I've made my admiration for athletes who have chosen to remain loyal to a single franchise their entire career very clear on this blog. A big part of that has to do with free agency and how it has diminished the number of athletes that fall into that category.
With that being said... I think free agency is a beautiful thing. I never really understood the finer details until I read this article on Curt Flood a few years ago. It opened my eyes to how how baseball players used to be the property of the franchise who drafted him. At that time, their only options were to play their entire career with the franchise, be traded, or retire.
Then back in 1969, Flood refused to be traded to the Philadelphia Phillies and started a chain of events that would eventually lead to free agency. That's why I decided it would be cool to add his rookie card to my collection.
1958 Topps #464
It took me awhile to find the right card for the right price, but I eventually landed this graded copy on COMC back in February of 2020 for $33.
It took a few years, but by the mid 60's... Flood was a perennial all-star and Gold Glove Award winner. After 15 seasons, he produced numbers many would consider to be worthy of the Hall of Very Good. But that's just the icing on the cake. His place in history will always be remembered for standing up to Major League Baseball even though (according to the article) he essentially killed his career.
Yesterday, Mr. Flood would have celebrated his 83rd birthday... and tomorrow is the 24th anniversary of his death. Happy belated birthday Mr. Flood!
Happy Tuesday and sayonara!
14 comments:
great post
My wife and I were just talking yesterday about how odd it is to hear people say that a player was sold to another team - the example was Babe Ruth being sold to the yankees. The players definitely were property before free agency and even now for younger players.
Curt Flood was certainly a pioneer of players' rights - moreso than Marvin Miller, who gets much of the credit but didn't actually lose anything like Flood did.
Btw, it's been a while sing I jammed to some Marley, so thanks for posting this track.
*since
That's a good point. Joe Posnanski had a good article on Flood last week, as he's been counting down the biggest Hall of Fame snubs. He says that Miller said he would refuse induction to the Hall, saying: “Put in Curt Flood. There’s a hero.”
I'm glad Miller finally got in, but Flood should probably be there too.
Flood is one of the men I most admire from the annals of the game's long history. I can't even imagine where baseball would've gone without him.
Awesome read! Glad you snagged a rookie of him and it looks like he was born in your neck of the woods!
Great card and especially price. Wait til investors read this article and drive him up lol
I absolutely think Flood should be in the Hall.
Even though they were highly paid for the time, it's crazy to read about how stingy the Yanks were with some of the top guys, including Lou Gehrig. Amazing what they might have commanded Sith an open market.
Flood changed the game for the better at the cost of his career. If that's not a Hall of Famer, I don't know what is...
Nice post and beautiful card. Glad that you got it for your collection. I, too, am a big fan on a player staying with one team for his career.
Enjoyed this post. I wish the writers would put Flood in the Hall for his contributions to the game. I believe that has been done several times in the past, I think he has a really good case.
johnnys trading spot - thank you kind sir
gcrl - yeah... the term "sold" doesn't sound right. can't really think of a better way of putting it though.
chris - very well stated. it's kinda sad. i wonder if players ever donated to a fund to help him and his family back in the day. as for marley... i try to jam to it at least once on every road trip.
brett alan - kudos to miller for standing up for flood.
nick - up until that article, i didn't really understand how much he sacrificed. and yeah... the game is definitely different b/c of him and his sacrifice
sumomenkoman - nice to cross this one off the list. according to wikipedia, he was born in texas, but raised in oakland.
matt - don't think investors read this blog... since i don't really open blasters ;D
dma - sounds like you're not alone. maybe the veteran's committee will take a look at him
the lost collector - the yankees teams were loaded... and i'm guessing they set the market rate for other teams around the league. so if ruth and gehrig make this amount... so and so are worth this amount.
matt - yeah. he definitely took one for the player's union.
peter k steinberg - me too. but only if the player wants to be loyal and spend their entire career there
the snorting bull - thanks. it sounds like a lot of people would support him being inducted. shame it didn't take place while he was alive.
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