Curt Flood was born this day in 1938. Curt Flood helped to change sports forever. Curt Flood was a star centerfielder for the St.Louis Cardinals. He was a three time All-Star. He was the best defensive centerfielder in the league and a lifetime .293 hitter. In October of 1969 he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. He refused to report to the Phillies. He believed that baseball’s reserve-cause which bound players to their teams for life was unfair. Players had no options. As long as the team they were on wanted them they had no negotiating power. Flood decided to use legal options. He would sue Major League Baseball.  Flood v. Kuhn would go all the way to the United States Supreme Court and they would rule in favor of Major League Baseball 5 to 3.

Flood sat out the 1970 season and made a brief comeback attempt in 1971 with the Washington Senators. Four years later baseball would finally get free-agency when an arbitrator ruled that pitchers Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally were free-agents after playing a season without signing a contract and were free to sign with anyone. Salaries would start to shoot up for the players. They now had options. Even though Flood had lost his cause he has to be viewed as a key figure in the history of baseball for having the guts to do what he did. His actions helped to bring free-agency to baseball. Every player since owes him a debt.

Curt Flood would lead a troubled life. No one in baseball was interested in hiring him as a coach because of what he had done in taking on the establishment. He would die in 1997 at the age of 59 after suffering throat cancer and then pneumonia.

Curt Flood should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame. He helped to bring a radical change to the game. He was a fine player but not quite Hall of Fame quality but for his actions off of the field he deserves inclusion into the Hall of Fame. The sad thing is I doubt many of the major league ballplayers of today have a clue as to who Curt Flood was or what he did. The large contracts they are signing, Curt Flood had a lot to do with.

A year or so ago HBO had a fine documentary on Flood’s life titled “The Curious Case of Curt Flood.” There was also a book about Flood by Brad Snyder called “A Well Paid Slave” which was a very good read.