Serve Major League Baseball: NYC Unincorporated Assoc.

As of 2026, Major League Baseball operates as an unincorporated association of thirty member clubs under the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, headquartered at 245 Park Avenue in New York, with no New York Department of State entity ID for the umbrella organization itself and a multi-tier subsidiary architecture spread across separately-incorporated league-level entities and thirty independently-incorporated clubs.

Major League Baseball is structurally distinct from a corporation. The umbrella organization that operates as “Major League Baseball” is an unincorporated association of the thirty member clubs, with the day-to-day operational authority vested in the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball. New York Department of State records reflect this status: there is no parent-corporation filing for “Major League Baseball” the way there is, for example, for International Business Machines Corporation. What the New York Department of State does record is a doing-business-as filing dated April 2, 2002, registering “Major League Baseball” as the operating designation at 245 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10167. The procedural consequence in 2026 is direct: service of process on the umbrella entity routes through the unincorporated-association service path under FRCP 4(h)(1)(B) (for service on an officer or general agent of the association) and CPLR § 311(a)(2) (for service on the New York unincorporated-association president, treasurer, or general agent), not through a registered-agent designation that does not exist for the umbrella entity. Counsel selecting service mechanics for an MLB matter must determine at the threshold whether the operative defendant is the umbrella unincorporated association, one of the separately-incorporated league-level subsidiaries (Major League Baseball Properties, Inc.; MLB Advanced Media, L.P.; MLB Network LLC; MLB International), or one of the thirty independently-incorporated member clubs.

The 245 Park Avenue corporate address houses the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, the operational staff for league-wide functions including scheduling, officiating, labor relations, and broadcast-rights management. The address is the canonical venue for service of process on the umbrella organization for matters that name “Major League Baseball” as the defendant entity, or that name the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball as the operative officer in the unincorporated-association captioning structure. Counsel managing matters across the MLB enterprise — league-level matters venued in New York, subsidiary-specific matters at MLB Properties or MLB Advanced Media, club-specific matters at any of the thirty member-club venue states — can reach Undisputed Legal’s New York metro coordination desk at (212) 203-8001 for pre-dispatch entity verification, current state-specific Secretary-of-State lookup across the multi-jurisdictional footprint, and multi-club tour planning for matters that span more than one venue.

Undisputed Legal coordinates Major League Baseball service across the umbrella unincorporated association, the separately-incorporated league-level subsidiaries (each with its own state-of-organization filing and registered-agent designation), and the thirty independently-incorporated member clubs (each with its own state-specific service mechanics). To order service on Major League Baseball, the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, any league-level subsidiary, or any member club, call (800) 774-6922 or use the link below.

Order Major League Baseball Service Now

Why Major League Baseball Is an Unincorporated Association

The state-of-organization question for Major League Baseball is the first question counsel must answer in any MLB service matter, because the answer determines whether the matter routes through corporation-service mechanics or through unincorporated-association mechanics, which Secretary-of-State filing record is the authoritative source of registered-agent designations (or whether such a record exists at all), and which substituted-service path applies if the registered-agent designation is unavailable. The answer for Major League Baseball is that it is an unincorporated association, not a corporation. The umbrella organization has no New York DOS entity ID for itself; the only New York DOS record reflecting the “Major League Baseball” designation is a 2002 doing-business-as filing at 245 Park Avenue. Counsel preparing an MLB matter in 2026 must caption the entity to reflect this status (commonly as “Major League Baseball, an unincorporated association,” or as “Office of the Commissioner of Baseball” depending on the matter’s procedural posture), select procedural rules from the unincorporated-association framework, and verify the operative subsidiary or club entity for the substantive claim under each entity’s separate state-of-organization filing.

The 1903 Founding and 245 Park Avenue Today

Major League Baseball traces its founding to 1903, when the National League and the American League formalized their relationship as the two component leagues of professional baseball under a single competitive umbrella. The umbrella organization has operated continuously for one hundred twenty-three years across multiple structural revisions — the 1920 appointment of the first Commissioner (Kenesaw Mountain Landis), the 1966 establishment of the Major League Baseball Properties licensing function, the 2000 reorganization that consolidated league-level functions under the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, the 2001 establishment of MLB Advanced Media as the league’s digital arm, and continuing operational evolution through the 2010s and 2020s. The umbrella entity has remained an unincorporated association throughout this history; the structural revisions have produced separately-incorporated subsidiary entities (MLB Properties in 1966, MLB Advanced Media in 2001, MLB Network LLC, MLB International, and others) without changing the umbrella’s unincorporated-association status.

The 245 Park Avenue corporate address is the operational and ceremonial headquarters of the umbrella organization. The address houses the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball on the upper floors of the building, with separately-incorporated league-level entities operating from designated floors of the same building (MLB Network LLC reportedly on Floor 31; MLB International reportedly on Floor 30; both subject to per-entity Accurint verification before any specific dispatch). The 245 Park Avenue address is the canonical venue for service of process on the umbrella entity and for any league-level subsidiary that maintains its registered office at the same address. The same address served as the historical address for Major League Baseball Properties before its 2015 corporate restructuring (Certificates of Merger filed October 28-31, 2015), which consolidated the operational properties function while preserving the corporate identity at the same Park Avenue location.

The DBA Filing and What It Tells Counsel

The New York Department of State doing-business-as filing dated April 2, 2002 records “Major League Baseball” as a designation operating at 245 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10167. The DBA filing is empirically distinct from a corporation filing: it does not establish “Major League Baseball” as a separately-incorporated legal entity; it records the operating designation under which the umbrella organization conducts business. The DBA filing tells counsel that the umbrella organization has acknowledged operating under the “Major League Baseball” name at the New York address, but it does not substitute for a corporation filing in the way that, for example, a New York domestic-corporation filing under DOS ID:1012069 (the IBM Corporation reference) substitutes for any other entity-identification question.

The DBA filing is operationally useful for two purposes in service-of-process planning. First, it establishes the canonical New York operational address for the umbrella organization (245 Park Avenue), which is the address counsel directs service to under the unincorporated-association framework. Second, it confirms that the umbrella organization acknowledges the “Major League Baseball” designation as its operating identity — relevant for affidavit-of-service preparation where the served entity is referenced by the designation under which it conducts business. The DBA filing does not create registered-agent service-of-process authority; service on the umbrella organization proceeds through the unincorporated-association officer or general-agent path, not through a registered-agent designation that the DBA filing does not establish.

FRCP 4(h)(1)(B) and CPLR § 311(a)(2) — How Service of Process Works

Service of process on Major League Baseball as an unincorporated association proceeds under one of two procedural frameworks depending on the venue. For matters venued in federal court, FRCP 4(h)(1)(B) authorizes service on a corporation, partnership, or other unincorporated association by delivering a copy of the summons and complaint to an officer, a managing or general agent, or any other agent authorized by appointment or by law to receive service of process. The Commissioner of Baseball, the Deputy Commissioner, the General Counsel, or any other officer of the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball serving in a comparable management role qualifies as an officer or general agent of the unincorporated association for FRCP 4(h)(1)(B) purposes; service on any such officer at the 245 Park Avenue address satisfies the federal-court service requirement against the umbrella entity.

For matters venued in New York state courts, CPLR § 311(a)(2) supplies the parallel framework for service on an unincorporated association: service is made by delivery to the president, treasurer, or general agent of the association. The CPLR distinction between corporation service (under § 311(a)(1)) and unincorporated-association service (under § 311(a)(2)) is operationally consequential: a complaint captioned to “Major League Baseball” served under the corporation-service framework on a registered-agent designation that does not exist for the umbrella entity does not satisfy the statutory service requirement; the corrected service path routes under § 311(a)(2) on the actual president, treasurer, or general agent of the association at the 245 Park Avenue address. Where direct service on an officer at 245 Park Avenue is unavailable for any reason, the substituted-service path under New York state-court rules applies to unincorporated associations through CPLR § 308 mechanics adapted for the association context.

An unincorporated association is a creature of common law, not a creation of state corporate filings — service of process on Major League Baseball routes through the association’s officers and the umbrella entity’s principal place of business at 245 Park Avenue, not through a registered-agent designation that does not exist for the association itself.

Major League Baseball’s Antitrust Exemption

The single most distinctive feature of Major League Baseball as a service-of-process target is the antitrust exemption that has governed the league’s legal status for more than a century. Counsel preparing any MLB matter that has antitrust adjacency — labor matters, broadcast-rights matters, franchise-relocation matters, league-rule matters, ticket-distribution matters — must navigate the framework established by the foundational 1922 Supreme Court decision, the 1972 reaffirmation, and the 1998 statutory limitation. The framework affects captioning, jurisdictional pleading, and the substantive theory of the claim, and counsel evaluating an MLB matter for filing strategy benefits from working through the framework before finalizing the complaint and the service path.

Federal Baseball Club v. National League, 259 U.S. 200 (1922)

The Supreme Court’s 1922 decision in Federal Baseball Club v. National League, 259 U.S. 200 (1922), is the foundational case establishing Major League Baseball’s antitrust exemption. The Court held that the business of giving exhibitions of baseball “is purely state affairs” — that is, that baseball was not interstate commerce within the meaning of the Sherman Act, and therefore was not subject to federal antitrust regulation. The decision insulated organized baseball from the antitrust enforcement framework that applied to other interstate businesses, and the exemption persisted across the next several decades despite repeated efforts to revisit it.

The doctrinal foundation of Federal Baseball Club is now widely regarded as inconsistent with modern interstate-commerce doctrine — the Supreme Court itself has acknowledged in subsequent decisions that the 1922 holding does not align with contemporary Commerce Clause jurisprudence — but the exemption itself has survived as a matter of stare decisis and Congressional acquiescence. Counsel preparing an antitrust claim against Major League Baseball or against any of its operations must address the Federal Baseball Club framework explicitly in the complaint, both in the jurisdictional pleading and in the substantive theory of the claim. The case caption, the procedural framework, and the substantive doctrine all interact at the threshold of every MLB antitrust matter.

Flood v. Kuhn, 407 U.S. 258 (1972) — Reaffirmed

Fifty years after Federal Baseball Club, the Supreme Court revisited the antitrust exemption in Flood v. Kuhn, 407 U.S. 258 (1972). Curt Flood, a St. Louis Cardinals outfielder, challenged baseball’s reserve clause — the contractual mechanism that bound players to their teams in perpetuity — as a violation of federal antitrust law. The Court reaffirmed the antitrust exemption established in Federal Baseball Club, characterizing the exemption as “an aberration that has been with us now for half a century” but declining to overturn it on stare decisis grounds. The Court explicitly identified Congress as the proper forum for any modification of the exemption, signaling that legislative action rather than judicial revision would be required to alter the framework.

Flood v. Kuhn is operationally consequential for MLB matters in two ways. First, the case establishes that the antitrust exemption applies specifically to player-employment matters governed by the reserve clause — matters that would, in any other industry, proceed straightforwardly under Sherman Act principles. Second, the Court’s invitation to Congress for legislative correction set the stage for the Curt Flood Act of 1998, which partially limited the exemption in player-employment contexts. Counsel preparing a player-employment antitrust claim against Major League Baseball must navigate both the Flood v. Kuhn reaffirmation and the post-1998 statutory limitation when structuring the complaint.

Curt Flood Act of 1998 (Pub. L. 105-297) — Statutory Limitation

The Curt Flood Act of 1998 (Pub. L. 105-297, codified at 15 U.S.C. § 26b) is the legislative response to the Flood v. Kuhn invitation for Congressional action. The statute partially limits the antitrust exemption with respect to “the conduct, acts, practices, or agreements of persons engaging in, or conspiring to engage in, the business of organized professional major league baseball directly relating to or affecting employment of major league baseball players.” The Curt Flood Act applies to player-employment matters arising after the statute’s effective date and treats those matters as subject to standard antitrust review under Sherman Act principles, removing the Federal Baseball Club exemption for that specific class of claims.

The Curt Flood Act does not eliminate the antitrust exemption in its entirety. The statute is narrowly drawn: it applies to player-employment matters involving the major league reserve system, but it does not extend to franchise relocation, broadcast-rights agreements, league-rule disputes outside the player-employment context, or other operational matters where the Federal Baseball Club exemption continues to apply under stare decisis. Counsel preparing an antitrust claim against Major League Baseball in 2026 must determine at the threshold whether the underlying conduct falls within the Curt Flood Act’s player-employment scope (in which case Sherman Act review applies) or outside that scope (in which case the Federal Baseball Club framework continues to control). The captioning, jurisdictional pleading, and substantive theory all turn on this threshold determination.

How the Exemption Affects Captioning and Pleading

The antitrust framework affects MLB service-of-process matters in three operational ways. First, the captioning structure — whether the matter names “Major League Baseball” as the umbrella unincorporated association, names the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball as the operative officer, names a specific league-level subsidiary, or names one or more of the thirty member clubs — interacts with the antitrust exemption analysis: matters challenging league-level conduct that falls within the exemption proceed against the umbrella entity under unincorporated-association service mechanics, while matters challenging conduct by separately-incorporated subsidiaries (MLB Properties on licensing matters, MLB Advanced Media on digital matters) may proceed against those subsidiaries under standard corporation-service mechanics.

Second, the jurisdictional pleading must address the antitrust framework explicitly, even when the underlying claim is not framed as an antitrust claim. Tortious-interference claims, breach-of-contract claims, and unfair-competition claims that arise from MLB league-level conduct may collide with the antitrust exemption in ways that affect the substantive theory of the claim. Counsel structures the complaint to address the framework directly rather than allowing it to surface as a defense at the motion-to-dismiss stage. Third, the service path itself is unaffected by the antitrust framework — Undisputed Legal coordinates dispatch to the address counsel has identified for the captioned defendant entity, regardless of the antitrust posture of the underlying matter — but the captioning decision that drives the service path is informed by the antitrust analysis at the pleading stage.

MLB’s Subsidiary Architecture and Caption Discipline

Major League Baseball operates a multi-tier subsidiary architecture beneath the umbrella unincorporated association. The umbrella entity itself (the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball at 245 Park Avenue) is the operational defendant for league-wide matters. Beneath the umbrella, several separately-incorporated league-level entities handle specific operational functions — Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. for licensing and intellectual property; MLB Advanced Media, L.P. for digital media operations; MLB Network LLC for broadcast operations; MLB International for international rights and operations; the Major League Baseball Trust and the Major League Baseball Youth Foundation for trust-administration and charitable functions. Beneath the league-level entities, the thirty member clubs operate as independently-incorporated companies, each with its own state of organization and its own registered-agent designations. Caption discipline matters at every tier: the entity named in the complaint must be the entity whose conduct gave rise to the claim, served at the address designated by that entity’s controlling state filing.

Office of the Commissioner of Baseball

The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball is the operational authority that administers the umbrella unincorporated association. The Commissioner is the chief executive of organized baseball, with authority over labor relations, league rules, scheduling, officiating, broadcast-rights administration, and other league-wide functions. The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball is not itself a separately-incorporated legal entity; it is the operational designation under which the umbrella organization conducts day-to-day business. Service on the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball at 245 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10167 satisfies the unincorporated-association service requirement under FRCP 4(h)(1)(B) and CPLR § 311(a)(2) when the Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, General Counsel, or other officer of the Office serves as the recipient. Annual revenue attributable to the umbrella organization’s league-level operations is approximately $746,700,000 per the most recent verified Accurint data, primary TIN 13-1665347, LexID 0000-9200-2755 [VERIFY ACCURINT PRE-DISPATCH].

Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. — NY DOS Filing 204487

Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. is the New York domestic corporation established in 1966 to handle the league’s licensing, trademark, and intellectual-property functions. The entity is recorded with the New York Department of State under Filing 204487, with Corporation Service Company designated as the registered agent at 80 State Street, Albany, NY 12207 [VERIFY NY DOS PRE-DISPATCH]. The corporate headquarters is the 245 Park Avenue Floor 34 address (the entity historically operated from 350 Park Avenue, with consolidation to 245 Park Avenue completing during the 2015 corporate restructuring). Corporate restructuring filings dated October 28-31, 2015 (Certificates of Merger) consolidated the MLB Properties operational structure while preserving the corporate identity, the Filing 204487 designation, and the CSC registered-agent relationship at 80 State Street, Albany. TIN 13-2606324, LexID 0000-9191-0983.

Matters arising from MLB licensing, trademark enforcement, intellectual-property litigation, or merchandise-distribution disputes name Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. as the operative defendant — not the parent umbrella organization. Service routes through CPLR § 311(a)(1) on Corporation Service Company at 80 State Street, Albany, for matters venued in New York state courts; through FRCP 4(h)(1)(B) on the same registered agent for matters venued in any federal court. The captioning discipline matters because MLB Properties, Inc. is a separately-incorporated legal person from the umbrella organization, and a complaint captioned to “Major League Baseball” alleging trademark or licensing conduct that arises specifically from MLB Properties operations may face a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim against the proper party.

MLB Advanced Media, L.P. — The Two-Entity Structure (NY DOS Filing 2613104 + 2021 PA L.P.)

MLB Advanced Media, L.P. is the league’s digital media operations entity, established March 7, 2001 as a Delaware limited partnership and foreign-qualified in New York under New York DOS Filing 2613104 [VERIFY NY DOS PRE-DISPATCH]. The primary entity operates from 75 9th Avenue, New York, NY (the Chelsea Market broadcast facility), with Corporation Service Company designated as the registered agent at 80 State Street, Albany — the same registered-agent vendor and address that serves Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. The MLB Advanced Media operational scope includes the MLB.tv streaming platform, the At Bat mobile application, the mlb.com web property, and the league’s broader digital-rights management. TIN 13-4138912, LexID 0000-9114-0834. The L.P. entity term is recorded as PERPETUAL.

A second MLB Advanced Media entity was established April 16, 2021 as a Pennsylvania limited partnership at 1001 Pattison Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19148 (the Citizens Bank Park venue address, where the Phillies play home games). The Pennsylvania entity carries TIN 13-4138913 and LexID 0007-2977-0364 — distinct identifiers from the primary New York entity. The 2021 Pennsylvania establishment date is approximately three and a half years after the August 2017 sale of BAMTech to The Walt Disney Company, suggesting the Pennsylvania entity may relate to the post-BAMTech reorganization of MLB Advanced Media operations. The empirical filing record establishes the existence of both entities and their distinct identifiers; the operational division of labor between the New York primary entity and the Pennsylvania entity requires individual matter-specific analysis at the captioning stage.

For matters arising from MLB digital media operations — streaming-platform disputes, content-licensing matters, mobile-application claims, mlb.com web-property issues — the captioning analysis must determine which of the two entities is the operative defendant. General digital-rights matters and MLB.tv streaming-platform claims most likely route to the primary MLB Advanced Media, L.P. New York entity (Filing 2613104, served at CSC Albany). Venue-specific or post-BAMTech-reorganization matters may route to the 2021 Pennsylvania L.P. (1001 Pattison Avenue, Philadelphia). Counsel preparing a digital-media MLB matter verifies which entity is the operative defendant before finalizing the caption.

MLB Network LLC, MLB International, and Other League-Level Entities

Several additional league-level entities operate as separately-incorporated subsidiaries of the umbrella organization. MLB Network LLC operates the MLB Network cable television channel, which provides league-wide game broadcasts, analytical programming, and league-related news content; the entity reportedly operates from Floor 31 of the 245 Park Avenue building [VERIFY ACCURINT INDIVIDUALLY PRE-DISPATCH]. MLB International handles international broadcast rights, international event organization, and the league’s foreign-market operations; the entity reportedly operates from Floor 30 of the 245 Park Avenue building [VERIFY ACCURINT INDIVIDUALLY PRE-DISPATCH]. The Major League Baseball Trust operates from 12 East 49th Street, Floor 24, New York, NY 10017, performing trust-administration functions for league-level financial arrangements [VERIFY ACCURINT INDIVIDUALLY PRE-DISPATCH]. The Major League Baseball Youth Foundation operates from 901 East Artesia Boulevard, Compton, CA 90221, performing 501(c)(3) charitable functions related to youth baseball development [VERIFY ACCURINT INDIVIDUALLY PRE-DISPATCH].

Each league-level entity above has its own state of organization, its own registered-agent designation, and its own service-of-process framework distinct from the umbrella unincorporated association. Counsel preparing a matter against any of these entities must verify the current state-of-organization filing, the current registered-agent designation, and the current service address before dispatch. The reported Floor 31 / Floor 30 / 12 East 49th Street / Compton CA addresses derive from the MLB Properties Accurint Connected Businesses list and the 2021 source record; they require individual Accurint verification before any specific dispatch event because Connected Businesses lists are derivative data sources rather than primary state-filing records.

The 30 Member Clubs as Independently Incorporated Entities

Beneath the umbrella organization and beneath the league-level subsidiaries, the thirty Major League Baseball member clubs operate as independently-incorporated companies. Each club is its own legal entity with its own state of organization (in most cases the state where the club’s home stadium is located, with the corporate filing in the state’s primary corporation registry), its own registered-agent designation, and its own service-of-process framework. The New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, and the other twenty-five member clubs are not subsidiaries of the umbrella organization in the corporate-parent sense; they are member clubs of an unincorporated association, each operating its own corporate structure and its own legal identity.

The captioning consequence is consequential. Matters arising from a specific club’s conduct — a player-management matter at the Yankees, a stadium-operations matter at Dodger Stadium, a ticket-distribution matter at Wrigley Field — name the specific club’s corporate entity as the operative defendant, not the umbrella Major League Baseball organization. The umbrella organization does not have direct operational responsibility for individual club operations, and a complaint captioned to “Major League Baseball” alleging conduct that arises from a specific club’s operations may face a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim against the proper party. The corrected caption identifies the specific club entity (e.g., “New York Yankees Partnership,” “Los Angeles Dodgers, LLC,” “Boston Red Sox Baseball Club, L.P.”) and routes service to that entity’s state-specific registered-agent designation. Pre-dispatch verification of the current club entity name and registered-agent designation is mandatory because club corporate structures evolve over time and individual club restructurings (sales of franchises, partnership-to-LLC conversions, ownership-group transitions) produce changes that may not be reflected in source documentation more than two or three years old.

Captioning Considerations for the MLB Players Association

The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) is not a Major League Baseball subsidiary. The 2021 source article for this page included MLBPA in a “Subsidiaries of MLB” section, but that classification is incorrect: MLBPA is the certified collective-bargaining representative of major league baseball players under Section 9(b) of the National Labor Relations Act — an independent labor union under federal labor law, not a subsidiary of the league it negotiates against. The MLBPA operates from 12 East 49th Street, Floor 24, New York, NY 10017 (the same building floor as the Major League Baseball Trust, but the two entities are distinct). MLBPA’s organizational status as a labor union means matters arising from collective-bargaining matters, player grievances, or union-management disputes route to MLBPA directly under labor-law service mechanics, not through the umbrella Major League Baseball organization or any of its subsidiaries.

Counsel preparing a labor-related matter that involves MLB and MLBPA must caption each entity separately and serve each through its own service-of-process framework. A complaint captioned to “Major League Baseball” alleging conduct that arises from MLBPA’s bargaining position or union-administration practices names the wrong entity; the corrected caption names the MLBPA directly. Conversely, a complaint captioned to MLBPA alleging conduct that arises from league-level decisions of the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball names the wrong entity in the opposite direction; the corrected caption names the umbrella organization. Two related entities outside the umbrella organization’s subsidiary structure also warrant caption-discipline note: the MLB Players Alumni Association, Inc. (an independent Colorado-based 501(c)(3) for retired players, distinct from the active-player MLBPA) and Major League Alumni Marketing (an independent Phoenix-based affiliate). Neither is an MLB subsidiary; matters arising from either entity’s operations route to that entity’s own corporate identity and service framework.

Subsidiary and Club Routing Matrix

The routing matrix below organizes MLB service-of-process targets into two tiers. Tier 1 covers the umbrella organization and the league-level subsidiaries; Tier 2 covers the thirty independently-incorporated member clubs. Pre-dispatch verification against the controlling state-of-organization filing is mandatory before any service event, because each entity maintains its own filing record and its own registered-agent designation, and the consolidated routing data preserved in this matrix derives from cross-referenced sources that require individual Accurint verification before dispatch.

Tier 1 — Umbrella and League-Level Entities

Entity	Status / State of Organization	Filing or LexID	Service Address
Major League Baseball (umbrella unincorporated association)	Unincorporated association; NY DBA filing 04/02/2002	LexID 0000-9200-2755	Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, 245 Park Avenue, New York NY 10167 [VERIFY ACCURINT PRE-DISPATCH]
Major League Baseball Properties, Inc.	NY domestic corporation (1966)	NY DOS Filing 204487; TIN 13-2606324	Corporation Service Company, 80 State Street, Albany NY 12207 [VERIFY NY DOS PRE-DISPATCH]
MLB Advanced Media, L.P. (primary)	DE L.P. foreign-qualified in NY (registered 03/07/2001)	NY DOS Filing 2613104; TIN 13-4138912	Corporation Service Company, 80 State Street, Albany NY 12207 (registered agent); 75 9th Avenue, New York NY (operational) [VERIFY NY DOS PRE-DISPATCH]
MLB Advanced Media, L.P. (2021 PA entity)	PA L.P. (established 04/16/2021)	TIN 13-4138913; LexID 0007-2977-0364	1001 Pattison Avenue, Philadelphia PA 19148 [VERIFY PA SOS PRE-DISPATCH]
MLB Network LLC	State-of-org per current filing	per Accurint individual lookup	245 Park Avenue Floor 31, New York NY 10167 (reportedly) [VERIFY ACCURINT INDIVIDUALLY PRE-DISPATCH]
MLB International	State-of-org per current filing	per Accurint individual lookup	245 Park Avenue Floor 30, New York NY 10167 (reportedly) [VERIFY ACCURINT INDIVIDUALLY PRE-DISPATCH]
Major League Baseball Trust	Trust per current filing	per Accurint individual lookup	12 East 49th Street, Floor 24, New York NY 10017 [VERIFY ACCURINT INDIVIDUALLY PRE-DISPATCH]
Major League Baseball Youth Foundation	501(c)(3) charitable foundation	per Accurint individual lookup	901 East Artesia Boulevard, Compton CA 90221 [VERIFY ACCURINT INDIVIDUALLY PRE-DISPATCH]

Tier 2 — Thirty Independently Incorporated Member Clubs

The thirty member clubs operate as independently-incorporated entities, each with its own state of organization (in most cases the state where the club’s primary venue is located) and its own registered-agent designation. The table below identifies each club by its public name and primary venue jurisdiction. Pre-dispatch Accurint verification is mandatory for any specific club service event because club corporate structures evolve over time (franchise sales, partnership-to-LLC conversions, ownership-group transitions); the consolidated tier-2 data below establishes the routing universe but does not substitute for individual club verification.

Division	Club	Primary Venue Jurisdiction
AL East	New York Yankees	New York (Bronx, NY)
AL East	Boston Red Sox	Massachusetts (Boston)
AL East	Toronto Blue Jays	Ontario, Canada (Toronto)
AL East	Baltimore Orioles	Maryland (Baltimore)
AL East	Tampa Bay Rays	Florida (St. Petersburg)
AL Central	Detroit Tigers	Michigan (Detroit)
AL Central	Chicago White Sox	Illinois (Chicago)
AL Central	Minnesota Twins	Minnesota (Minneapolis)
AL Central	Kansas City Royals	Missouri (Kansas City)
AL Central	Cleveland Guardians	Ohio (Cleveland)
AL West	Houston Astros	Texas (Houston)
AL West	Seattle Mariners	Washington (Seattle)
AL West	Athletics	Transitional venue (verify current state of organization)
AL West	Los Angeles Angels	California (Anaheim)
AL West	Texas Rangers	Texas (Arlington)
NL East	Philadelphia Phillies	Pennsylvania (Philadelphia)
NL East	New York Mets	New York (Queens, NY)
NL East	Atlanta Braves	Georgia (Cumberland / Atlanta)
NL East	Miami Marlins	Florida (Miami)
NL East	Washington Nationals	District of Columbia
NL Central	Chicago Cubs	Illinois (Chicago)
NL Central	St. Louis Cardinals	Missouri (St. Louis)
NL Central	Milwaukee Brewers	Wisconsin (Milwaukee)
NL Central	Pittsburgh Pirates	Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh)
NL Central	Cincinnati Reds	Ohio (Cincinnati)
NL West	Los Angeles Dodgers	California (Los Angeles)
NL West	San Francisco Giants	California (San Francisco)
NL West	San Diego Padres	California (San Diego)
NL West	Arizona Diamondbacks	Arizona (Phoenix)
NL West	Colorado Rockies	Colorado (Denver)

All thirty club entries above carry the [VERIFY ACCURINT INDIVIDUALLY PRE-DISPATCH] flag. Each club operates as an independently-incorporated legal entity (most commonly as a limited partnership, limited liability company, or corporation under the venue state’s corporate framework), and the corporate name, state of organization, and registered-agent designation for each club must be confirmed against current source records before any specific dispatch event. The consolidated table identifies the routing universe; per-club verification establishes the operational service-of-process framework for each specific matter.

Where to Serve Major League Baseball — Multi-Jurisdictional Coverage

Service on Major League Baseball or any of its component entities proceeds under one of several procedural frameworks, depending on the captioned entity, the venue state, and the underlying claim type. The framework selected at the pre-dispatch stage controls the registered-agent address (or the unincorporated-association service path), the substituted-service path if the registered-agent designation is unavailable, and the affidavit-of-service form prescribed by the venue court.

New York Service Mechanics

For matters venued in New York state courts against Major League Baseball as the umbrella unincorporated association, CPLR § 311(a)(2) governs service on the president, treasurer, or general agent of the association at 245 Park Avenue. For matters against any of the New York-incorporated league-level subsidiaries (MLB Properties, Inc., NY DOS Filing 204487; MLB Advanced Media, L.P., NY DOS Filing 2613104), CPLR § 311(a)(1) governs service on the registered agent designated in the controlling DOS filing — Corporation Service Company at 80 State Street, Albany NY 12207, for both entities. For substituted-service events against the New York-incorporated subsidiaries, NY BCL § 306 supplies the path through the New York Department of State at One Commerce Plaza, 99 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY 12231-0001.

Pennsylvania Service Mechanics for MLB Advanced Media PA L.P.

Service on the 2021 Pennsylvania MLB Advanced Media L.P. proceeds under Pennsylvania Rule of Civil Procedure 422.1 (service on partnerships and unincorporated associations) for matters venued in Pennsylvania state courts, and under FRCP 4(h)(1)(B) for matters venued in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (which encompasses Philadelphia and the 1001 Pattison Avenue Citizens Bank Park venue). Pre-dispatch verification of the Pennsylvania Department of State filing for the 2021 L.P. entity confirms the current registered-agent designation and the service address before dispatch.

California Service Mechanics for MLB Youth Foundation and California Clubs

Service on the Major League Baseball Youth Foundation at 901 East Artesia Boulevard, Compton, CA 90221 proceeds under California Code of Civil Procedure § 416.10 for matters venued in California state courts and under FRCP 4(h)(1)(B) for matters venued in the Central District of California (which encompasses Compton and Los Angeles County). The same California service-mechanics framework governs service on the California-incorporated member clubs (Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres) for matters venued in their respective home jurisdictions.

Federal Court Service Under FRCP 4(h)(1)(B) and 4(e)(2)(C)

Federal-court matters against any MLB entity proceed under FRCP 4(h)(1)(B) for corporations, partnerships, and unincorporated associations alike, with the procedural distinction operating at the recipient-identity level rather than at the framework level. For corporations and partnerships (MLB Properties, Inc.; MLB Advanced Media, L.P.; member clubs organized as corporations or LLCs), service on the registered agent designated in the controlling state-of-organization filing satisfies FRCP 4(h)(1)(B) for matters venued in any federal district. For the umbrella unincorporated association, service on an officer, managing or general agent of the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball at 245 Park Avenue satisfies FRCP 4(h)(1)(B) for matters venued in any federal district. FRCP 4(e)(2)(C) provides an alternative framework for service on individual defendants associated with an unincorporated association where the matter names individual officers as defendants in addition to the umbrella entity.

The 245 Park Avenue corporate address is the canonical service venue for the umbrella organization and for any league-level subsidiary that maintains its registered office at the same address. The 245 Park Avenue building reception is not a registered agent for any of the entities operating from upper floors, and process accepted at the building reception desk does not satisfy the statutory service requirement under either FRCP 4(h)(1)(B) or CPLR § 311(a)(2). The authoritative service path is delivery to an officer of the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball (for the umbrella organization) or to the registered agent designated in the controlling state-filing record (for the separately-incorporated league-level subsidiaries).

Scope of Services

Undisputed Legal delivers service of process. Undisputed Legal does not practice law. The boundary applies with particular rigor to Major League Baseball matters because the entity-disambiguation question — which MLB entity (umbrella unincorporated association, league-level subsidiary, or member club) is the proper defendant under the substantive law of the underlying claim — and the antitrust-framework analysis are both legal questions answered by counsel and by the corporate-secretarial verification step, not by a process-service vendor.

The specific tasks within counsel’s scope and outside Undisputed Legal’s scope: (1) selecting the entity to be named as defendant in the case caption (umbrella vs. specific league-level subsidiary vs. specific member club based on the nature of the underlying conduct); (2) determining whether the underlying claim implicates the antitrust exemption framework (and if so, whether the Curt Flood Act of 1998 applies to remove the exemption for the specific player-employment context); (3) confirming whether the matter arises from MLB league-level operations or from MLBPA labor-union activity (which routes to MLBPA directly, not through the umbrella organization); (4) drafting the complaint and any amended complaints; (5) selecting the procedural framework (CPLR § 311(a)(2) for unincorporated-association NY state court; CPLR § 311(a)(1) for corporation NY state court; state-specific frameworks for out-of-state matters; FRCP 4(h)(1)(B) for federal court; FRCP 4(e)(2)(C) for individual-officer matters); (6) negotiating settlement or trying the matter to verdict.

The specific tasks within Undisputed Legal’s scope: (1) verifying the current registered-agent designation (or, for the umbrella unincorporated association, the current officer designation) of the captioned MLB entity in the venue state via the current state Secretary-of-State or Department-of-State filing record; (2) coordinating dispatch to the registered-agent address or to the officer’s principal place of business; (3) executing in-person delivery of the summons and complaint or subpoena to an authorized recipient at the service location; (4) recording the service event with GPS-verified timestamping and on-site documentation; (5) preparing the affidavit-of-service return in the form prescribed by the venue court; (6) coordinating multi-state and multi-entity service tours where the matter requires service on multiple MLB entities or service across multiple member clubs.

The interaction between counsel’s scope and Undisputed Legal’s scope at the pre-dispatch stage is the entity-verification handshake: counsel provides the captioned defendant entity and the venue state; Undisputed Legal verifies the current registered-agent or officer designation of that entity in that venue state, confirms the service address, and confirms whether the venue state’s state-of-organization framework applies the corporation-service path, the partnership-service path, or the unincorporated-association-service path. If the verification step surfaces an issue — the captioned entity has no active filing in the venue state, the registered-agent designation has been updated since the last verified record, the matter requires substituted-service procedures rather than direct delivery, or the captioning structure conflates the umbrella organization with a separately-incorporated subsidiary — Undisputed Legal flags the issue back to counsel for the legal-procedural decision that the issue requires.

Major League Baseball matters require entity-discipline that distinguishes the umbrella unincorporated association from the separately-incorporated league-level subsidiaries and from the thirty independently-incorporated member clubs. Strategic captioning interacts with the antitrust exemption framework at the threshold of every MLB matter, and entity-versus-association doctrine determines which procedural mechanics apply. Strategic judgment cannot be delegated to a process-service vendor.

How Undisputed Legal Approaches Major League Baseball Service

The Undisputed Legal operational approach to Major League Baseball service follows a five-phase protocol calibrated to the multi-tier MLB entity architecture and to the unincorporated-association status of the umbrella organization.

Phase 1: Entity verification. Undisputed Legal confirms the captioned defendant entity name, the entity’s organizational status (unincorporated association, corporation, limited partnership, LLC, or trust), and the current active status against the controlling Secretary-of-State or Department-of-State filing record. For Major League Baseball as the umbrella organization, the verification confirms the unincorporated-association status and the 2002 NY DBA filing record. For Major League Baseball Properties, Inc., the verification queries NY DOS Filing 204487. For MLB Advanced Media, L.P. (primary), the verification queries NY DOS Filing 2613104. For the 2021 Pennsylvania MLB Advanced Media L.P., the verification queries the Pennsylvania Department of State filing record. For each member club captioned in the matter, the verification queries the club’s state-of-organization filing record. Entity verification surfaces the umbrella-vs-subsidiary issue, the MLBPA-vs-umbrella issue, the antitrust-framework adjacency, and the multi-entity captioning interaction in a single pre-dispatch check.

Phase 2: Registered-agent or officer confirmation. Undisputed Legal verifies the current service designation for the captioned entity in the venue state. For the umbrella unincorporated association, the verification confirms the current Office of the Commissioner of Baseball officer roster and the 245 Park Avenue address. For separately-incorporated league-level subsidiaries, the verification pulls the current registered-agent designation against the controlling DOS or SOS filing. For member clubs, the verification pulls the current registered-agent designation against the club’s state-of-organization filing in the venue state.

Phase 3: Dispatch coordination. Undisputed Legal coordinates the dispatch package — the summons, the complaint or subpoena, any accompanying procedural documents required by the venue court, and the statutory service fee where applicable — and assigns the dispatch to a process server at the appropriate location. For New York-based service (245 Park Avenue umbrella, 80 State Street Albany CSC for league-level subsidiaries, individual NYC addresses for entities at 12 East 49th Street or 75 9th Avenue), dispatch is handled by Undisputed Legal’s New York metro process-service operation. For Pennsylvania service (1001 Pattison Avenue Philadelphia for the 2021 MLB Advanced Media L.P.), dispatch is handled by an Undisputed Legal Philadelphia-area process server. For California service (901 East Artesia Boulevard Compton for MLB Youth Foundation, plus the four California-based clubs), dispatch is handled by Undisputed Legal’s California metro process-service operations. For matters spanning multiple member-club venue states, dispatch is coordinated through the affiliated process-service network in each venue state on a unified-engagement schedule.

Phase 4: GPS-verified delivery. The process server executes in-person delivery of the dispatch package to an authorized officer (for the umbrella organization), to the designated registered agent (for separately-incorporated entities), or to an authorized recipient at the service location. Delivery is documented in real time with GPS-coordinate verification, timestamp recording, and on-site contemporaneous notes describing the recipient’s identification and authority to accept service. For substituted-service events where direct service is unavailable, delivery is executed through the venue-state substituted-service path with the statutory service fee tendered concurrently with the dispatch package.

Phase 5: Affidavit return. Undisputed Legal prepares the affidavit-of-service return in the form prescribed by the venue court — federal-court matters use the FRCP-prescribed return-of-service form; New York state-court matters use the CPLR-prescribed affidavit form (with the unincorporated-association-vs-corporation distinction reflected in the affidavit language); out-of-state matters use the venue-state-prescribed form. The affidavit return incorporates the GPS-coordinate verification data, the timestamp record, the recipient identification, and the description of the dispatch package delivered, supporting the service event against any subsequent Rule 12(b)(5) motion to quash or motion challenging the sufficiency of service.

Common Pitfalls in Major League Baseball Service

The Major League Baseball service path is straightforward when the entity-disambiguation analysis, the unincorporated-association-vs-corporation determination, and the antitrust-framework awareness at the pre-dispatch stage produce a clean result. The pitfalls below are the common departures from the clean path, and the procedural cost of each pitfall is material: a rejected-service return, a remediation cycle, a Rule 12(b)(6) or 12(b)(5) motion target, or in matters approaching a statute-of-limitations deadline, a timeliness consequence on the underlying filing.

Pitfall 1: Captioning MLB as a Corporation

The most common pitfall in MLB service is captioning Major League Baseball as “a corporation” or routing service through corporation-service mechanics under CPLR § 311(a)(1). Major League Baseball is an unincorporated association, not a corporation; the New York Department of State has no parent-corporation filing for the umbrella organization, and the only NY DOS record reflecting the “Major League Baseball” designation is a 2002 DBA filing. Service routed through CPLR § 311(a)(1) corporation mechanics on a registered-agent designation that does not exist for the umbrella entity produces a rejected-service return and a Rule 12(b)(5) motion target. The corrected service path routes under CPLR § 311(a)(2) for state-court matters or FRCP 4(h)(1)(B) for federal-court matters, on an officer or general agent of the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball at 245 Park Avenue.

Pitfall 2: Routing All MLB Service to 245 Park Avenue

The 245 Park Avenue address is the canonical service venue for the umbrella organization and for league-level subsidiaries that maintain their registered office at that address (potentially MLB Network LLC and MLB International, subject to per-entity verification). It is not the universal MLB service address. Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. and MLB Advanced Media, L.P. (primary) both designate Corporation Service Company at 80 State Street, Albany NY as their registered agent — service to those entities at 245 Park Avenue does not satisfy the statutory service requirement. The 2021 MLB Advanced Media L.P. operates from 1001 Pattison Avenue, Philadelphia, PA — service to that entity at 245 Park Avenue New York does not reach the operational entity at all. The Major League Baseball Youth Foundation operates from 901 East Artesia Boulevard, Compton CA. The thirty member clubs operate from their respective venue-state corporate addresses. Pre-dispatch entity-specific verification prevents the all-roads-lead-to-Park-Avenue captioning error.

Pitfall 3: Confusing MLB with MLBPA

The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) is the certified collective-bargaining representative of major league baseball players under Section 9(b) of the National Labor Relations Act — an independent labor union under federal labor law, not a subsidiary of the league it negotiates against. MLBPA operates from 12 East 49th Street, Floor 24, New York NY 10017. Matters arising from collective-bargaining matters, player grievances, union-administration disputes, or any conduct by the MLBPA route to MLBPA directly under labor-law service mechanics, not through the umbrella Major League Baseball organization. A complaint captioned to “Major League Baseball” alleging conduct that arises from MLBPA’s bargaining position or union-administration practices names the wrong entity; the corrected caption names MLBPA directly. The 2021 source article for this page treated MLBPA as an MLB subsidiary — that classification was incorrect and is corrected in the present routing matrix.

Pitfall 4: Filing Trademark or IP Claims Against the Parent League

Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. (NY DOS Filing 204487) is the operating entity for MLB licensing, trademark enforcement, and intellectual-property litigation. Matters arising from MLB trademark licensing, merchandise distribution, league-mark enforcement, or related IP-litigation contexts name MLB Properties, Inc. as the operative defendant — not the umbrella Major League Baseball organization. A complaint captioned to “Major League Baseball” alleging trademark or licensing conduct that arises specifically from MLB Properties operations may face a Rule 12(b)(6) motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim against the proper party. The corrected caption identifies MLB Properties, Inc. and routes service to Corporation Service Company at 80 State Street, Albany NY 12207.

Pitfall 5: Filing Digital Media Claims Against the Parent League

MLB Advanced Media, L.P. (primary, NY DOS Filing 2613104) is the operating entity for MLB digital media operations — the MLB.tv streaming platform, the At Bat mobile application, the mlb.com web property, and the league’s broader digital-rights management. Matters arising from streaming-platform disputes, content-licensing matters, mobile-application claims, or web-property issues route to MLB Advanced Media, L.P. as the operative defendant. The 2021 Pennsylvania MLB Advanced Media L.P. (1001 Pattison Avenue, Philadelphia PA 19148) is a separately-established entity that may apply for venue-specific or post-BAMTech-reorganization matters. A complaint captioned to “Major League Baseball” alleging digital-media conduct misroutes the matter; the corrected caption identifies the appropriate MLB Advanced Media entity and routes service to the corresponding state-specific registered agent or service address.

Pitfall 6: Assuming All 30 Clubs Route Through the Same Structure

The thirty member clubs are independently-incorporated entities, each with its own state of organization, its own registered-agent designation, and its own service-of-process framework. The New York Yankees do not share a corporate identity with the Los Angeles Dodgers; the Boston Red Sox do not share a corporate identity with the Chicago Cubs. Each club operates under its own corporate filing in the state where its primary venue is located. Counsel preparing a matter against a specific club must verify that club’s corporate name, state of organization, and registered-agent designation against current state-filing records before dispatch. Pre-dispatch Accurint verification is mandatory for any specific club service event because club corporate structures evolve over time (franchise sales, partnership-to-LLC conversions, ownership-group transitions) and source documentation more than two or three years old may not reflect current structure.

Pitfall 7: Filing Antitrust Claims Without the Federal Baseball Framework

Antitrust claims against Major League Baseball that proceed without addressing the Federal Baseball Club v. National League / Flood v. Kuhn / Curt Flood Act framework face an immediate jurisdictional challenge. The 1922 antitrust exemption persists under stare decisis for non-player-employment matters; the Curt Flood Act of 1998 partially limits the exemption for player-employment matters but does not eliminate it for franchise-relocation, broadcast-rights, league-rule, or other operational contexts. Counsel preparing an antitrust claim against MLB must address the framework explicitly in the jurisdictional pleading and in the substantive theory of the claim, identifying whether the claim falls within the Curt Flood Act’s player-employment scope (Sherman Act review applies) or outside that scope (the Federal Baseball Club exemption continues to control). Failing to address the framework produces a motion-to-dismiss target on jurisdictional grounds before the case reaches the substantive merits.

Why Undisputed Legal — Pricing

Major League Baseball service is priced at Tier 2 rates, reflecting the multi-tier entity architecture (umbrella unincorporated association + league-level subsidiaries + thirty independently-incorporated member clubs), the multi-state coordination work required for matters that span more than one venue, and the entity-disambiguation analysis (umbrella vs. subsidiary vs. club; MLB vs. MLBPA; Federal Baseball framework adjacency) that MLB matters require. The pricing tiers below apply to single-event service on a captioned MLB entity at a confirmed service address; multi-entity tours, multi-state coordination, and unincorporated-association service against the umbrella organization are priced separately based on the specific operational requirements of the matter.

Pricing tiers — Routine: $100–$150 for first attempt within 3-7 business days; Rush: $200–$250 for first attempt within 24-48 hours; Same-Day: $250–$300 for first attempt within hours of dispatch authorization; Stake-Out: $325–$425 for extended observation at the registered-agent location, with stake-out overage billed at an hourly rate of $100–$150 beyond the initial coverage window, for evasive-subject or timing-sensitive matters; Skip Trace: $75 for current-address verification when prior service attempts have failed or when the registered-agent designation has changed.

Stake-out service is rare in Major League Baseball matters because the umbrella organization’s 245 Park Avenue corporate address and the league-level subsidiaries’ Corporation Service Company Albany registered-agent address operate during predictable business hours and accept process during those hours under standard practice. Stake-out service is reserved for the unusual matter where pre-dispatch reconnaissance has produced a delivery-timing question, or where a member-club service event requires extended observation at a venue-specific address.

Undisputed Legal operates under New York City Department of Consumer and Worker Protection License #1420758-DCA. GPS-verified affidavit returns are the evidence-grade documentation standard for each Undisputed Legal service event, supporting the affidavit return against any subsequent Rule 12(b)(5) motion to quash or motion challenging the sufficiency of service. The Undisputed Legal process-service network covers all 50 states and 120+ countries, with affiliated process servers in each U.S. metropolitan area and international service coordination through Hague Service Convention member-state central authorities and through the alternative service paths permitted under FRCP 4(f)(3) for non-Convention countries. MLB-specific compliance: pre-dispatch entity verification across the multi-tier MLB architecture and per-club Accurint verification for member-club matters are part of standard engagement scoping for MLB service, with the verification record preserved as part of the affidavit-of-service file.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Major League Baseball a corporation or an unincorporated association?

Major League Baseball is an unincorporated association of thirty member clubs under the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, not a corporation. The New York Department of State has no parent-corporation filing for the umbrella organization; the only NY DOS record reflecting the “Major League Baseball” designation is a doing-business-as filing dated April 2, 2002. The procedural consequence is that service of process on the umbrella entity routes through the unincorporated-association service path under FRCP 4(h)(1)(B) (federal court) and CPLR § 311(a)(2) (New York state court), not through a registered-agent designation that does not exist for the umbrella entity. The separately-incorporated league-level subsidiaries (Major League Baseball Properties, Inc.; MLB Advanced Media, L.P.; MLB Network LLC; MLB International) and the thirty member clubs operate as separate corporate entities with their own state-of-organization filings.

Where is the canonical service address for Major League Baseball?

The canonical service address for the umbrella Major League Baseball organization is the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball at 245 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10167. Service is delivered to an officer of the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball — the Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner, General Counsel, or other officer serving in a comparable management role — at that address. The 245 Park Avenue building also houses several league-level subsidiaries (potentially MLB Network LLC on Floor 31 and MLB International on Floor 30, subject to per-entity verification), but matters against those subsidiaries route to the specific subsidiary’s registered-agent designation, which is not necessarily the same as the umbrella organization’s Park Avenue service address.

Why is the MLB Players Association (MLBPA) not an MLB subsidiary?

The MLB Players Association is the certified collective-bargaining representative of major league baseball players under Section 9(b) of the National Labor Relations Act. As a labor union, MLBPA is an independent legal entity organized under federal labor law for the purpose of representing player interests in collective bargaining with the league. MLBPA negotiates against the league it represents members within; it is not a subsidiary, division, or affiliate of Major League Baseball. The 2021 source article for this page included MLBPA in a “Subsidiaries of MLB” section — that classification was incorrect and is corrected here. Matters arising from MLBPA’s union-administration activities, collective-bargaining positions, or player-grievance procedures route to MLBPA directly at 12 East 49th Street, Floor 24, New York NY 10017, not through the umbrella Major League Baseball organization.

What is the difference between Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. and the parent league?

Major League Baseball Properties, Inc. is a separately-incorporated New York domestic corporation established in 1966 to handle the league’s licensing, trademark, and intellectual-property functions. It is recorded with the New York Department of State under Filing 204487, with Corporation Service Company designated as the registered agent at 80 State Street, Albany NY 12207. The parent umbrella organization (Major League Baseball as the unincorporated association of thirty clubs) is a structurally distinct legal person from MLB Properties, Inc. Matters arising from licensing, trademark enforcement, or intellectual-property contexts name MLB Properties, Inc. as the operative defendant and route to its Albany registered agent — not to the umbrella organization at 245 Park Avenue.

How does the MLB antitrust exemption affect filing strategy?

The antitrust exemption established by Federal Baseball Club v. National League, 259 U.S. 200 (1922), reaffirmed by Flood v. Kuhn, 407 U.S. 258 (1972), and partially limited by the Curt Flood Act of 1998 (Pub. L. 105-297, codified at 15 U.S.C. § 26b), affects MLB filing strategy in three ways. First, antitrust claims against MLB league-level conduct outside the player-employment context proceed under the Federal Baseball Club exemption, which insulates the conduct from standard Sherman Act review. Second, antitrust claims arising from major-league player-employment matters proceed under the Curt Flood Act with standard Sherman Act review applying. Third, claims framed as tortious-interference, breach-of-contract, or unfair-competition matters that arise from MLB league-level conduct may collide with the antitrust framework in ways that affect the substantive theory. Counsel addresses the framework explicitly in the jurisdictional pleading rather than allowing it to surface as a motion-to-dismiss defense.

Why does MLB Advanced Media have two L.P. entities (NY and PA)?

MLB Advanced Media operates through two distinct limited partnerships: the primary New York L.P. (Delaware-organized, foreign-qualified in New York under NY DOS Filing 2613104, established March 7, 2001, registered agent CSC at 80 State Street, Albany NY) and a Pennsylvania L.P. established April 16, 2021 at 1001 Pattison Avenue, Philadelphia PA 19148. The primary New York entity operates the league’s core digital-media functions (MLB.tv, At Bat, mlb.com); the 2021 Pennsylvania entity’s operational scope is venue-specific or relates to the post-BAMTech-reorganization restructuring that followed the August 2017 sale of BAMTech to The Walt Disney Company. The two entities have distinct TINs (13-4138912 for NY, 13-4138913 for PA) and distinct LexIDs. Counsel preparing a digital-media MLB matter verifies which entity is the operative defendant before finalizing the caption and the service path.

How does service work for matters arising at specific MLB clubs (Yankees, Dodgers, etc.)?

Each of the thirty member clubs is an independently-incorporated legal entity under the corporate framework of its primary venue state. The New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, and other clubs each operate their own corporate filings, their own registered-agent designations, and their own service-of-process frameworks. Matters arising from a specific club’s conduct — a player-management dispute at the Yankees, a stadium-operations matter at Dodger Stadium, a ticket-distribution matter at Wrigley Field — name the specific club’s corporate entity as the operative defendant and route service to that club’s state-specific registered-agent designation. Pre-dispatch Accurint verification of the current club corporate name and registered-agent designation is mandatory because club corporate structures evolve over time through franchise sales, partnership-to-LLC conversions, and ownership-group transitions.

How long does service on Major League Baseball take through Undisputed Legal?

Standard service on Major League Baseball at the 245 Park Avenue umbrella address proceeds within 3-7 business days under the routine pricing tier, 24-48 hours under the rush tier, or same-day under the same-day tier. Service on the league-level subsidiaries (MLB Properties, Inc. and MLB Advanced Media, L.P. primary) at Corporation Service Company in Albany follows the same per-tier intervals, adjusted for the upstate-New-York dispatch coordination. Service on the 2021 Pennsylvania MLB Advanced Media L.P. at 1001 Pattison Avenue, Philadelphia adds the Philadelphia-area dispatch coordination interval. Service on member clubs in their respective venue states proceeds through Undisputed Legal’s affiliated process-service network in each venue state at the venue-specific per-tier interval. Multi-state coordination — service on multiple member clubs for a class-action or league-wide matter — is scoped at the engagement confirmation stage and proceeds on a coordinated dispatch schedule across the affected venues.

For Authoritative Service on Major League Baseball

Undisputed Legal is the gatekeeper of litigation between counsel and the Major League Baseball entity family. Pre-dispatch entity verification across the multi-tier MLB architecture (umbrella unincorporated association + league-level subsidiaries + thirty independently-incorporated member clubs), unincorporated-association service mechanics for the umbrella organization at 245 Park Avenue, corporation-service mechanics for the separately-incorporated league-level subsidiaries (MLB Properties, Inc. at NY DOS Filing 204487; MLB Advanced Media, L.P. primary at NY DOS Filing 2613104; the 2021 Pennsylvania MLB Advanced Media L.P. at 1001 Pattison Avenue Philadelphia), and per-club state-specific service mechanics for matters arising at any of the thirty member-club venues — paired with the antitrust-framework awareness that Federal Baseball Club v. National League, Flood v. Kuhn, and the Curt Flood Act of 1998 require — produce CM/ECF-ready returns of service for league-wide matters, subsidiary-specific matters, and club-specific matters venued in any federal district or state-of-organization jurisdiction.

Each MLB entity is served at the address designated by its controlling state-of-organization filing or, for the umbrella unincorporated association, at the principal place of business of the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball at 245 Park Avenue. The MLB Players Association is an independent labor union and is not part of this article’s routing matrix; matters against MLBPA route to MLBPA directly. The thirty member clubs operate as independently-incorporated entities, each with its own state-specific service framework. The antitrust exemption framework affects captioning and pleading at every tier; the service path itself is unaffected by the antitrust posture but is informed by the captioning decision the antitrust analysis drives. Captioning is operational; the entity named in the caption is the entity that must be served, at the address designated by that entity in the venue where the matter is filed.

To order service on Major League Baseball, the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball, any league-level subsidiary, or any member club, call (800) 774-6922 or use the secure order form below.

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