Curt Flood
Curtis Charles Flood Sr. was an American professional baseball center fielder and activist. He played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Redlegs, St. Louis Cardinals, and Washington Senators.
Flood was a three-time All-Star, a Gold Glove winner for seven consecutive seasons, and batted over.300 in six seasons. He led the National League in hits in 1964 and in singles, 1963, 1964, and 1968. Flood also led the National League in putouts as center fielder four times and in fielding percentage as center fielder three times. He retired with the third most games in center field in NL history, trailing Willie Mays and Richie Ashburn.
Flood became one of the pivotal figures in the sport's labor history when he refused to accept a trade following the 1969 season, ultimately appealing his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. Although his legal challenge was unsuccessful, it brought about additional solidarity among players as they fought against baseball's reserve clause and sought free agency.
Early years
Born in Houston, Texas, and raised in Oakland, California, Flood played in the same outfield in West Oakland's McClymonds High School as Vada Pinson and Frank Robinson. All three would eventually sign professional contracts with the Cincinnati Reds. Flood transferred to Oakland Technical High School, from which he graduated.MLB career
Flood signed with the Cincinnati Redlegs in 1956 and made a handful of appearances for the team in 1956–57. However, Flood was deemed expendable with future star centerfielder Vada Pinson preparing to be promoted to the majors. He was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals in December 1957.For the next 12 seasons, he became a fixture in center field for St. Louis; although he struggled at the plate from 1958 to 1960, his defensive skill was apparent. He had his breakthrough year at the plate after Johnny Keane took over as manager in 1961: he batted.322, followed by.296 in 1962 with 11 home runs. He continued to improve offensively in 1963, hitting.302 and scoring a career-high 112 runs, third-most in the NL; he also had career bests in doubles, triples and stolen bases and collected 200 hits in an NL-leading 662 at bats. In that year he received the first of his seven consecutive Gold Gloves.
He earned his first All-Star selection in 1964. He batted.311. His 679 at-bats led the NL again and were the fifth-highest total in league history to that point, setting a team record by surpassing Taylor Douthit's 1930 total of 664; Lou Brock broke the team record three years later with 689. He tied for tops in hits with The Pittsburgh Pirates' Roberto Clemente with 211. Batting leadoff in the World Series against the New York Yankees, he hit only.200 but scored in three of the Cardinal victories as the team won in seven games for its first championship since 1946. In 1965, Flood had his greatest power output with 11 home runs and 83 runs batted in while he was hitting.310. He made the All-Star team again in 1966, a season in which he did not commit a single error in the outfield; his record errorless streak of 226 games and 568 total chances ran from September 3, 1965, to June 4, 1967.
In 1967, he had his highest batting mark with a.335 average, helping the Cardinals to another championship. In the World Series against the Boston Red Sox, he hit a woeful.179 but made some crucial contributions. In game 1, he advanced Brock to third base twice, putting him in position to score both runs in a 2–1 victory; in game 3, he drove Brock in with the first run of a 5–2 win. As team co-captain in 1968 he had perhaps his best year, earning his third All-Star selection and finishing fourth in the MVP balloting on the strength of a.301 batting average and 186 base hits. Against the San Francisco Giants that year, Flood was involved in the final outs of the first back-to-back no-hitters in major league history. On September 17, he struck out for the final out of Gaylord Perry's 1–0 gem. The next day, he caught Willie McCovey's fly ball for the final out of Ray Washburn's 2–0 no-hitter.
Torrential rains the night before had soaked the Busch Stadium field, and had he not momentarily lost his footing chasing a Jim Northrup fly ball with two out in the seventh inning of game 7 of the World Series against the Detroit Tigers, the Cardinals might have won their third championship of the decade; Detroit scored twice on the play, with Northrup later coming in for a 3–0 lead, and won the game, 4–1. Up to that point, Flood had been enjoying the best series of his career despite dealing with personal problems at home, hitting.286 with three steals.
After the season ended, Flood was upset when Cardinals' president Gussie Busch, and CEO of team owner Anheuser-Busch, offered him only a $5,000 raise, far short of the $90,000 salary he believed he deserved after his stellar regular season. He believed Busch, with whom he had previously enjoyed a close personal friendship, was expressing his displeasure over the error that had likely cost the team the Series. While Busch eventually relented, Flood took it personally when Busch publicly chewed the team out after most players boycotted spring training before the 1969 season for a week, accusing players of forgetting that fans were what kept the sport going.
In 1969, despite the lower pitching mound instituted that season, which saw a general rise in batting average league-wide, Flood's batting average slipped to.285. His brother was arrested during the season. Late in the season, he publicly criticized the team for reorganizing before they were officially eliminated. He received his seventh Gold Glove that season just as other events in his career began to affect the entire sport. Flood collected the first hit in a major league regular-season game in Canada. He doubled off Montreal Expos pitcher Larry Jaster in the first inning of the Expos' inaugural home game on April 14 at Jarry Park.
Challenging the reserve clause
Despite his outstanding playing career, Flood's principal legacy developed off the field. He believed that Major League Baseball's decades-old reserve clause was unfair in that it kept players beholden for life to the team with which they originally signed, even when they had satisfied the terms and conditions of those contracts.Flood's challenge was not the first legal attack on the reserve clause. In 1914, first baseman Hal Chase successfully challenged the clause in American League Baseball Club of Chicago v. Chase, with a New York court ruling that organized baseball operated as an illegal monopoly violating common law labor rights. However, Chase's victory occurred in an era without a players' union, and baseball's establishment responded through informal blacklisting rather than systemic change. Flood's challenge, supported by the Major League Baseball Players Association, would prove far more consequential.
On October 7, 1969, the Cardinals traded Flood, Tim McCarver, Byron Browne, and Joe Hoerner to the Philadelphia Phillies for Dick Allen, Cookie Rojas, and Jerry Johnson. Flood refused to report to the moribund Phillies, citing the team's poor record and dilapidated Connie Mack Stadium, and for what he alleged were belligerent—and racist—fans. Flood said, "That I didn't think that I was going to report to Philadelphia, mainly because I didn't want to pick up twelve years of my life and move to another city." Some reports say he was also irritated that he had learned of the trade from a reporter; but Flood wrote in his autobiography that he was told by midlevel Cardinals management and was angry that the call did not come from the general manager, further alienating him from Busch. He met with Phillies' general manager John Quinn, who left the meeting believing that he had persuaded Flood to report to the team. Flood stood to forfeit a lucrative $100,000 contract if he did not report; but after a meeting with players' union head Marvin Miller, who informed him that the union was prepared to fund a lawsuit, he decided to pursue his legal options.
In a letter to Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, Flood demanded that the commissioner declare him a free agent:
Flood was influenced by the events of the 1960s that took place in the United States. According to Marvin Miller, Flood told the executive board of the players' union, "I think the change in black consciousness in recent years has made me more sensitive to injustice in every area of my life." However, he added that he was challenging the reserve clause primarily as a major league ballplayer.
''Flood v. Kuhn''
Commissioner Kuhn denied Flood's request for free agency, citing the propriety of the reserve clause and its inclusion in Flood's 1969 contract. On January 16, 1970, Flood filed a $1 million lawsuit against Kuhn and Major League Baseball, alleging violation of federal antitrust laws. Flood likened the reserve clause to slavery. Among those testifying on his behalf were former players Jackie Robinson and Hank Greenberg, and former owner Bill Veeck. Although players' union representatives had voted unanimously to support Flood, rank-and-file players were divided, with many players believing that eliminating the reserve clause would hurt the game. Notably, Carl Yastrzemski stated that: "Personally, I am against what Curt Flood is trying to do because it would ruin the game."Notable players who openly supported Flood included Dick Allen and former teammate Lou Brock. Several bench players supported Flood as well, including pitcher Pete Richert who stated, "As far as I'm concerned, I think Curt Flood deserves a lot of praise. He has guts. I don't know if I could give up a good salary for a principle. I'm behind him." Additionally, former Dodgers star pitcher Sandy Koufax, who staged a highly-publicized joint holdout with teammate Don Drysdale before the 1966 season, praised Flood: "I have to give Curt the greatest amount of credit for believing in what he's doing. At the salary he's making, that's the kind of money which he's never going to get back."
Flood v. Kuhn was argued before the Supreme Court on March 20, 1972. Flood's attorney, former Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg, asserted that the reserve clause depressed wages and limited players to one team for life. Major League Baseball's counsel, Louis Hoynes, countered that if Flood won his case, "it would be a shambles." On June 19, 1972, the Supreme Court, invoking the principle of stare decisis, ruled 5–3 in favor of Major League Baseball, citing as precedent a 1922 ruling in Federal Baseball Club v. National League. Justice Lewis Powell recused himself owing to his ownership of stock in Anheuser-Busch, which owned the Cardinals.