Flood, Curtis C.
Baseball
b. Jan. 18, 1938, Houston, TX
d. Jan. 20, 1997
Curt Flood was a very good defensive outfielder who batted over .300 six times in twelve full seasons in the major leagues, led the NL with 211 hits in 1964, played for three pennant-winning teams, and was selected to the All-Star team three times. But he's best known for his unsuccessful suit against baseball's reserve clause, which bound a player to his team even after his contract ran out.
Flood played in a total of 8 games with the NL's Cincinnati Reds in 1956 and 1957 and then was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals, where he became a starter in 1958. He was with the Cardinals through 1969. When he was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1970, Flood refused to report and filed suit, with the backing of the Major League Players' Association.
The suit charged major league baseball with violating antitrust laws and suggested that the perpetual reserve clause forced players into "involuntary servitude," a violation of the thirteenth amendment to the Constitution, which forbade slavery.
A federal court judge ruled against Flood on August 12, 1970, and the Supreme Court upheld the ruling in a 5-3 decision on June 18, 1972. In the meantime, Flood had spent a year out of baseball and retired permanently after playing just 13 games for the AL's Washington Senators in 1971.
Although Flood's suit was unsuccessful, the publicity surrounding led to a threat of legislative action that helped force team owners to accept outside arbitration of grievances. That ultimately led to the decision by arbitrator Peter Seitz in 1975 that the reserve clause is not binding.
In Flood's 15 major league seasons, he batted .293 with 1,861 hits, including 271 doubles, 44 triples, and 85 home runs. He scored 851 runs and had 636 RBI.