Baseball (TV Mini Series)

A Whole New Ballgame (1994)

Curt Flood: Self

Quotes 

• Curt Flood : I guess you really have to understand who that person, who that Curt Flood was. I'm a child of the '60s, a man of the '60s. During that period of time, this country was coming apart at the seams. We were in Southeast Asia. Good men were dying for America and for the Constitution. In the South, we were marching for civil rights and Dr. King had been assassinated and we lost the Kennedys, and to think that merely because I was a professional baseball player I could ignore what was going on outside the walls of Busch Stadium is truly hypocrisy. And now I find that all of those rights that these great Americans were dying for, I didn't have in my own profession.

• Narrator : In October of 1969, veteran centerfielder Curt Flood of the St. Louis Cardinals got word that he was to be traded to Philadelphia. The Phillies were a second-division team known for their hostility toward black players, and Flood did not wish to move his family or to leave his business interests behind.

  Curt Flood : I often wondered what would I do if I were ever traded, because it had happened many, many times. It was, in quote, "part of the game." And then suddenly, it happened to me. I was leaving one of the greatest organizations in the world to, at that time, what was probably the least-liked. And, by God, this is America. And I'm a human being. I'm not a piece of property. I'm not a consignment of goods.

  Narrator : Flood did not report to the Phillies' training camp. "I am a man," he told baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn.

  Curt Flood : [reading his letter]  "Dear Mr. Kuhn, after twelve years in the Major Leagues, I do not feel that I am a piece of property to be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes. I believe that any system which produces that result violates my basic rights as a citizen and is inconsistent with the laws of the United States. It is my desire to play baseball in 1970, and I am capable of playing. I have received a contract from the Philadelphia club, but I believe I have the right to consider offers from other clubs before making any decisions. I therefore request that you make known to all Major League clubs my feelings in this matter, and advise them of my availability for the 1970 season. Sincerely, Curt Flood."

  Narrator : The commissioner refused to exempt him from the reserve clause. Flood refused to play, and vowed to take his case all the way to the Supreme Court. The century-old struggle between the owners and the players was approaching a climax.