TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Baseball's lawyers failed to persuade a judge Tuesday to temporarily block a subpoena from Florida's attorney general, who wants information on the sport's plans to drop two teams.

The commissioner's office, the Florida Marlins and Tampa Bay Devil Rays have a Thursday deadline to turn over documents to Attorney General Bob Butterworth regarding contraction and whether it may involve either team.

Baseball commissioner Bud Selig and the teams had asked U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle to put a temporary hold on Butterworth's subpoenas demanding information, but he refused.

"We want the documents," said Trish Conners, a lawyer in the attorney general's office. "They are keeping us in the dark about something that has tremendous economic impact in Florida."

Hinkle scheduled a Dec. 18 hearing on the broader issue of whether the state can look into baseball's plans or whether it is exempt from Florida's antitrust laws -- and therefore immune to Butterworth's inquiry.

Bob DuPuy, baseball's chief legal officer, maintained that the judge's decision meant baseball was not required to turn over any documents before next week's hearing.

"We're not required to turn anything over and we're not going to give them anything," DuPuy said in New York.

In court, Selig's attorneys cited the 1922 U.S. Supreme Court decision creating baseball's antitrust exemption.

"Baseball is protected, exempted and immunized from the application of Florida's antitrust laws," argued baseball lawyer Mary K. Braza. "We should have the right to be left alone without threats and the investigations into antitrust laws of Florida or any other state."

Lawyers for Butterworth said they'd go to a state judge to compel compliance if the commissioner's office and teams don't turn over documents by Thursday.

The subpoenas, issued by Butterworth last month, require baseball, the Marlins and Devil Rays to turn over all studies, research and reports relating to contraction and any documents on a Nov. 6 meeting where owners voted to eliminate two teams. The Montreal Expos and Minnesota Twins are the most likely candidates.

In a 1994 decision involving Butterworth, the state Supreme Court struck down baseball's antitrust exemption in Florida as it pertained to franchise relocation. That suit followed the 1992 decision by baseball to block the San Francisco Giants' proposed move to St. Petersburg.

"The attorney general is just seeking to obtain information, to determine if there has been a violation or whether there is going to be a violation of the law," said attorney John Newton, arguing the case for Butterworth.

Newton said if Hinkle ruled for baseball, he would be blocking the state's top law enforcement official from enforcing Florida law.

"That is sufficient injury to the citizens of Florida," Newton said.

Lawyers for baseball argue that if states could sidestep the immunity the sport has enjoyed since 1922, it would be subjected to lawsuits anytime it made a decision. Pete Antonacci, a lawyer for the Marlins and Devil Rays, said Butterworth's investigation amounted to harassment.

Minnesota's Supreme Court upheld the antitrust exemption in 1999, blocking an investigation by its attorney general. A federal judge in Philadelphia ruled in 1993 that the exemption couldn't be used by baseball to defend a lawsuit by Mike Piazza's father.