from purchasing the card and claimed that the card was the team’s property. Hence from there, the Orioles asked Cook County (Ill.) Circuit Court Judge Albert Green to take possession of the card as well as the card used in the previous game as Cal Ripken tied Lou Gehrig’s consecutive games streak. North Shore Sports had possession of the items until the December 21 hearing.
Argument:
Initially, the line-up cards are the property of the Baltimore Orioles so they should stay within the property rights of the team. It does not justify Phil Regan’s possession of the lineup card because he uses the lineup cards everyday for work. The Baltimore Orioles organization pays for the lineup cards and since Phil Regan is an employee of the organization, he has privileges, not rights, to use the card. Phil Regan essentially stole physical property from the Orioles organization and sold it for his personal gain. Regan cannot argue lack of capacity because he was in a sober, practical mindset when he made the five copies of the lineup cards while also taking the lineup card from the previous game with the intent to sell it for profit.
In addition, the duty of the manager is to turn in the lineup cards to the umpiring crew so the umpires knows what substitutions are to be made. Therefore, it is not within the scope of employment to make copies for one’s own keepsake. His responsibility is to give the lineup cards to the umpire and not take it for personal use.
PHIL REGAN WAS AN EMPLOYEE AT THE TIME OF THE INCIDENT. JUST LIKE ANY OTHER EMPLOYEE, ONE WOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO TAKE ITEMS FROM AN OFFICE OR WORKSPACE AND SELL IT FOR PERSONAL PROFIT; WHICH LEADS ME TO A CRUCIAL CONTENTION IN THIS CASE…
Just like lineup cards, other items from the MLB teams such as baseball bats and gloves are not to be sold by players or managers.
A. Precedent – On Tuesday March 12, 2002, Ruben Rivera was cut from the New York Yankees for taking a bat and glove from the New York Yankees locker room and selling it for $2,500. The locker room is supposedly a sacred place for players and managers because they spend so much time in the facilities that it is punishable to take and sell property from the team in order to make financial gain.
1. Very similar precedent set for the Baltimore Orioles Limited v. North Shore Sports Inc. The lineup cards are property of the Baltimore Orioles club. If the manager is allowed to make copies of the lineup card and sell it for personal profit, what would stop the entire team from taking property from the clubhouse and selling it for a profit.
2. Thus, taking property from the clubhouse leads to a slippery slope of theft THAT WOULD BE NEAR DIFFICULT TO END IF THE JURY LETS THIS INCIDENT SLIDE BY!
Conclusion:
In summation, the Baltimore Orioles organization has the right of possession of all the lineup cards that Phil Regan used during Cal Ripken’s quest to achieve the streak of consecutive games played. Using precedent, an employee of an MLB organization does not have the right to take property of the clubhouse and sell it for profit. It is not within the scope of employment for Phil Regan to take the lineup cards, make copies, and sell it. His responsibility is to give it to the umpiring crew. Lastly, Regan was within capacity and had intentions of taking the Baltimore Orioles’ property because the incident was clearly planned out.


Tiana Myers
For the Defense

The party in which I will represent is Phil Regan. He is a former Baltimore Orioles manager. The complaint that is being addressed is Baltimore Orioles Limited vs. Northshore Sports Incorporated. However, Phil Regan is considered to be a defendant in this case as well.
Phil Regan was the Baltimore Orioles manager until he was later released of his duties as manager. While Regan was the manager for the team, a monumental event happened in baseball. In September 1995, Cal Ripken Jr. broke the all-time record for playing in consecutive games. As stated previously, Phil Regan was the Orioles manager at the time.
The complaint of this case says the Orioles went to the court for a temporary restraining order preventing purchases from being completed. The Orioles wanted to block the sale of the carbon copies of the card that was used during the historic game when Ripken set a new record for a player playing consecutive games in baseball. The Baltimore Orioles fired Regan for “possession of stolen goods.” However, Regan did not steal the card or the carbon copies. After the game the team never asked for the cards. The cards were routinely left in the dugout for the cleanup crews to discard. The original copy of the card is currently in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
During the time of the case, Judge Albert Green took possession of the card because Regan had auctioned off the copy of the card he had to a buyer, Mark Lewis for $15,000. Regan had the ability to auction this card off because he arranged the auction through a telephone auction service. The Baltimore Orioles organization argues Regan did not have the right to sale the card or any copies. This could be considered a case of ownership.
In this case the ownership of this property, the carbon copy of the card in which Ripken broke baseball’s consecutive record, can be ruled as being owned the organization. However, at the time the Regan made a copy of the card, he was still a part of the organization. Therefore, Phil Regan could do whatever he chose to do with copies of the original card if he did not sign any contract or other agreement that defines the ownership rights of any Baltimore Orioles property and what he could and could not redistribute that was in representation of the organization.