Although hurt and disappointed by the unexpected move, he dutifully reported to the Cardinals, a slumping franchise that had not won a pennant since 1946. Flood nevertheless excelled on the field, earning late-season call-ups to Cincinnati in 19 to play in his first few major-league games.Īfter the 1957 season, the Reds traded Flood to St. ![]() Other painful experiences awaited him during his minor-league seasons in North Carolina and Georgia, where he faced hostile crowds even at his home ballparks and was barred from restaurants and gas station restrooms when the team’s bus stopped on road trips. Expecting a room in the Reds’ upscale hotel, he was instead hurried out a side door and driven to a boardinghouse, where the team’s black players were forced to live in segregated quarters. Teachers and coaches became important mentors as well, and continued to inspire him long after he had left Oakland.įlood signed his first baseball contract with the Cincinnati Reds at age seventeen and reported in 1956 for spring training at Tampa, Florida, deep in the Jim Crow South. Despite these challenges, they supported Flood when he demonstrated early talent for both athletics and art. Far from wealthy, his parents worked long hours in low-paying jobs to keep the family out of poverty. ![]() Although he lost his case before the Supreme Court in 1972, Flood’s lawsuit paved the way for player free agency, which radically changed the economics and culture of baseball and other professional sports.īorn on January 18, 1938, in Houston, Texas, Curtis Charles Flood grew up in Oakland, California, as the youngest of Herman and Laura Flood’s six children. ![]() Flood is best remembered, however, for his lawsuit challenging Major League Baseball’s reserve clause. A three-time All-Star and seven-time Gold Glove recipient, he played on three National League pennant winners, two of which also won World Series titles. Louis Cardinals, playing center field for them from 1958 to 1969. Curt Flood spent most of his baseball career with the St.
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