Curt Flood Biography

Curt Flood

pioneer in baseball labor relations; traded to the Philadelphia Phillies by the St. Louis Cardinals in the offseason of 1969, he sat out the 1970 season and his case eventually went to the U.S. Supreme Court where he was defeated; baseball, however, was changed by Flood's opposition to the sport's reserve clause which bound players to organizations; free agency as we know it was created because of Flood's courageous efforts; on the field, Flood was a Gold-Glove outfielder for the Cardinals who was a six-time .300 hitter; of throat cancer