Title: Stafford, Rosenbaum, Rieser, and Hansen (Law firm): State of Wisconsin vs. Milwaukee Braves et al. records
Inclusive Dates: 1953-1966

Creator:

• Stafford, Rosenbaum, Rieser, and Hansen (Law firm)

Call Number: Milwaukee Mss 93

Quantity: 5.2 c.f. (13 archives boxes)

Repository:

Housed at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries’ Archives Department / Milwaukee Area Research Center; owned by the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Library, Archives, and Museum Collections

Archival Locations:

COLLECTION MAY BE STORED OFF-SITE: see catalog entry to request materials and for additional information.

UW-Milwaukee Libraries, Archives / Milwaukee Area Research Ctr. (Map)

Abstract:

Legal papers, trial transcripts, memoranda, exhibits, correspondence, and reference material created and collected by Willard S. Stafford and other members of the law firm of Stafford, Rosenbaum, Rieser, and Hansen, in preparation for the 1966 trial of the case State of Wisconsin vs. Milwaukee Braves, Inc., et al. The case involved Wisconsin's attempt to prevent the Braves National League baseball team from moving to Atlanta, Georgia. Stafford served as special counsel to the state attorney general (plaintiff) during the trial of alleged violations of the state's anti-trust laws.

Language: English

URL to cite for this finding aid: http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/wiarchives.uw-whs-mil00093

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On March 18, 1953, the clubs of professional baseball's National League unanimously agreed to the transfer of the Braves franchise from Boston to Milwaukee. The Braves played their opening game at Milwaukee on April 14, 1953, and during the ensuing 12 seasons the team played before a home attendance of 18,996,059, or an annual average of 1,583,000 fans. In 1953, attendance reached 1,826,397, when the Braves finished in second place in the League. Attendance topped 2,000,000 in each of the following four years, when the Braves were third, second, second, and first place in the League. In 1958, when the Braves again won the pennant, attendance was 1,971,101. Beginning the next year, however, the Braves dropped in the standings and attendance fell considerably. Although not directly referred to as an element of the legal case, the lagging attendance in Milwaukee was a major reason for the team's move to Atlanta, located in a growing area of the country then without a major league baseball team.

In 1962, a new corporation acquired the team and franchise for $6,218,480. Attendance increased during the next two years, although the team's standings did not. On October 21, 1964, the team's board of directors voted to request the National League's permission to transfer the franchise to Atlanta. The other nine clubs of the National League authorized the transfer, effective with the 1966 season. The club's offices were moved to Atlanta in 1966, and the team played its home games there.

The State of Wisconsin sued the Braves, the National League, and the corporate owners of the clubs of the National League, in state circuit court on August 6, 1965, charging a violation of the state's anti-trust laws. (The full title of case was: State of Wisconsin vs. Milwaukee Braves, Inc.; Chicago National League Ball Club; Cincinnati Reds, Inc.; Houston Sports Association, Inc.; Los Angeles Dodgers, Inc.; Metropolitan Baseball Club, Inc.; Philadelphia National League Club; St. Louis National Baseball Club, Inc.; Pittsburgh Athletic Co., Inc.; National Exhibition Co., Inc.; National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, an unincorporated association .) On August 26, 1965, the defendant clubs and league petitioned to remove the case to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin; the State moved to remand the case to circuit court five days later. Following remand of the case to the circuit court on November 9, and preliminary legal skirmishing, the issues were tried without a jury in April 1966.

In its argument, the State charged that the defendants, who held a monopoly in the field of major league baseball, had agreed to shut down baseball in Milwaukee in restraint of trade and commerce in violation of the State's anti-trust laws. The plaintiffs sought monetary damages, a restraining order preventing the Braves' move to Atlanta, and a permanent injunction requiring the defendants to grant a new franchise to Milwaukee or permit purchase of the Braves by local interests. The State alleged that the National and American Leagues and their member clubs had engaged in a group boycott of applicants for a franchise to continue major league baseball in Milwaukee. Willard S. Stafford, of the Stafford, Rosenbaum, Rieser, and Hansen law firm, was special counsel for the State of Wisconsin (acting through the Attorney General's office) during this action.

In an April 13, 1966, decision Judge Elmer W. Roller found that the defendants had violated the State's anti-trust laws (1963 Wisconsin Statutes Sect. 133.01), and awarded the plaintiff a judgment of $5,000 against each defendant. The court also restrained and enjoined the Braves from playing in any city other than Milwaukee, then stayed the order pending submission of a written plan for expansion of the National League to permit major league baseball to be played in Milwaukee in 1967.

The Milwaukee Braves and other defendants-appellants appealed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, where the judgment was reversed. The majority was divided on the reasoning for its decision; some members concluded that the federal law preempted the operation of Wisconsin anti-trust statutes, which thus could not be applied to the defendants-appellants, while other justices felt that enforcement of the State's anti-trust laws would unconstitutionally burden interstate commerce.

In December 1966, the State of Wisconsin petitioned unsuccessfully for a writ of certiorari to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court. After that petition was denied, the State then petitioned unsuccessfully for rehearing on the Court's order, and the case was ended.

The collection is comprised entirely of legal papers, transcripts, legal memoranda, research material, and correspondence created or gathered for use by the State of Wisconsin in its lawsuit. Although much of the collection contains items available elsewhere in the public record, it is retained here to complete the record of the trial from the point of view of the plaintiff in the case. The inclusion of documentation compiled by Willard Stafford and members of his law firm illustrates the legal strategies devised by the attorneys for the State. These documents, as well as those materials never entered into the official record, such as correspondence, memoranda created within the law firm, and exhibits not presented at trial, are available nowhere else or only in the records of the defendants.

The papers have been arranged approximately in the order they were created during the lawsuit and preparations for trial, with the exception of correspondence written throughout the proceedings, which is filed first. Following correspondence are the pleadings, with an index, an attorney's timetable of work in the case, and the preliminary legal motions, orders, briefs, and transcripts regarding the defendants' attempt to remove the case from the state circuit court to the federal district court. After remand to state circuit court, the parties made motions for dismissal of the case and for various orders and injunctions, filed briefs and memoranda of law, and prepared to take depositions from witnesses. At this point, the plaintiff's attorneys began to collect reference material for use in formulating questions to be asked at depositions and at trial, and in drafting trial briefs. Among the reference material collected are statistics, statements, and reports pertaining to the impact of major league baseball on the city and county of Milwaukee and the effects of the departure of the Braves to Atlanta; other financial information, a few yearbooks, newspaper clippings, playing schedules, and information about Milwaukee County Stadium.

The attorneys also collected quantities of records of all types for possible use as exhibits to prove points at trial. The collection includes an index to exhibits used, exhibits, and folders of material apparently considered for use as exhibits, but never submitted at trial. All of the exhibit material has been photocopied from originals located elsewhere, including the files of the defendants. It is unclear precisely for what reason the series of files labeled “F” and “G” were created. Also in this portion of the collection are attorney's memoranda, drafted within the law firm for the use of the attorneys.

In preparation for the actual trial, the attorneys drafted an opening statement to the court, and planned for the oral argument; these are illustrated in a file of drafts and notes. The proceedings of the trial are well illustrated in the transcript, dating from March 1 to April 1, 1966, supplemented by the plaintiff's trial brief and appendix of evidence, April 6, 1966. The judge's decision is fully explained in his memorandum decision of April 13, 1966, following which there are a few motions concerning the implementation of his ruling or requests to prevent implementation.

The records of the appellate proceedings are somewhat similar, although much abbreviated. For the appeal to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, there are appellants' (State of Wisconsin) and respondents' (Milwaukee Braves and other defendants) briefs, and the Court's majority and dissenting opinions. Likewise, from proceedings held in United States Supreme Court, there is correspondence and a memorandum requesting permission to apply for a writ of certiorari, cases and notes collected by the appellant State of Wisconsin for its brief to the Court, drafts and a printed copy of the respondents' petition requesting the writ, a brief in opposition to the writ, and a petition to the Court seeking rehearing of the Court's order denying the writ.

Acquisition Information

Presented by Stafford, Rosenbaum, Rieser and Hansen of Madison, Wisconsin in 1984, Accession Number: M84-093

Processing Information

Processed by Bruce Lee Siebers and Joanne Hohler in November 1984, and by Menzi Behrnd-Klodt in April 1986.

Box   1 Folder   1-2	Correspondence, July 1965-December 1966; 1971
Box   1 Folder   3-4	Pleadings and Index, August 5, 1965-October 11, 1966
Box   1 Folder   5	Attorney's Timetable, September 8, 1965
	Proceedings held in United States District Court, Eastern District of Wisconsin, Branch 1
Box   1 Folder   6	Order Regarding Schedule of Discovery, September 10, 1965
Box   1 Folder   7	Defendant's Brief on Right to Discovery in Support of Removal Petition, post-September 10, 1965; Plaintiff's Reply Brief
Box   1 Folder   8	Plaintiff's Brief and Memorandum on Motion to Remand; Defendant's Brief in Opposition, September 1965
Box   1 Folder   9	Transcript of Proceedings upon Plaintiff's Motion to Remand, November 5, 1965
Box   1 Folder   10	Transcript of Proceedings upon Oral Opinion of the Court, November 9, 1965
	Proceedings held in State of Wisconsin Circuit Court, Branch 5, Civil Division, Milwaukee County
Box   1 Folder   11	Brief in Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Suppress Deposition of Richard Cecil, post-November 18, 1965; Memorandum Decision on Motions re: Depositions, , December 1, 1965
Box   1 Folder   12	Notices and Subpoenas, 1965-1966
Box   1 Folder   13	Plaintiff's Memorandum of Law in Opposition to Defendant's Request for a Continuance, December 10, 1965
Box   1 Folder   14	Memorandum Decisions re: Various Motions, December 15, 17, 22, 1965
Box   1 Folder   15	Defendant's Outline and Table of Cases in Support of Demurrer, December 28, 1965; Brief of Defendants
Box   2 Folder   1	Plaintiff's Reply Brief in Opposition to Demurrers; Plaintiff's Answer to Defendant's Reply Brief in Opposition to Demurrers
Box   2 Folder   2	Plaintiff's Memorandum of Law on Application for Temporary Restraining Order; Plaintiff's Memorandum of Points and Authority; Defendant's Memorandum of Law in Opposition to Plaintiff's Application; Defendant's Memorandum of Points and Authorities, January 1966
Box   2 Folder   3	Orders, January 11, February 28, 1966
Box   2 Folder   4	Memorandum Decision on Defendants' Demurrers, January 24, 1966
Box   2 Folder   5	Memorandum Decision and Order Granting Temporary Restraining Order, January 26, 1966
Box   2 Folder   6	Memorandum of Law in Support of Defendants' Application to Vacate Temporary Injunctive Order, post-January 26, 1966
	Documents Collected during Plaintiff's Preparation for Trial
Box   2 Folder   7	List of Documents Submitted to Defendants, February 14, 1966
Box   2 Folder   8	Questions for Depositions
Box   2 Folder   9	Depositions and Digest of Depositions, January-February 1966
Box   2 Folder   10	Economic Impact Data
Box   2 Folder   11	Economic Reports - “An Analysis of the Milwaukee Market for Major League Baseball,” by Robert R. Nathan, February 1966; “Analysis of Economic and Business Factors Relating to the Decision to Move the Braves From Milwaukee to Atlanta,” by Arthur D. Little, Inc., , 1966
Box   2 Folder   12	Examination of David R. Williams, Jr., 1966, concerning gas pipeline construction costs near Milwaukee County Stadium
Box   3 Folder   1	Index to Exhibits
Box   3 Folder   2-5	Exhibits, originals dated November 1952-March 1966
Box   3 Folder   6-7	Exhibits, numbered F1-F312
Box   4 Folder   1-4	Exhibits, numbered G1-G591, and unnumbered exhibits
Box   4 Folder   5	Financial Information, January 1953-March 1966
Box   4 Folder   6	Attorneys' Memoranda, June 1965-May 1966, n.d.
Box   5 Folder   1	Miscellaneous, Scorecard, 1962; Yearbooks, , 1964-1965
Box   5 Folder   2	Newspaper Clippings
Box   5 Folder   3-5	Research Materials
Box   5 Folder   6	Schedules, 1966
Box   5 Folder   7	Milwaukee County Stadium Information and Statistics, 1953-1966
Box   5 Folder   8	Memorandum Decision and Order Denying Plaintiff's Motion to Quash Subpoena Duces Tecum, February 15, 1966; Memorandum Decisions, , February 16, 22, 1966; Memorandum Decision Regarding Certification of Questions, , February 24, 1966
Box   5 Folder   9	Oral Argument, Outline for Oral Argument, Opening Statement, Notes
Box   5 Folder   10	Questions and Strategy for Examining R.A. Wipperman, March 1966
	Transcript of Proceedings
Box   5 Folder   11-12	March 1, 2, 1966
Box   6 Folder   1-5	March 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 1966
Box   7 Folder   1-6	March 10, 11; Transcript of Testimony of William L. Veeck, , December 21-22, 1965, entered into Proceedings, , March 11, 1966; March 14, 1966
Box   8 Folder   1-6	March 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 1966
Box   9 Folder   1-5	March 21, 22, 23, 1966
Box   10 Folder   1-5	March 24, 26, 28, 1966
Box   11 Folder   1-4	March 30 (incomplete), 31, April 1, 2, 1966
Box   11 Folder   5	Plaintiff's Trial Brief Drafts, February 1966
Box   11 Folder   6	Plaintiff's Trial Brief, April 6, 1966; Appendix to Plaintiff's Informal Trial Brief
Box   12 Folder   1	Appendix to Plaintiff's Trial Brief: The Evidence Which Proves the Allegations, April 6, 1966
Box   12 Folder   2	Plaintiff's and Defendant's Proposed Conclusions of Law and Findings of Fact, April 1966
Box   12 Folder   3	Memorandum Decision, April 13, 1966
Box   12 Folder   4	Memorandum in Opposition to Proposed Bill of Costs, April 25, 1966
Box   12 Folder   5	Memorandum Decision re: Objection to Plaintiff's Proposed Bill of Costs, May 2, 1966
Box   12 Folder   6	Draft Motion for Leave to Intervene, May 2, 1966
Box   12 Folder   7	Plaintiff's Brief in Opposition to Motion for Stay, post-April 13, 1966
Box   12 Folder   8	Memorandum Decision Denying Defendants' Motion for Stay, May 12, 1966; Memorandum Decision Denying Defendants' Motion to Vacate Judgment and For a New Trial, , May 21, 1966; Memorandum Decision Granting Stay, , May 21, 1966
	Proceedings held in Wisconsin Supreme Court
Box   12 Folder   9	Appellant's and Respondents' Briefs, 1966
Box   12 Folder   10	Respondents' Brief (revised and printed), 1966; Reply Brief of Appellants, , 1966
Box   12 Folder   11	Majority and Dissenting Opinions, 1966
	Proceedings held in United States Supreme Court
Box   13 Folder   1	Correspondence and Memorandum re: Writ of Certiorari, August-September 1966
Box   13 Folder   2	Cases and Notes Collected for Brief on Writ of Certiorari
Box   13 Folder   3-4	Drafts of Petitions for Certiorari, August-September 1966; Associated Correspondence
Box   13 Folder   5	Petition for Certiorari Page Proofs (Annotated)
Box   13 Folder   6	Petition and Appendix for a Writ of Certiorari, October 1966
Box   13 Folder   7	Respondents' Brief in Opposition to Petition for Certiorari, 1966
Box   13 Folder   8	Reply Brief for Petitioner; Amicus Curiae Brief
Box   13 Folder   9	Petition for Rehearing of Order Denying Petition for Writ of Certiorari, Drafts, and Memoranda, December 1966