SAN FRANCISCO — A federal appeals court has thrown out a suit by a group of minor league baseball players who were pursuing antitrust claims against Major League Baseball and the league's 30 ball clubs.

The ballplayers, represented by counsel at the Law Offices of Samuel Kornhauser, claimed the league and its teams illegally kept down wages in the lower levels of professional baseball. The lead plaintiffs in the case worked an average of 50 to 60 hours per week, but earned less than $10,000 per year, according to the complaint.

But the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Monday sided with MLB and its lawyers at Keker, Van Nest & Peters, finding that Congress explicitly exempted minor league baseball from the federal antitrust law in the Curt Flood Act of 1998. The law established that the league's dealings with players at the highest level are subject to the antitrust laws, but left the century-old “business-of-baseball” exemption to the antitrust laws otherwise in place.