St. Louis Cardinals: Examining the two paths to the Hall of Fame for Flood

There are two paths available for Curt Flood into the Baseball’s Hall of Fame. However, only one will likely get this St. Louis Cardinals legend there.

Curt Flood has always been a controversial figure in baseball. Primarily, because he challenged baseball’s reserve clause after the St. Louis Cardinals traded him to the Philadelphia Phillies in October 1969, in which he refused to accept.

This challenge, which eventually failed, went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Although the players’ union backed Flood in his challenge, it initially divided the players. Nonetheless, this challenge started the engine which ended the reserve clause and led to free agency.

As a player, Curt Flood made his impact felt as a center fielder for the Cardinals from 1958 to 1969. Flood was a member of the 1964 and 1967 World Championship teams, along with other Hall of Famers such as Lou Brock, Bob Gibson, Steve Carlton, Orlando Cepeda, and Red Schoendienst.

Flood’s seven consecutive Gold Glove Awards, three All-Star appearances, and his .293 career batting average with six seasons batting over .300 would seem to be qualifiers for the Hall of Fame. Often not mentioned in the conversation is the fact he led the NL in hits in 1964 (211), and in singles in 1963, 1964, and 1968.

Finally, Flood led the NL in putouts as a center fielder four times and in fielding percentage as a center fielder three times. When he retired, Flood had played the third-most games in center field(1683) in NL history, only trailing Willie Mays and Richie Ashburn.

Nevertheless, I believe, in spite of these impressive stats, his true path to Baseball’s Hall of Fame isn’t what he did on the field as a player, but what he didn’t do in October 1969.

The path as a non-player challenging the reserve clause

Most of us don’t know or remember the reserve clause and its impact on the game. The reserve clause was an exemption to the Sherman Antitrust Act and bound a player to a team for life. In other words, the reserve clause made the player, essentially, the team’s property for life. Unless the team chose to trade him or release him, his first big league team was his only, unless he retired.

Additionally, the reserve clause had been upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court twice prior to Flood’s challenge, once in 1922 and again in 1953.

All Flood was asking for in 1969, was the ability to have some say on who he could play for. It was really no different than the right most of us have in searching for job or career opportunities. He was just asking for the same right.

Marvin Miller, founder and Executive Director of the Players Association, once said, “the courts were saying, ‘Yes, you’re an American and have the right to seek employment anywhere you like, but the right does not apply to baseball players.”

Flood’s stance was often lonely. As his case moved forward, there weren’t many players who supported his stance, likely in fear of retribution from the owners.

Curt Flood eventually lost his case in front of the Supreme Court, and his baseball career ended soon thereafter in 1971.

Nevertheless, Flood’s stance started the dominos falling, and the Players Association was able to force the owners to accept binding arbitration in labor grievances. Finally, in 1976, Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally won their arbitration case and were granted free agency.

The path as a player

Curt Flood was certainly one of the best center fielders in the game in the 1960s. His aforementioned stats confirm it and his candidacy to the Hall of Fame as a player isn’t an absurd argument.

But was he good enough? One of the best comparisons is to look at two other legendary Cardinal center fielders, Willie McGee and Jim Edmonds.

Willie McGee has a league MVP Award, Silver Slugger award, two batting titles, a four-time All-Star, and three Gold Gloves. Meanwhile, Edmonds has eight Gold Gloves, a Silver Slugger award, and a four-time All-Star. Neither are in Baseball’s Hall of Fame.

Now let’s look at two center fielders who are in the Baseball Hall of Fame and the bar that is set by them, Willie Mayes and Ken Griffey, Jr.

Mayes has 12 Gold Gloves, two League MVPs, a batting title, Rookie of the Year Award, and 24 All-Star appearances. Meanwhile, Griffey has 10 Gold Gloves, seven Silver Slugger Awards, a league MVP award, and 13 All-Star Appearances.

Flood candidacy as a player to the Hall of Fame just seems to fall short of what is expected. In other words, Flood was really good, but not great.

Conclusion

Curt Flood’s stance in 1969 was courageous, principled, and historic. He was not just fighting for more money for the players, he was really fighting for a basic human right. Someone had take the first step, and in spite of lukewarm support from fellow players, Curt Flood took it.