30 Facts About Curt Flood

1.

Curtis Charles Flood was an American professional baseball player and activist.

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2.

Curt Flood was a center fielder who played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball for the Cincinnati Redlegs, St Louis Cardinals, and Washington Senators.

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3.

Curt Flood led the National League in hits in 1964 and in singles, 1963,1964, and 1968.

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4.

Curt Flood led the National League in putouts as center fielder four times and in fielding percentage as center fielder three times.

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5.

Curt Flood became one of the pivotal figures in the sport's labor history when he refused to accept a trade following the 1969 season, ultimately appealing his case to the US Supreme Court.

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6.

Curt Flood attended McClymonds High School and transferred to Oakland Technical High School, where he graduated.

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7.

However, Curt Flood was deemed expendable with future star centerfielder Vada Pinson preparing to be promoted to the majors.

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8.

Curt Flood was traded to the St Louis Cardinals in December 1957.

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9.

Curt Flood had his breakthrough year at the plate after Johnny Keane took over as manager in 1961: he batted.

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10.

Curt Flood tied for tops in hits with The Pittsburgh Pirates' Roberto Clemente with 211.

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11.

In 1965, Curt Flood had his greatest power output with 11 home runs and 83 runs batted in while he was hitting.

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12.

Curt Flood made the All-Star team again in 1966, a season in which he did not commit a single error in the outfield; his record errorless streak of 226 games and 568 total chances ran from September 3,1965, to June 4,1967.

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13.

Up to that point, Curt Flood had been enjoying the best series of his career despite dealing with personal problems at home, hitting.

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14.

Curt Flood believed Busch, with whom he had previously enjoyed a close personal friendship, was expressing his displeasure over the error that had likely cost the team the Series.

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15.

Curt Flood received his seventh Gold Glove that season just as other events in his career began to affect the entire sport.

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16.

Curt Flood collected the first hit in a major league regular-season game in Canada.

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17.

Curt Flood believed that Major League Baseball's decades-old reserve clause was unfair in that it kept players beholden for life to the team with which they originally signed, even when they had satisfied the terms and conditions of those contracts.

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18.

Curt Flood met with Phillies' general manager John Quinn, who left the meeting believing that he had persuaded Flood to report to the team.

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19.

Curt Flood stood to forfeit a lucrative $100,000 contract if he did not report; but after a meeting with players' union head Marvin Miller, who informed him that the union was prepared to fund a lawsuit, he decided to pursue his legal options.

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20.

Curt Flood was influenced by the events of the 1960s that took place in the United States.

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21.

On January 16,1970, Curt Flood filed a $1 million lawsuit against Kuhn and Major League Baseball, alleging violation of federal antitrust laws.

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22.

Curt Flood soon realized that his career was over as he later said,.

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23.

Later that year Curt Flood published a memoir entitled The Way It Is in which he spelled out in detail his argument against the reserve clause.

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24.

Curt Flood returned to baseball as a member of the Oakland Athletics broadcasting team in 1978.

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25.

On January 20,1997, just two days after his 59th birthday, Curt Flood died at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, after developing pneumonia, and was interred in Inglewood Park Cemetery in Inglewood.

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26.

Just before his death, Curt Flood's legacy was acknowledged in Congress in 1997 via the Baseball Fans and Communities Protection Act of 1997.

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27.

Curt Flood is a nonparticipating but pivotal character in the book Our Gang by Philip Roth.

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28.

Curt Flood was inducted into the Baseball Reliquary's Shrine of the Eternals in 1999.

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29.

Curt Flood later married actress Judy Pace in 1986, whom he had met and dated previously from 1966 until 1970.

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30.

Curt Flood underwent radiation treatments, chemotherapy, and throat surgery, which left him unable to speak.

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