Steve Gann
Sandra 1Curt Flood Auction Not Just About Baseball
November 11th 2009 00:06
:
Curt Flood Auction Not Just About Baseball
While these are great items, they do not tell the story of what Curt Flood did for today's players. Flood played in a different era when players had few rights and did not earn the millions that today's athletes can demand. Many players endured off season jobs and had to accept trades that could uproot their families at anytime throughout the season.
Flood was the first player to draw a line in the sand and refuse a trade in 1969 that would have sent him to Philadelphia. This stand would eventually pave the way for players to apply for free agency. Unfortunately this refusal would cost Flood his career as he only played one more season after the lengthy case that ended up in the U.S. Supreme Court.
After the case he wrote an autobiograhy and was in and out of baseball as an announcer and comimissioner of the short lived Senior League. Flood died of throat cancer in 1997 and was survived by his wive and five children.
Other personal items in the auction might not demand the money that his baseball items but could have a more lasting effect on society include: a baseball signed by civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks and a copy of the Flood vs Kuhn Supreme Court report.
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