The fight Flood started didn’t end, though. He then sensed it was time for him to leave the game, admitting what others warned him about, “You can’t buck the establishment,” he said. Supreme Court.įlood was later shipped to the Washington Senators, with whom the seven-time Gold Glove Award winner played for in just 13 games in 1971. But Flood’s appeal and fight quickly went all the way to the U.S. He also suffered personal and financial hardships along the way that reportedly led to his alcoholism and the splitting of his family.įlood and the players union had banded together to file a lawsuit against major league baseball that was first dismissed. (Oakland Tribune file photo)įlood’s battle against baseball’s reserve clause, which tied a player to the team drafting him throughout his career unless a team decided to trade or release him, essentially cost him his baseball career. Curt Flood, in 1971, when the Supreme Court agreed to hear his suit against professional baseball. While Flood’s protest helped start the cause that still benefits players today, it came at quite a cost for the former Oakland high school legend. Flood, who had just been dealt by the Cardinals to the Phillies after the 1969 season, became a pioneer by refusing to report to Philadelphia and demanding the commissioner make him a free agent. It was Flood and his two-paragraph letter to commissioner Bowie Kuhn a little more than 50 years ago that started baseball’s age of free agency. Curt Flood left an indelible mark on the game of baseball, just as those who saw him play in Oakland when he was a youngster always believed he would.īut instead of being remembered as a three-time All-Star, two-time world champion and arguably the game’s best defensive center fielder during his 15-year career, Flood’s name is synonymous with something else.
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