Robert Smith

Robert, you want to read a little bit from the letter?

Yeah, and then in the second paragraph, Flood says he wants to talk to other teams about playing for them.

A week later, Bowie Kuhn calls Flood at home and reads his response, the league's response, to Kurt Flood's letter.

The court of public opinion is in session.

And around this time, Flood does this interview with Howard Cosell, the famous sportscaster.

And Cosell says some version of what a lot of commentators are saying about Flood's case, which is essentially...

In this letter, you say you're not a piece of property to be bought and sold, but you're getting rich playing baseball.

That is probably Kurt Flood's most famous quote.

There's a biography of Flood by Brad Snyder that was a key source for this show that is actually called A Well-Paid Slave.

And most people agreed with the owners.

A poll around this time found that 69% of people thought the reserve clause was necessary for baseball.

So Flood is losing the case in the court of public opinion when his case goes to the court of law, the court court in Manhattan in 1970.

And Flood's lawyers know they need a good witness to change public opinion.

But nobody who's playing baseball at the time wants to testify because they're too scared, right?

Why would they?

But you know who agrees to testify?

Jackie Robinson.

Amazing.

Kurt Flood's hero.

First black man to play in the major leagues.