The Trading of Professional Athletes

    Tim Fortugno, a career minor leaguer, pitched for fifteen different teams. During his baseball career, Fortugno was the "property" of six different major-league clubs. Being traded was a way of life for him. Even Fortugno, however, was probably shocked to learn, in 1989, that the Reno (Nevada) Silver Sox had traded him to the Milwaukee Brewers organization in exchange for twelve dozen baseballs and $2,500.

     There is no question that the Milwaukee Brewers had the right to trade or give away twelve dozen baseballs--provided, of course, that they owned the baseballs. The trading of a player, however, invokes different principles. Baseballs constitute property; people do not. What gives teams the right to trade players? Why did the Reno Silver Sox have the right to trade Tim Fortugno for cash and 144 baseballs?