Thesis
"Everybody thinks of baseball as a sacred cow. When you have the nerve to challenge it, people look down their noses at you. There are a lot of things wrong with a lot of industries... Baseball is one of them."
-Curt Flood "What about freedom makes us march and picket and sometimes die? It is the right to choose. To me, freedom means simply I belong to me."
-Curt Flood Because he [Curt Flood] came this way, baseball is better, America is better, and generations unborn are better."
-Rev. Jesse Jackson at Curt Flood's funeral |
Curtis Flood's right to choose where he played baseball was violated by the Major League Baseball Reserve Clause.
In 1969, after twelve years with the St. Louis Cardinals, Curt was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies in what was termed a "Blockbuster Trade." He didn't want to go to Philadelphia, but he had no choice because of the standard Reserve Clause included in all players' contracts at that time. Recognizing that the Reserve Clause was unfair to all players, he acted even when other players would not. He sued Major League Baseball and sacrificed his career to make a difference for future players. |
"I lost money, coaching jobs, a shot at the Hall of Fame. But when you weigh that against all the things that are really and truly important, things that are deep inside you, then I think I’ve succeeded."
-Curt Flood Ryan VandenBos
Junior Division Individual Website |