Curt flood made agency pro professional#
Curt flood made agency pro series#
Curt flood made agency pro free#

Therefore, owners could retain players’ rights for their entire Major League career.įlood demanded that MLB Commissioner Bowie Kuhn declare him a free agent. The reserve clause, first adopted by the National League in 1879, contractually bound players to their teams once they signed and restricted them from signing with another team. Flood then fought baseball’s reserve clause in the U.S. But he refused to accept the trade to the Phillies.

Curt flood made agency pro series#

Playing for the Cardinals with all-time greats, pitcher Bob Gibson and left fielder Lou Brock, Flood was a two-time World Series champion, winning in 19. The following year the Cardinals made the World Series again, losing in seven games to the Detroit Tigers.Īfter the 1969 season ended, Flood was included in a blockbuster trade between the Cardinals and the Philadelphia Phillies, ending his 12 years with the Cardinals. The center fielder was a three-time all-star (1964, 1966, 1968), seven-time Gold Glove Award winner (1963–1969), had a lifetime batting average of 293, collected 1,861 hits, 85 home runs and 636 RBI. Louis Cardinals (1958-69) and the Philadelphia Phillies (1971). During that period, he played for the Cincinnati Reds (1956-57), the St.

Flood’s career spanned from 1956 to 1971. His contributions on the field were also impressive. He is responsible for Major League Baseball’s free-agency system that has resulted in players earning exorbitant contracts and having the right to change teams. 8.įlood is one of the most important pioneers in sports history.

But he won’t be among the inductees of the 2020 class, which includes Derek Jeter, when they are honored in Cooperstown, New York, on Sept. Black Financial Health Open dropdown menuĬurt Flood deserves induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.Baseball owes Curt Flood a place in its Hall of Fame.

Curt flood made agency pro professional#

Ironically, Marvin Miller, who beat baseball continually as union chief, was eventually enshrined in Cooperstown, while Curt Flood, who made Miller’s success possible, was not.Įvery American professional athlete owes Curt Flood a debt of gratitude. 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. Baseball, more than any other sport, is a game of numbers and there are certain numbers that make players more special than others.