I have received a contract from the Philadelphia club, but I believe I have the right to consider offers from other clubs before making any decisions. It is my desire to play baseball in 1970, and I am capable of playing. I believe that any system which produces that result violates my basic rights as a citizen and is inconsistent with the laws of the United States and of the several States. Flood, whose mind was as creative as his body was athletically talented, saw a different path.Īnd so the 31-year-old divorced father of five, who grew up in the major leagues as Jim Crow laws still ruled the land, tapped out 134 words to Commissioner Bowie Kuhn:Īfter 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. Since the money was OK and the fame sometimes better, players accepted that lot – hey, getting paid to play a game, right? – and largely kept their mouths shut. Major League Baseball’s Reserve Clause bound player to club for as long as owner saw fit to employ him, able to trade or release him on a whim, allowing no freedom of movement. Louis Cardinals traded Flood to the Philadelphia Phillies, a transaction the seven-time Gold Glover and 12-year major league veteran had no choice but accept.
It was Christmas Eve 1969, 10 weeks after the St. When Curt Flood penned the missive that would alter baseball – and all of sports – forever, he was alone in a Copenhagen hotel room, soon to be estranged from his children, fully aware he was on the verge of immolating his lucrative career. Watch Video: Marvin Miller finally elected to Baseball Hall of Fame
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