St. Louis Cardinals: Remembering Curt Flood and his legacy

The baseball world often overlooks the great contributions to the game of one of its tragic tales, former St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Curt Flood.

Often times, the landscape of baseball is shifted dramatically by the heroic actions of one person who takes ridicule, persecution, and ends up outcast for his or her acts of “rebellion” toward the institution of the game. However, that person is typically lauded later in life, receiving proper notoriety and respect for the change inspired by their acts. Not so with former St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Curt Flood.

Flood was a tremendous ballplayer who decided to take a stand that would forever change the way the business of baseball was run. Yet, there won’t be teams all wearing his favorite #21 on a set day, no special day of remembrance celebrated across the game annually, or any such thing. Instead, Flood is seen in a much different light. On what would be his 80th birthday today, we’ll look at the man, what he did, and what happened thereafter, and let you as the reader choose how Curtis Charles Flood should be remembered.

St. Louis Cardinals career

Flood was originally signed by the Cincinnati Reds in such a way that there is no definite date, back in the days of scouting where a scout may turn in multiple signings on the same day to his club. Born in Houston, Texas, Flood graduated high school in Oakland, California.

The Reds quite feasibly got a good look at Flood as they scouted his outfield mates, future Hall of Famer Frank Robinson and future All-Star Vada Pinson. The Reds signed all three, but before he could impact the Reds at the major league level, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals, where he would make his on-field impact in the major leagues.

Flood was a star center fielder for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1958 to 1969. He was an elite defender, winning 7 Gold Gloves in the National League, with many of the era stating that only Willie Mays could hold a candle to Flood’s work in center field.

Flood would not be a fantasy baseball superstar, as he did not rack up big home run or stolen base numbers, but he was able to consistently show good contact ability and would tally his share of doubles. He never won a batting title, but he did lead the league in hits in 1964, clearing a .300 batting average 6 seasons of his career. Flood also received 3 All-Star nods.

In a dozen years with St. Louis, Flood hit .293/.343/.390 with 271 doubles, 44 triples, 84 home runs, and 88 stolen bases, posting a very respectable 6.4% walk rate vs. an 8.8% strikeout rate, nearly 1/1 for his career.

Flood’s “rebellion” and shunning

The beginning of all of the “issue” for Flood stemmed from an offseason trade in October of 1969 that would have sent Flood, Tim McCarver, and two other players to the Philadelphia Phillies for a package of three players headlined by Dick Allen.

Flood cited historical racism from fans, a poor stadium, and the poor status of the team as reasons that he did not want to report to the Phillies. He also reportedly heard of the trade from a member of lower status in Cardinals front office rather than the GM or owner, which also angered him, further inciting an already-divisive relationship Flood had with St. Louis Cardinals ownership at the time.

Flood met with players’ union head Marvin Miller (another whose import to the game is often underrepresented), and after discussing legal options, he chose to send a letter to the commissioner, Bowie Kuhn, requesting that he be declared a free agent rather than being forced by the reserve clause to report to the Phillies.

The civil rights movement of the 1960s had strongly influenced Flood, and he believed that all men should be free to seek their best situation in life, regardless of color, and he applied this to his career as a major league baseball player as well.

Kuhn denied Flood the ability to become a free agent, citing the reserve clause in his contract, which led to a lawsuit against Kuhn and MLB that reached the Supreme Court. The Court chose to not change precedence, set in the case of the Federal League, and ruled 5-3 against Flood, in spite of testimony from Jackie Robinson, Hank Greenberg, and Bill Veeck, among others.

Life after baseball

Flood did play one more partial season with the Washington Senators under manager Ted Williams, a significant proponent of Flood, but he struggled as his focus was not in the 1971 season as he was preparing for the Supreme Court case after sitting out all of the 1970 season. In his time away from the game, Flood sunk deep into a battle that would plague him the rest of his life, alcoholism.

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St. Louis Cardinals teammate Bob Gibson reported at one point that Flood was receiving multiple death threats per day, something Flood did not fully verify in his own autobiography, but he did discuss receiving (at times) hundreds of pieces of hate mail in a single day in the time he sat out.

The Cardinals would send two minor leaguers to the Phillies to replace Flood. Within five years, an arbitrator would rule that two players had been made to play for an entire season without a contract, making them free agents, opening the door for pure free agency.

Miller used the swell of support from players following the treatment of Flood to push new player protection into place in negotiations with the owners. One particular provision, known modernly as 10/5 rights, was initially drawn as the “Curt Flood Clause”, allowing a player with 10 years of MLB service and 5 years with his current team to veto a trade to any team.

Flood went on to participate on the fringes of baseball, working with the Senior Professional Baseball Association and United Baseball League, broadcasting with the Oakland Athletics for a time, and painting, often about baseball, with one of his paintings of Joe DiMaggio, who ironically opposed his case against baseball, auctioned roughly 10 years ago.

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Flood was mentioned and the central focus of two pieces of Congressional legislation in 1997 and 1998 that extended federal antitrust law protection for MLB players. The second piece was directly titled “Curt Flood Act of 1998”, however neither actually removed the reserve clause, which still remains in place in baseball, in spite of many slices taken out of the power of the clause.

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