Every high priced athlete in professional sports should thank a Black man by the name of Curt Flood...

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Every high priced athlete in professional sports should thank a Black man by the name of Curt Flood every time they put their signature to a seven figure contract that it is impossible for the every day, “Joe” to even imagine earning. When you read about the enormous amounts of money that baseball players like Alex Rodriguez, C.C. Sabathia and Mark Texeira make, all you can do is shake your head and day-dream. Believe it or not, this was not always the case in professional sports. When basketball’s George Mikan retired from the then Minneapolis Lakers for the first time in 1954 at the age of 29, it was more lucrative for the 6 foot 10 center to pursue his career in medicine as a doctor. Nowadays, when you have a Johan Santana making over 20 million dollars per year, there is not as regular job out there that can replace the salary of a professional athlete.

Ironically, most of todays sports millionaires don’t even know who Curt Flood was. Curt Flood was a great defensive centerfielder who played 13 of his 15 major league baseball seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals. After making his major league debut in 1956 with the Cincinnati Reds at the age of 18, Flood was a two time World Champion and he played in three World Series. Flood was also a seven time Golden Glove winner, a three time All-Star and he led the National League in hits with 211 in 1964. While in his prime, Flood was considered the premiere defensive centerfielder of his era. Flood also played with such great players as pitcher Bob Gibson and outfielder, Lou Brock. Not quite what you would consider a Hall of Fame career but a very good player. However, it is not what Flood did on the playing field that gave his career the historical importance it has in not only Black history but also baseball history. In 1969, Flood challenged baseball’s “Reserve Clause.” The Reserve Clause was a 90 year old rule that bound a player to his team for life unless that team traded him. In the three major sports (football, baseball & basketball), players signed one year contracts and hoped to play well enough for that particular team to keep him. A team could trade a player but that player was not allowed to make a move on his own.

After a not so stellar season in 1969, Flood was informed that he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies along with catcher Tim McCarver and two other players for a group of players that included slugging 1st baseman. Dick Allen. Flood contested the trade by challenging the “Reserve Clause” in Court. With the help of Baseball’s Players Union and their head, Marvin Miller; Flood took his fight all the way to the Supreme Court. They lost their case by a 5 to 3 decision. However; the seed was planted and between public opinion and the Supreme Court’s less than fair reasons for their decision, binding players to a team for life was soon ruled to be Unconstitutional, thus creating, “free agency.”

 Unfortunately, Flood was not one of the players who capitalized from his fight. After sitting out the 1970 season to tend to his legal matters, Flood was not the same player when he played his last season with the Washington Senators in 1971. Once his playing days ended, baseball’s establishment shunned Flood. Allegedly, Flood partied at excess and up until close to his death was a poor and bitter man. When Curt Flood passed away from throat cancer in 1997, not one current major league player attended his funeral. And just think in 1969, the average baseball salary was 25 thousand dollars per year. As of today, the average salary is somewhere between 2 to 3 million.

There is a long standing argument about Curt Flood on whether or not he should be in the Hall of Fame. Even if he’s not voted on his prowess on the playing field, what he did for the player’s of todays game more than says enough about whether or not he should have a plaque. 

This story is filed under: Sports