October 8, 2026: The Trade Curt Flood Refused

Podcast: bsnsHistory · bsnsBasics

Opublikowano: 2026-10-08

A four a.m. phone call from a sportswriter was how Curt Flood learned he'd been traded, and his refusal to accept it eventually rewrote the economics of professional sports. On October 8, 1969, Flood found out the St. Louis Cardinals had sent him to the Philadelphia Phillies, and rather than report, he stayed home and challenged Major League Baseball's reserve clause in federal court, a fight that cost him his career and reached the Supreme Court before he lost, five to three, in 1972. The loss didn't end the movement Flood started. Within a few years, an arbitration ruling...