Final Project — History 2100 — Fall 2014

1. Curt Flood vs.
MLB
Matthew Orso
US Labor History

2. Thesis:
• Based on the evidence provided, I conclude that the
actions of Curt Flood changed how Major League
Baseball handled Labor Negotiations.

3. Who is Curt Flood?
• Flood was born on January 18th 1938 in Houston,
Texas. He was the youngest of six children.
• He attended McClymonds High School in California, the
alma mater of MLB stars Vada Pinson and Frank
Robinson. Flood played Centerfield for McClymonds High
School.
• He signed with the Cincinnati Reds as an amateur free
agent in 1956.
• Flood made his Major League debut with the Reds on
September 9th 1956 vs. the Cardinals. He pinch ran for
catcher Smokey Burgess in the eighth inning.

4. Who is Curt Flood? (con.)
• On December 5th, 1957, Flood was traded to the St. Louis
Cardinals.
• Flood played with the Cardinals from 1958-1969. He hit .293
and averaged 154 hits per season over that span.
• Flood’s best season was 1964 when he hit .311 and led the
National League with 211 hits. He led the Cardinals to the
World Series, where they won in seven games vs. the
Yankees.
• Flood also led the Cardinals to the 1967 World Series title
vs. the Boston Red Sox.
• Flood was a three-time all-star and seven-time Gold Glove
award winner during his MLB career.

5. 1969: It Begins
• On October 7th, 1969, the Cardinals traded Flood, along with
three other players (including recently retired broadcaster Tim
McCarver) to the Philadelphia Phillies.
• Flood was displeased by this trade for a number of reasons.
(espn.com) He felt disrespected because he was informed of
the trade by a minor team executive.
• Philadelphia was considered on of the worst places for an
African American to play in baseball. (history.com) Flood had
been constantly berated in his past trips to Philadelphia as a
road player.

6. 1969: It Begins (con.)
• Flood met with Phillies’ General Manager John Quinn in
November 1969. At the time, Quinn and the Phillies
offered Flood a $100,000 contract, which equates to
more than $600,000 in 2014.
• Quinn had originally thought he convinced Flood to stay
with the Phillies. (New York Times)
• Flood decided to contact Marvin Miller, the head of
Major League Baseball’s player’s union, for council.
Miller said the union would fund a lawsuit should Flood
decide to file one.

7. 1969: It Begins (con.)
• On December 24th, 1969, Flood penned a letter to
Baseball Commissioner Bowie Kuhn.
• Flood asked to be exempted from Baseball Reserve
Clause, which allowed teams to trade players without the
consent of the player.

8. 1969: It Begins:
• Flood’s letter read in part:
• “After twelve years in the major leagues, I do not feel I
am a piece of property to be bought and sold
irrespective of my wishes. I believe that any system
which produces that violates my basic rights as a
citizen…. I have received a contract offer from the
Philadelphia club, but I believe I have the right to
consider offers from other clubs before making any
decision.”

9. 1969: It Begins (con.)
• Commissioner Kuhn rejected Flood’s request.
• Flood went before the Major League Baseball’s Players
Association, who gave a unanimous consent in support
of Flood’s lawsuit vs. Major League Baseball.

10. The Legal Battle
• In 1970, Flood filed an anti-trust lawsuit in lower court
to force Commissioner Kuhn into letting Flood choose his
team.
• Flood would not play during his lawsuit against Kuhn
and MLB. He forfeited his 1970 salary of $100,000.
• Flood was denied a preliminary injunction, which would’ve
forced immediately forced Kuhn to allow Flood a choice
of where to play.

11. The Legal Battle
• Judge Irving Ben Cooper of the Southern District of New
York stated in his refusal to allow a preliminary
injunction: "The game is on higher ground; it behooves
every one to keep it there.” (SABR)
• Cooper did allow a trial for Flood and his legal team.
• At the time, no active Major League Baseball Players
would testify, in fear they would be blackballed from
Baseball.

12. The Legal Battle
• Notable witnesses of behalf of Flood included Baseball
Hall of Famers Jackie Robinson and Hank Greenberg.
(history.com)
• Major League owner Bill Veeck also testified on behalf
of Flood. Veeck was one of the few executives in
Major League Baseball to advocate his support of Flood.

13. The Legal Battle
• Judge Cooper ruled in favor of Major League Baseball
saying in part:
• "the preponderance of credible proof does not favor
elimination of the reserve clause.”
• Flood appealed his case to the second circuit court.
The second circuit also ruled in favor of Major League
Baseball.
• Judge Leonard P. Moore, who was the judge in the
second circuit case, stated it was unlikely this case
would be picked up by the Supreme Court.

14. The Legal Battle
• Despite Judge Moore’s thinking, the Supreme Court
chose to hear the case.
• Arthur Goldberg, a former judge, represented Flood in
the Supreme Court case.
• Kuhn, who was once a litigator, was going to represent
himself in the case. However he later allowed lawyers
Louis Hoynes and Paul Porter to represent him.

15. The Legal Battle
• Oral Arguments took place in April 1972.
• Goldberg argued that baseball, along with all professional
sports, was a business and should treat their employees
as any other business would have to. (SABR)
• Major League Baseball counter argued by saying the
reversal clause was in the best interest of the baseball.
Getting rid of it would deteriorate baseball and go
against “the greater good” of the sport.

16. The Ruling
• The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Major League
Baseball by a 5-3 margin.
• One justice, Lewis Powell, recused himself from the case
because he owned stock in Anheuser Busch, which
owned the St. Louis Cardinals at the time.
• Despite the majority ruling in favor of Major League
Baseball, the court did state that Major League Baseball
was a business and should be treated as such.

17. Aftermath
• Flood did play one more season in Major League for
the Washington Senators in 1971.
• He batted .200 in 13 games for the 1971 Washington
Senators, who were led by Baseball Hall of Fame player
(now manager) Ted Williams.
• Despite Williams’ support for Flood as a player, Flood
decided to leave Major League Baseball. He never
played in another MLB game.

18. Aftermath
• After the Supreme Court ruling, Flood and Miller talked
to each other about the case. Below is an excerpt of
that conversation according to Miller:
• "I said to Curt -- unless some miracle takes place and
the Supreme Court reverses itself -- you're not going to
win. And Curt, to his everlasting credit, said, 'But would
it benefit all the other players and future players?' And I
said, 'Yes.' And he said, 'That's good enough for me,' “
–Marvin Miller

19. Aftermath
• Four years after the Supreme Court case, Major League
Baseball and the Players’ Association agreed to the 10/5
clause.
• The 10/5 clause allowed players who played in MLB for
10 years or for five years with one team to determine
if a team could trade them or not.
• The 10/5 clause, along with future lawsuits by Major
League players Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally, led
to the establishment of free agency. Players could now
chose what team to player for after the deration of their
first signed contracts. (SABR)

20. Aftermath
• Flood on his case during the late 1970’s:
• "As I told you before, recollecting all these things even
causes me anguish. And I even hate to do interviews
like this. Because I love baseball. Baseball has been
extremely kind to me, and it's unfortunate that there is
a part of baseball that hits me right in the kisser. The
part that will probably be remembered more than the 15
years that I played professional baseball. And that is too
bad."

21. Aftermath
• Flood on the future of baseball (stated in the late
1970’s)
• "I'm 54 years old now, Paul, and I'm retired. Baseball
allows you to retire. One of the great things that came
from the organization that was built to take this case to
the Supreme Court also gave us the world's greatest
pension fund. So out of that, even though monetarily
only (Andy) Messersmith and (Dave) McNally received
money, for the rest of our life, and for the rest of the
lives of a lot of men that missed free agency, the
pension fund that we put together can take care of
them."

22. Aftermath
• Flood became a portrait artist after his retirement from
Major League Baseball.
• He later became a broadcaster for the Oakland Athletics
during the 1978 season. Flood left broadcasting after
the 1978 season.
• Flood overcame battles with alcohol and was sober for
the later part of his life.

23. Aftermath
• Flood was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1996.
• He died from throat cancer on January 20th, 1997; just
two days after his 59th birthday.
• Flood played 15 years in Major League Baseball from
1956-1969, 1971. He retired as a career .293 hitter.
He had 1,861 hits, was a three-time all-star, seven-time
gold glove award winner and two-time World Series
champion.
• There are multiple petitions arguing for Flood to be
inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a
Labor Pioneer.

24. References
• http://www.baseball-almanac.com/law/Flood_v._Kuhn.shtml
• http://baseballhall.org/hall-of-fame/voting-rules-history
• http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/f/floodcu01.shtml
• http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/flood_curt.html
• http://www.hbo.com/sports/the-curious-case-of-curt-flood#/
sports/the-curious-case-of-curt-flood/synopsis/about.html

25. References
• http://hudlinentertainment.com/smf/index.php?topic=8377.0
• http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/curt-flood-challenges-mlb-reserve-
clause
• https://litigation-essentials.
lexisnexis.com/webcd/app?action=DocumentDisplay&crawli
d=1&doctype=cite&docid=9+Marq.+Sports+L.J.+391&srctype=smi&srci
d=3B15&key=481cefcd5291006566171400955c883f
• http://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/21/sports/curt-flood-is-dead-at-59-
outfielder-defied-baseball.html

26. References
• http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/23a120cb
• http://sabr.org/latest/40-years-supreme-court-ruled-against-curt-flood
• http://scholarship.law.umassd.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=10
24&context=umlr