You’ve probably heard the name Curt Flood, but do you know why he is important? He’s the guy who finally punched baseball in the mouth after decades of mistreatment. He didn’t win his fight against the MLB owners, but he made it possible for everyone else who came after him. Considering the coming baseball labor situation, his story is one you should know because it was integral to baseball free agency. It just so happened to start with a trade to the Phillies…
Monday, August 10 at 7:45p – Andrew Painter vs Hunter Dobbins (R)
Busch Stadium III – St. Louis, MO
Tuesday, August 11 at 7:45p – Cristopher Sanchez vs Andre Pallante (R)
Wednesday, August 12 at 2:15p – Zack Wheeler vs Kyle Leahy (R)
Curt Flood was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals when he was 19 years old. The following year would be his first real taste of the majors and he excelled. From 1958 to 1969, Curt Flood patrolled centerfield as an elite glove, steady .300 bat, and solid 4 WAR level contributor. He loved St. Louis and figured he would retire there. He even had side businesses including photography and portrait painting. It wasn’t just lip service, Flood was a member of the St. Louis community for 12 years.
Back then, there was no free agency. Each year a player negotiated their salary for the upcoming season with team management and that was that. Something called the Reserve Clause kept players with certain teams in perpetuity. Other than holding out, there was nothing a player could do. Holding out is exactly what Curt Flood did before the 1969 season. He wanted $90k for his services but the Cards were only offering a $5k raise over his 1968 salary of $72,500. Flood refused. Eventually, the sides agreed to the $90k, but Cardinals owner and Anheuser-Busch magnate Gussie Busch wasn’t too happy about it.
Shortly after the 1969 season ended, Flood received a call from the assistant to the Cardinals’ General Manager telling him he had been traded to the Phillies essentially for Dick Allen. That was it and Flood was angry. How the Reserve Clause worked was that players never, under any circumstances, had a choice about where they would play. Their contracts never ran out unless the team released them. If they were traded somewhere, there was nothing they could do about it. Flood did not just not want to go to Philadelphia, he did not want to go anywhere. He wanted to stay in St. Louis where his life was.
The MLB Player’s Union had been looking for a test case to try to end the Reserve Clause, but all the Players knew that such a challenge might result in them being blackballed from baseball and they did not want to take that chance. Flood had just been given the reason to volunteer.
It is important to know that baseball for no good reason has something called an antitrust exemption. I’ll write about this in detail another time, but essentially back in 1922 a Supreme Court case said that baseball was not interstate commerce and therefore MLB was not subject to the same laws that protect contract fairness in the rest of the country (this has since changed for the most part though the exemption still exists). Flood and the Players’ Union were out to challenge this exemption.
Flood started by writing to the Commissioner of Baseball, Bowie Kuhn, telling him that he was able and willing to play baseball in 1970 but wanted the right to choose where since he did not sign a contract with the Phillies, had no contract in place for the 1970 season other than the Reserve Clause, and had not agreed to be traded. Kuhn refused. The Union then started a two front war that included a federal lawsuit and arbitration with MLB. Flood took the case all the way to the Supreme Court…and lost.
Wait, if he lost, then why is it important? It’s not that he lost, it’s how he lost. The Supreme Court basically said that back in 1922, the decision the previous Court had made was dumb but they couldn’t change it. If they could, then Flood would have won easily and the Reserve Clause would be dead. The Court then gave a big elbow to the ribs of Congress saying that it was in their hands to get rid of baseball’s antitrust exemption and the Reserve Clause. Think of it like the Owners winning Game 1 of the World Series thanks to their best hitter, but that hitter was injured in the process and would no longer be available.
As for Flood, the Phillies would trade him to Washington after the season where he would play 13 games before retiring. The whole 1970 season he would receive death threats from fans and abuse wherever he went. The Supreme Court decision came down in 1972 but by then Flood was out of baseball. Thanks to what he did though, the Supreme Court’s decision that he would have won had there been no antitrust exemption was eventually used against baseball in 1975 when Andy Messersmith challenged the Reserve Clause in arbitration. Arbitrator Peter Seitz ruled that the Reserve Clause was not legal and free agency was the new law of baseball. The Players won the series.
Source: Lords of the Realm by John Halyer
Photo: Focus on Sport / Getty Images
Leave a Reply