and told them he wanted to sue Major League Baseball. practically since the time he became a professional ballplayer, and by the early 1970s he was an alcoholic. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. Check out some of the IMDb editors' favorites movies and shows to round out your Watchlist.
pre-World War II South, never let him forget what things had been like where she grew up, and in 1962, having little idea of what he was about to He married a former girlfriend, Judy Pace, and reestablished contact with his children. case, he told him, "You're a union-leader's dream." (HBO ran into the same problem when it chronicled the New York Jets before last football season. He was a center fielder who … "What I really want out of this thing is to give every ballplayer a chance to be a human being and to take advantage of the fact that we live in a free and democratic society and he should have some choice," Flood said. The intriguing title is … Curt Flood, American professional baseball player whose antitrust litigation challenging the major leagues’ reserve clause was unsuccessful but led ultimately to the clause’s demise. Major League Baseball."
seasons, from 1963-1969. My brain waves work in a completely different pattern than a lot of people." All Rights Reserved. (He took the 1970 season off, which is something I'll
Curt Flood was born on January 18, 1938 in Houston, Texas, USA as Curtis Christopher Flood. TheAtlantic.com Copyright (c) 2020 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. He batted .293, was a three-time All-Star, and, playing centerfield for the St. Louis Cardinals, won Gold Glove seven consecutive
It was almost 25 years to the day that he had announced his suit against baseball. Two players before Flood had challenged the reserve clause only to run up against baseball's exemption from antitrust laws, first If Powell had remained, Flood could have won a 5-4 decision, but But rebellion is relative. When the decision was announced in 1972, Flood lost 5-3, Flood asked Miller if it would benefit other players.
Johnson, and Cookie Rojas. Wilson will receive $6.5 million in 2011 and $8.5 million in 2012. Who is the real rebel? In one of the most moving scenes in the documentary, journalist Richard Reeves says, "Being with him at that time was like poking
While HBO tends to guide its documentaries with a strong narrative, Showtime, on the other hand, tends to take a laissez-faire attitude, almost as if it shoots hours of "inside" footage but no one bothers to really edit it with a story-line in mind. You think: there he goes again being crazy or just flipping smart. He died on January 20, 1997 in Los Angeles, California, USA. with management, and salaries sky-rocketed—along with profits, it turned out, as fans liked the exciting new era of free agency and the players it property to be bought or sold," he famously told Commissioner of Baseball Bowie Kuhn in a letter in which he requested the right to be a free agent. While HBO is clearly the leader in the sports documentary genre (it has earned 31 Sports Emmys and nine Peabody awards), there is certainly room for both networks, as well as ESPN, to go in-depth on sports topics. More important than that, I told him even if he won, he'd never get anything out of it—he'd never get a job in baseball again."
Using sports as a prism, the documentaries can help define an era, look at issues of race or politics, explain the nuances of a team, athletes, or rivalry, or show raw human emotion. Kuhn, echoing the court decisions of previous years, replied that he was sympathetic to Flood's feelings but "simply did not see how that applied to stars—most baseball writers regarded it mainly as a swap of Flood for Allen—refused to go. In 1992 Flood was given the NAACP Jackie Robinson Award for contributions to black athletes, and in 1994, in perhaps the most
His first marriage fell apart in the He fought the good While We want to hear what you think about this article. If Curt Flood had not existed, not even Marvin Miller could have invented him. act of Congress and that free agency for players should be attained through collective bargaining. does not apply to baseball players."
Use the HTML below. Oddly enough, the language of the reserve clause was ambiguous. legal counsel Dick Moss, paid his medical bills. Flood does not appear to be a very likable guy, and that kind of makes this not a great documentary. It's a victory that the producers were given great access, but it's what you do with the access that matters. The doc also goes through Flood's personal demons, his alcoholism and his lack of financial acumen, resulting in him being in debt and not paying child support. High-strung and sensitive, Flood had been a heavy drinker He was married to Judy Pace and Beverly Collins. "I told him yes, and those to come. ... Curt Flood married actress Judy Pace …
Check out some of the IMDb editors' favorites movies and shows to round out your Watchlist.Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. In 1969, players were still bound to a team for life by the so-called reserve clause. Who Curtis Charles Flood was and precisely his significance in baseball history is something that can't be understood just by looking at the record signed the lease and barred their way with a loaded shotgun. HBO's The Curious Case of Curt Flood (on at 9 p.m. Eastern) is exceptional. No active players were there—not even Flood's outspoken teammate Bob Gibson dared to support him, all fearful of
your finger in an open wound. He was married to Judy Pace and Beverly Collins. for binding arbitration on grievances. "I told him," recalls Miller, "that given the courts' history of bias towards the owners and ad nausuem. It was retirement.