Newspaper article on Curt Flood\u27s lawsuit against major league baseball over the right to be a free agent

Koppett, Leonard

English

Digital Commons@Lindenwood University

Lindenwood University Digital Commons@Lindenwood University Curt Flood Baseball Clippings 1-17-1970 Flood Warms Up for Reserve Clause Attack Leonard Koppett Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/cflood  Part of the United States History Commons Flood Warms Up for Reserve Clause A ttatk By LEON ARD KOPPETT NEW YORK, N. Y. - A major court challenge to the reserve clause 1s being planned by Curt Flood, regular center rielder of the Cardinals for most of Lhe last 12 years, who was traded to the Phil-lies in October. His suit will be handled by Ar-thur Goldberg, former justice of the United States Supreme Court, and will be supported by the Ma-jor League Players Association. Marvin Miller, director of the Association, and Goldberg both worked for the United Steelwork-ers Union from 1950 lo 1960 in 1-'ittsburgh. The rirst step In the case was taken December 24, when Flood wrote to Commissioner B ow I e Kuhn. declaring his intention lo piny baseball in 1970 and his ob-jection lo being treated as "prop-erty." Flood said he felt he had a right LO negotiate with any team, and asked the commissioner to no-tify all clubs of his availability. Kuhn replied on December 30, re-jecting the request on I.he grounds that F lood's transfer from St. Louis lo Philadelphia was In accordance with the terms of Flood's current contract, and that Flood had sign-ed such contracts for each of the previous 12 years. He said that pending any specific claim by Flood that the transfer was done tmproperly, he could not comply with the request. Bid for Freedom Denied Thus the record was made that Flood had sought his "freedom" at the highest level available with-in baseball, and that il had not been granted. The whole matter is intimately related 10 negotiations for a new basic agreement between lhe Play-P-X$' l\ssociation nnd the major league clubs. The players are seek-ing modification of the reserve clause in the new agreement, and the owners are resisting any change In the lraditional arrange-m ent. The o ld basic agreement (which covers all questions of play-er-owner relations except pension and related benefits) contained a provision for "joint study" of the reserve clause question. The exist-ing two-year basic agreement ex-pired December 31. Flood decided to challenge lhe reserve clause some lime In Oc-tober. In mid-November, he and hls lawyer, Allan H. Zerman, went to see Miller and to ask whether the Association would back such a suit. Indignity of Trade It was a matter of deep personal feelb1g, Flood said. He had no particular objecllon to playing in Philadelphia, He did object, how-ever, to the indignity of being traded, and had vowed to hlmseU, when the Cincinnati organization traded lum to St. Louis in 1956, that he would never go through those emotions again. He was 20 years old then. He said he be-lieved, after 12 years In the ma-jors, he should have the right to £ind his value on the open market. Miller told Flood thal If he were determined to go through with the case, he should come to San Juan, Puerto Rico, on December 13 to present his views to the 24 player representatives, who would be meeting there to discuss the en-tire basic agreement negotiation. The player representatives of the 24 major lea.gue clubs form the board of directors or the Players' Association. Flood did so He was quesLioned closely for two hours by the other players. who wanted lo make sure Flood was completely sincere aboul the principle Involved and prepar-ed to see the matter through. The purpose of such a suit would be to push it to the Supreme Court. I .d (Left) and Arthur Goldberg The Challenger and His Chief Counsel. where baseball's stat nder the anti-trust laws as well as the valid-ity of the reserve clause might be ruled upon. Finally, tho players were con-vinced Flood meant it-lhat he was not just seeking bargai11111g power to get more money from the Phil-lies, or a means or returning to the Cardinals. He assured them that he wouldn't be "bought off." When asked whether a racial issue was involved. Curt said no. lie simply wanted the freedom to negotiate, once and for all. And he said that he would go ahead whether the players support-ed him or not. Vote Unanimous Support The players had often talked about the possibility of a test case. Flood's was not the one they had in mind, But here it was. So they voted unammously to offer him moral s upport, advice and finan-cial help, If necessary. Miller then suggested that, since the case would arrect all players, it was 1mporh111t to present it with lhe most high-powered legal force possible. He then helped arrange to have Goldberg enter the case. Meanwhile, discussions a b o u t modifying the reserve clause in ne-gotiations made no progress. Word of Flood's intention be-came public on Monday, December 29, after the Players' Associalion had sent a bulletin to Its 800 mem-bers reporting on d1e labor nego-tiations and on the decision to back Flood. On January 2, Flood and Zer-man visited New York to begin planning strategy with Goldberg. Actual filing of the suit was ex-pected in mid-.Tanuary, but the ex-acl nature or the claims and even the locale of bringing suit remain-ed to be determined. A case of this kind would be tried In Federal Court, appealed to the Circuit Court o r Appeals and from there to the U. S. Supreme Court. Out-of-court settlement co u I d lake two forms, theoretically: Flood could accept a money ar-rangement, or an assignment to some club of his choice, as an in-dividual matter; or the reserve clause rule itself could be modilied by negotiation. The text or the letter exchange betwee11 Flood and Kuhn follows: Flood's letter, dated December 24, said: "After 12 years in the major league. I do not feel that I am a piece of properly 10 be bought and sold irrespective of my wishes. 1 believe that any system that pro-duces that result violates my basic rights as a ciliicn and is inconsist-ent with the laws of the United States and of the several states. "It is my desire to play baseball in 1970, and I om capable of play-ing. l have received a contract offer from the Philadelphia club, but I believe 1 have the right to consider orrers from other clubs be-fore making 11J1y decision. I, there-fore, request thaL you make known to all major league clubs my feel-ings in the malter and advise them of my availability for the 1970 sea-son." Kuhn's reply, dated December 30, said: Richards Claims He Welcomes Flood's Reserve Clause Figl,t ATLANTA, Ga.-Paul Richards says Curt Flood's decision to challenge the reserve clause could well be lhe climax of a. growing confrontation between players and management. " I wonder ir baseball players realize !hey also have great pro-tection under the present rules," the Braves' vice-president said. "T am talking about a player, a famous player in the majors, whose salary is in excess of $75,000. Now this player, If our reserve clause is knocked out. might discover to his dismay that he'd be playing nex[ year ror peanuLS. "Under our current deal," Richards painted out, "his salary next year can be cut by only 25 percent. He might just learn, 1f our sLructure is knocked out, that he might have !rouble signing with another team for as much as $25,000. "If u court rulmg gives these players the right to negotiacc with another club, will tl1ey be better off? I don't think so." "This will acknowledge your let-ter of December 24, which 1 found on returning to my office yester-day. "l certainly agree wilh you that you, as a human being, are not a piece of property to be bought and sold. Thal is fundamental in our society and 1 thmk obv10us. How-ever, r cannot see its applicability to the situation at hand. The Usual Contract "You have entered mto a cur-rent playing contract with the St. Louis club, which has the same as-signment provision as those in your annual major league con-tracts since l956. Your present con-tract has been assigned in accord-ance with Its provisions by the St. Louis club to the Ph1ladelph1a club. The provisions of the playmg con-tract have been negotiated over the years between the clubs and the players, most recently when Lhe present basic agreement was negotiated two years ago between lhe clubs and the Players' Asso-ciation. "lf you have any specific objec-tion to the propriety of the assign-ment, 1 would appreciate your specifying Lhe objection. Under the circumstances, and pending any further information from you, I do not sec what action 1 can take and cannot comply with the request contained in the second paragraph or your letter. "1 am pleased to see your state-ment that you desire to play base-ball In I 970. 1 take it this puts lo rest any thought. as reported ear-lier in lhe press, that you were considering retirement." * THE SPORTING NEWS, JANUARY 17, 1970 * 33 

Flood Warms Up for Reserve Clause Attack

https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1011&context=cflood

Flood Warms Up for Reserve Clause Attack

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Digital Commons@Lindenwood University