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 struck down the reserve clause entirely, ushering in free agency, and Congress later passed the Curt Flood Act of 1998 to close the legal loophole the Supreme Court had upheld. The episode traces Flood's stand from that early morning phone call through its long, delayed payoff for every player who came after him.
This is bsnsHistory, the daily podcast about the moments when business quietly reshaped the world.
Written and hosted by Ron Trucks. Research and editing by Rodney Russ. Sound design by Angela Cahoy. Music by Cody Martin and Soundstripe.
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