![]() ![]() When he returned from the Executive Board Meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Flood served notice to Major League Baseball that he would challenge the reserve clause. ‘And all the players to come?’ And I said, oh yes, and he said, ‘that’s good enough for me.’” Recalled Miller: “He (Flood) thought about that a little while and he said, ‘But if we won the case, wouldn’t that benefit all the other players?’ And I said, oh yes. Miller and the players on the Executive Board wanted to ensure that Flood fully understood the ramifications of his stance and that he had the wherewithal to stick with his position even though the odds were stacked against him. ![]() 8, 1969, he balked at the idea that he was a commodity whose rights were owned by others.įlood consulted with the Players Association’s founding Executive Director Marvin Miller and traveled to the union’s Executive Board meeting in early December where he secured his fellow players’ unanimous support. ![]() When Flood was traded by the Cardinals to the Philadelphia Phillies on Oct. It wasn’t until his selfless challenge of the reserve clause – an automatic one-year contract renewal in the standard player’s contract that, in the club owners’ view, tied players to their clubs in perpetuity - that he also became known to players as their hero. He had earned seven straight Gold Glove Awards and set a record for consecutive games without an error by an outfielder.įlood was known in the game as a soft-spoken superstar on the field, a fast, slender guy who chased down line drives in the gaps and stole hits from them. 302 career batting average and was widely recognized as having succeeded Willie Mays as the game’s best defensive center fielder. Through the 1969 season, Curt Flood’s last before challenging the reserve clause, he had posted a. ![]()
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