Opening the Floodgates: From Curt Flood to Enes Kanter

American professional sports athletes always get a bad rap for being spoiled and overpaid. In doing so, however, we neglect to acknowledge the trailblazers of the game. Be it Curt Flood in MLB or Enes Kanter in the NBA, sports are a microcosm of real life. This is the story of how Curt Flood took on an establishment… and won.

Sure, these dudes get paid millions of dollars to play a game, but if you take a minute to take a closer look at a player like Curt Flood, or Michael Sam, or even Enes Kanter, you’ll be surprised by what you will find.

When we think about heroes in professional sports, we usually think about Tommie Smith and John Carlos raising their fists in the air during their medal ceremony at the 1968 Olympics. We think about Muhammad Ali refusing to be drafted to fight in the Vietnam War. We even think about Colin Kaepernick taking a knee during the National Anthem in protest of police brutality.

Curt Flood, an unsung American hero and pioneer.

CIRCA 1960’s: Outfielder Curt Flood #21 of the St. Louis Cardinal watches the flight of his ball as he follows through on his swing during a mid circa 1960’s Major League Baseball game. Flood played for the Cardinals from 1958-69. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images) /

One such name that often gets left out the mix is Curt Flood. A man who’s influence in American professional sports is felt to this very day.

What’s more, Curt Flood wasn’t just some sacrificial lamb, whose talent wasn’t quite good enough for the big leagues. No! In many ways, Flood was the centerpiece of a St. Louis Cardinals team that won two of three championships in the 1960’s.

He was a 6x MVP finalist, a 3x All Star, and 7x Gold Glove Award winner. But more than that, Curt Flood was also the man behind free agency as we currently know it.

Despite being one of the faces of baseball at the time, following the 1969 season, Curt Flood, an opponent of baseball’s reserve clause, refused to be traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. At the time, baseball’s reserve clause basically made it so a player was the property of one particular team for life, no matter what his contract says.

In refusing to be traded, Curt flood became the most vocal player to oppose the reserve clause. His case gained so much traction that it was eventually heard by the US Supreme Court… and lost.

As a result, Curt Flood became baseball’s public enemy number one, and fans let him know it. According to a piece by Allen Barra of The Atlantic, Flood’s teammate Bob Gibson estimated that Flood got “four or five death threats a day.”

Imagine not feeling welcome in your own home country?