curt flood was a piece of crap who cared only about himself and is one of the
reasons baseball is so screwed up today.
and oh yea....he was the goat of the 1968 world series.
i'm ashamed that he even wore the uniform of my boyhood ballclub.
it sickens me to see those old pics of him wearing a nats cap.

Lawrence Irwin <katycdc@...> wrote:
Dear jkrpn@...
Thanks for the mini book review! Speaking of
books, is the David Gough book on the last original
Washington Senators good? It is only available
from used dealers on-line for $200.00!
Thanks.
L. Irwin

--- jkrpn@... wrote:

> I remember seeing Curt Flood in the line up on
> opening day 1971. The Senators beat Vida Blue and
> the Oakland A's 8-0.....
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: MICHAEL MARMER LINDA MARMER <mlmarmer@...>
> To: Washington Senators
> <thewashingtonsenators@yahoogroups.com>
> Sent: Mon, 18 Feb 2008 7:24 pm
> Subject: [The Washington Senators] Curt Flood
>
>
>
>
>
>
> 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
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been
> removed]
>
>
>
>
>
>
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>

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