![]() He was out of baseball after that and died 14 years ago at the age of 59. ![]() The case eventually reached the Supreme Court, which ruled in baseball’s favor, as Miller predicted.įlood, by then 33, and with a year out of the game, was traded to the hapless Washington Senators for the 1971 season. Marvin Miller, the head of the fledgling baseball players union, told Flood he would fail.īut Flood told Miller that he was fighting for other players and their futures and was content with whatever outcome occurred. However, in the sports world of 1970, Curt Flood became a pariah. In today’s sporting environment where contract holdouts are commonplace and players routinely take control of their situation, Flood would be seen as merely doing business. In a letter to then baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn, Flood wrote quote After 12 years in the Major Leagues, I do not feel that I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes unquote. He refused the trade and sued Major League Baseball for the right of free movement. That is except for Flood, who, at 31, and nearing the back nine of his career, had had enough. Free agency was, for all intents and purposes, a myth, and players largely went along with the mythology. Under what was called the reserve clause, baseball owners essentially had the power to control the movement of players in perpetuity. Louis, a team that had won 87 games to Philadelphia, who lost 99. 285 and collected that seventh Gold Glove, Flood was traded from St. He became an essential part of Cardinal teams that won three National League pennants and two World Series.įollowing the 1969 season, where he hit. In Flood’s case, hits, runs and average don’t even begin to measure heart and courage, commodities that don’t show up in box scores.Īnd because those intangibles don’t fit on a trading card, Curt Flood was passed over last week for entrance in the Baseball Hall of Fame by a committee of Hall of Famers, executives and media members.įlood’s career began in Cincinnati, but he was dealt to St. And in those seasons, Flood played a marvelous center field, earning a Gold Glove, presented for defensive excellence, seven straight times.īut numbers alone don’t tell the complete story. 293, which, while exceptional, is not superlative.įlood played for 15 seasons, more than twice the length of an average career. ![]() Curt Flood amassed 1,861 hits and had just 85 home runs for his career. Watch: Atlantic writers will bring the "Inheritance" project to life on February 18 Flood's reasoning was logical: He was extraordinarily good at his job, and he deserved to have a say in his career.Baseball, more than any other sport, is a game of numbers and there are certain numbers that make players more special than others. It also became the foundation on which generational wealth for Black athletes was built. His fight for worth and choice was hugely controversial at the time. Flood, however, was unwilling to accept financial success in exchange for his silence. ![]() All that was needed to tame a revolution was to give enslaved people just enough occasional privileges. He was creating an important narrative: If Black athletes were distracted by sports, then fighting for equal treatment, liberation from bondage, dignity, and respect would become less of a priority. Douglass was keenly aware that if enslaved people were rewarded with "holidays" to play ball, wrestle, and run, they would be discouraged from rebelling against their inhumane conditions. Frederick Douglass wrote in his autobiography, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, that enslavers often used sports to manipulate enslaved people. Flood wasted no time in registering his objection with MLB's commissioner, Bowie Kuhn, writing, "I do not feel that I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes." As uncomfortable as Flood's allusion to slavery may have made some people feel, the comparison was apt. ![]() Louis Cardinals, balked when he learned that he'd been traded to Philly. So it was no wonder that Curt Flood, a superstar center fielder for the St. The team's fan base also had a reputation for being hostile and racist. The year was 1969, and not only were the Phillies next-level terrible, but they had signed their first African American player only 12 years ago, in 1957. Link Copied One of the most consequential episodes in the history of American sports began with an All-Star Major Leaguer's simple wish to avoid the Philadelphia Phillies. ![]()
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