Memories of Baseball’s Unsung Hero —
Curt Flood
by Harry Lockhart

    With Major League Baseball’s All-Star game played in St. Louis this past July, it reminds me of the life of Curt Flood. Today’s MLB players, making the money they enjoy, can thank Flood for being the first player to seek the legal changes that resulted in those lucrative contracts.
    Born in Texas and raised in California, Flood played on the same high school field as Frank Robinson, now in the baseball Hall of Fame, and Cincinnati Red great Vada Pinson. 
    In St. Louis, Flood won seven consecutive Gold Glove awards in the 1960s. Offensively, he lead the National League in hits in 1964, and was consistently among the leaders in other categories. In 1969, Sports Illustrated magazine called him “…the best centerfielder in the game.”
     Yet, the life of a black baseball player wasn’t good. While Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947, baseball society was still white. Flood, in his book The Way It Is, recalled one time, while playing in a doubleheader in the minor leagues, the players were told to throw their dirty uniforms on the clubhouse floor so they could be taken to the washer.  In Flood’s case, a trainer used a stick to pick up Flood’s uniform.  That was embarrassing, especially since his white teammates were watching.
     In the major leagues, white players stayed at luxury hotels; blacks were in “colored” neighborhood homes.
     His career started to turn sour when he misjudged a fly ball in the 1968 World Series.  It lead to Detroit winning the game, and the Tigers eventually won the series. After the season, Flood tried to negotiate a new contract. He wanted $90,000; St. Louis was willing to pay $77,500.  Flood sat out part of the next season, and then St. Louis traded him to Philadelphia.
    Flood had numerous ties, including personal, to St. Louis, and refused to go.  Instead, he sued MLB over the reserve clause, which allowed owners to control players rights, the so-called “slavery clause.”
    Flood took his case all the way to the U. S. Supreme Court in 1972, but lost. The setback was short-lived. Three years later, a parallel case came up, and the law changed to favor the players. The players won! A huge change — players now have much more say in their contracts. It has since resulted in players, including those in other sports leagues, to become multi-millionaires. 
     Flood eventually returned to baseball, broadcasting Oakland A’s games.  He died in 1997 from cancer, his funeral largely ignored by baseball players who benefited from his work.
     So, ironically at this year’s All-Star game, with the first black U. S, president throwing out the first pitch, with Jackie Robinson’s picture on the outfield fence, with the Old Courthouse, the site of the Dred Scott case in view…