How we got free agents in baseball
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Who was Curt Flood and why is he significant in baseball history?
On NPR's Wildcard podcast, Julio Torres says he doesn't need to prove himself to anyone.
When someone makes me feel like I have to prove something to them, I just walk away.
Really?
I'm like, seek help.
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This is Planet Money from NPR.
At 4 a.m. on October 8th, 1969, Kurt Flood got woken up by a phone call. Flood was 31 years old at the time, and he'd spent the last 12 years, almost his entire adult life, playing center field for the St. Louis Cardinals. He was an all-star. He'd led the Cardinals to the World Series three times, Sports Illustrated called him the best center fielder in baseball, and he planned to finish out his career in St. Louis.
But when he rolled over and picked up the phone at 4 a.m., a middle manager from the Cardinals front office told Kurt Flood he had just been traded to the Philadelphia Phillies.
Kurt Flood didn't want to go to Philadelphia. They'd just finished second to last in their division. And on top of that, Kurt Flood was Black, and Phillies fans had a history of treating the team's Black players badly. One Black Phillies player in the 60s actually wore a helmet in the outfield because Phillies fans threw batteries at his head.
But Kurt Flood did not really have a choice. The way baseball worked at the time, when you got drafted by a Major League Baseball team, you played for that team. If they wanted to trade you, you went where they traded you. You didn't like it, you could quit baseball. This was explicit in every player's contract. It was called the reserve clause because teams reserved the rights to each player. Kurt Flood thought this was ridiculous.
In fact, he didn't just think it was ridiculous. He thought it was illegal. So he decided to sue Major League Baseball for a right that most of us take for granted. The right to work for whatever employer might want to hire him.
His case went all the way to the Supreme Court, kind of ruined Curt Flood's life, and it helped change professional sports forever. Hello and welcome to Planet Money. I'm Keith Romer. Can I say hello and welcome to Planet Money? It's been a long time. I'm Jacob Goldstein. Are we getting the band back together? I'm Robert Smith. It's Alumni Day at Planet Money. Jacob and Robert, you both used to host Planet Money. Welcome back. Thank you. Truly happy to be back. And you have returned today to share a version of an episode from your excellent new podcast, Business History. It's a show about the history of business. It's all there in the name. Including, in this case, the history of the business of Major League Baseball.
So we are going to turn over the rest of the episode to the two of you. You guys remember how to do the next part? I got this.
Today on the show, the story of Curt Flood and the reserve clause is a story about capital versus labor. It's a story about antitrust law and competition. And really, it's a story about the moment when people stopped thinking of professional sports as just a game and started to think of it as a business.
So it's 1969, and Curt Flood is one of the highest-paid players in baseball. He made $90,000. Whoa! Robert Smith, do you want to guess how much that is in inflation-adjusted $2026?
What led to Curt Flood's trade to the Philadelphia Phillies?
I mean, highest-paid players in baseball?
It must be like $2 billion. Close. It's $800,000.
I mean, it's a lot. Well, so is it a lot or a little? It's a lot of money relative to somebody with a normal job today, but it's like, I don't know, 30 times less than a star baseball player would make today. And so let's think about why. Why were top players in baseball making so much less in 1969? Well, part of it is baseball was just a smaller game then. It's a more lucrative game today. There is more money overall. The pie is bigger. Broadcasting, merchandising, everything, advertising. But there's another reason, a reason that's, you know— the center of today's show, and that is the players didn't have very much leverage because of the reserve clause, because they couldn't go play for other teams.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
Who was Curt Flood and why is he significant in baseball history?
0:00–3:28
2
What led to Curt Flood's trade to the Philadelphia Phillies?
3:28–6:16
3
How did the reserve clause affect players' rights in baseball?
6:16–7:03
4
What motivated Curt Flood to sue Major League Baseball?
7:03–24:46
5
What challenges did Curt Flood face during his legal battle?
24:46–29:07