![]() ![]() The trial opened on May 19, 1970, at the Federal Court of the Southern District of New York, Judge Irving Ben Cooper presiding. On January 16, 1970, he formally filed his suit, taking on the entire baseball establishment. Goldberg, the former Supreme Court justice, as his lawyer. He turned to the Major League Players Association, which not only agreed to finance his suit but also hired Arthur J. So Flood decided to challenge the reserve clause. He himself would describe his own reaction to the trade as, "By god, this is America. Perhaps most significantly, Flood was an African American who had been moved by the civil rights struggle of the 1960s. He was a proud man, and a sensitive man -among other things, he was a talented artist: his portrait of Martin Luther King, Jr., hung in Coretta King's home. But something about the way this was handled upset Flood. Thousands of players before this had quietly packed their bags and moved on to the new team. Yet like all ballplayers up to that time, he was totally "under contract" to the owner of his team, and at the end of the 1969 season he was abruptly informed that he had been traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. Louis Cardinals, and he was soon displaying the skills that would make him a leading player -not only a solid hitter but a superb center fielder. After the 1957 season he was traded to the St. Flood's Conditioningīorn in Texas in 1938, raised in California, Flood had come up to the majors with the Cincinnati Reds in 1956. But not until 1970 was the reserve clause to be put to a true trial by a prominent player with much to lose, Curt Flood. In fact, two Supreme Court rulings -one in 1922, the other in 1953 -held that the Federal courts were powerless to regulate organized baseball, although in the latter case the justices advised Congress to effect legislation to do so. This practice wasĬhallenged over the years -by players' unions, by new leagues, by the occasional individual player -but to no avail. Conversely, the team could sell or trade the players at the owners' will. This refers to the agreement, first adopted by major league teams in 1879, to place their players "on reserve," meaning that so long as they were under contract to one team, they could not move to any other team. In particular, organized baseball's team owners had been able to defy the government's legal prohibition of restraint of trade by maintaining the sanctity of the so-called reserve clause. By his independent and often reviled action, Flood had opened the door for baseball's "free agents," which undeniably led to the late twentieth century revolution in baseball players' salaries and team loyalties.Īmericans had long adopted as one of their national "myths" that baseball played such a special role in their lives and society that even the major leagues differed from all other business operations. ![]() SIGNIFICANCE: Although Curt Flood lost in the trial and in the subsequent Supreme Court decision, his suit to break the reserve clause of organized baseball led the way to the end of this practice within a few years. Supreme Court: Lower courts' findings upheld, 5-3 Final Appeal Heard: Madecision, June 19, 1972ĭecisions: Trial: Flood's suit rejected. Places: Trial: New York, New York Final Appeal: Washington, D.C.ĭates of Trial and Final Appeal: Trial: May 19-JDecision, August 12, 1970. Supreme Court, Chief Justice Warren Burger presiding Judge: Trial: Irving Ben Cooper Final Appeal: U.S. GoldbergĬhief Defense Lawyers: Trial: Mark Hughes, Victor Kramer Supreme Court: Lou Hoynes, Paul Porter Goldberg, Jay Topkis Supreme Court: Arthur J. Plaintiff Claim: Organized baseball does fall under the definition of interstate commerce and is a monopoly therefore the trading of baseball players without their agreement is an unreasonable restraint of trade in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Law.Ĭhief Lawyers for Plaintiff: Trial: Arthur J. Defendants: Commissioner of baseball, presidents of the National League and American League, and owners of all 24 major league baseball clubs ![]()
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