I just finished reading a book about Curt Flood, "A Well Paid Slave" by Brad
Snyder. This book came out in 2007.

The book is mainly about his reasons to sue baseball and his trail.

As most of you know on the Washington Senators group, Curt was traded from St.
Louis to Philadelphia without his knowledge at the end of 1969. He was making
90,000 a year for the Cardinals, which was one of the highest salaries at that
time in baseball. He learned of his trade through a reporter first, not
through the clubs. Curt was not happy about this trade, as ballplayers had no
rights in how they where treated in trades. So he sued baseball to fight for
free agency, a unheard thing then.

He met with Marvin Miller who head the MLB union and Miller tried to talk him
out of this, as he told Curt they had very little chance of winning and how it
could effect his career. He wanted to go on.

Like they knew, it ended up in the Supreme Court where they lost. It was Curt
who called himself a well paid slave, not to be a racial issue, but as a
baseball player issue. Also, back then, the team could lower a salary for no
reason by 20% for the next year. Philadelphia did offer Curt $110,000 but he
did not want to leave St. Louis and he wanted a say in any trade.

Sadly, the lawyer he had, Arthur Goldberg was former Supreme Court Justice
himself and was totally unprepared for the trail. No player testified for Curt
or could even come to the trail to show support, which hurt him greatly. Only
Joe Garagiola testified against him. That hurt Curt badly. Garagiola did
apologized to Flood later in life.

Being a 15 yr old when Flood signed with the Senators I have no real clue what
the trial etc. As we know Robert Short was able to sign Flood to play baseball
in 1971 for the Washington Senators as he did sit out the 1970 season. The case
went to the Supreme Court in the Spring of 1971. Since he sat out for a year,
him going back to baseball to play did not hurt the case by being closed.
Short signed him to a 100,000 contract.

Those who remember Flood playing in 1971, where ecstatic, mostly and shocked
when he left the club in the spring to take off for NYC to flight to Spain.
Flood had a terrible Spring training and the season was not going well. Ted
Williams was completely against having Flood on the team.

Flood was completely out of shape when he came back to baseball. Once he left
the Cardinals, he drank allot and did not much of anything. He owned a
portrait business. But all of the portraits he painted where painted by
someone else. He had a portrait of Martin Luther King Jr done for the family,
I think it was. He even had one for Joe Morgan of the Reds/Phillies now ESPN
announcer. He would sign the paintings. His business was failing and he owed
allot of money to the IRS, so they where after him.

He was pretty much a loner on the Senators only having one person Elliott Maddox
trying to get him off the alcohol which did not work.

Howard Cosell was pretty much his only friend in life during a rough time for
him.

Finally Flood turned his life around in about 1985. But he developed cancer
and died in 1997.

He scarified his career so that others could benefit someday in not being tied
to a owner of a team. He knew this would happen, that his career would be
over, but he thought that the MLB union could help him with a job in the union.
That never happened.

Today, many new ballplayers do not know who Curt Flood is, as the older players
in management or coaching tell them his story.

I now understand a bit better of what was going in his life when he disappear
from the Senators. You have to feel for him, as he put his career on the line
and he lost everything. Image if you did that.

A very good book, as I just finished a book before that on Roberto Clemente.
Not a Washington Senator, but it goes into great detail on how he got involved
with the airlifting of food to Nicaragua. That death should of never have
happen, due to a greedy government, stealing food for the needy and no
regulation for small airplanes.

Hope to see some of you at the new ballpark this year!

Mike Marmer

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