A Well-Paid Slave

by Brad Snyder

  In the weeks and months after the trade, however, Flood never mentioned the sportswriter, only Toomey. During his trial testimony (under oath), he said he first learned about the trade in a phone call from Toomey. He said the same thing in a magazine article five months after the trade and in his autobiography written two years later. TT, 43:3-14; Flood, “Why I Am Challenging Baseball,” Sport, 3/70, 10, in Thorn, ed., The Armchair Book of Baseball, 130; Flood, The Way It Is, 185, 187.

  1 The voice: Flood, “Why I Am Challenging Baseball,” Sport, 3/70, 10, in Thorn, ed., The Armchair Book of Baseball, 130.

  1 “Hello, Curt?”: Flood, The Way It Is, 185.

  1 “middle-echelon coffee drinker”: Ibid., 187.

  2 Under the major league rules: Major League Rule 4-A in 1969 Blue Book.

  2 “[T]he Club shall have the right”: TT, 25A. Prior to the 1968 Basic Agreement, a player’s salary could be reduced by a maximum of 25 percent.

  3 The morning of Toomey’s: Herman Flood Jr. interview; Flood, The Way It Is, 185-86.

  3 “When Bob and I were reading”: SPD, 1/28/97, 1C.

  3 One of Flood’s favorite authors: CP, 9/22/99, 1B.

  4 “the relatively conscious whites”; “God gave Noah”: Baldwin, Collected Essays, 346-47.

  4 A few hours after: TT, 45:12-46:22 (Flood); Flood, The Way It Is, 188.

  4 so Flood left a message: TT, 1134:18-25 (Devine).

  4 At 9:30 a.m., Devine explained: TT, 1130:18-22, 1134:11-16, 18-23 (Devine).

  4 As soon as it was over: TT, 1134:18-23 (Devine).

  4 Devine had wanted: TT, 1131:8-24 (Devine).

  4 least respected: Tim McCarver interview.

  4 On the last night: SPD, 1/29/67, 7B. See also Devine, The Memoirs of Bing Devine, 83-85; Halberstam, October 1964, 28-30; TSN, 5/9/62, 10; SGD, 12/6/57, 21.

  5 The Cardinals’ manager: SGD, 2/11/58, 17; TSN, 2/19/58, 22; TSN, 3/5/58, 21.

  5 At the time: TSN, 11/13/57, 23; SGD, 2/11/58, 17; Flood, The Way It Is, 45-47.

  5 He was sitting: Flood, “Why I Am Challenging Baseball,” Sport, 3/70, 10, in Thorn, ed., The Armchair Book of Baseball, 126-27; Flood, The Way It Is, 47.

  5 For 30 minutes: Flood, “Why I Am Challenging Baseball,” Sport, 3/70, 10, in Thorn, ed., The Armchair Book of Baseball, 126; TSN, 10/30/65, 8.

  5 He vowed: WP, 1/2/70, D6.

  5 Twelve years later: TT, 45:12-46:22 (Flood); TT, 1135:6-14 (Devine); SPD, 10/8/69, 4E; SPD, 10/9/69, 4D; Flood, The Way It Is, 188.

  5 He was physically and mentally: TT, 1135:6-14 (Devine); SPD, 10/9/69, 6D.

  5 Toomey had insulted him: SPD, 2/25/69, 1B; SPD, 2/27/69, 1C; SGD, 2/27/69, 1D; TT, 1138:14-17 (Devine); Flood, The Way It Is, 172.

  5 “Baseball’s Best Centerfielder”: Leggett, “Not Just a Flood, but a Deluge,” SI, 8/19/68, 1, 18-24. According to the “Win Shares method” conceived by statistical guru Bill James, Flood was the best defensive outfielder in baseball history. James, however, concedes that Flood’s early exit from the game inflated his overall ranking. James, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, 747-48.

  5 The press predicted: NYP, 3/20/69, 104.

  6 Flood believed that: SPD, 3/4/69, 3C (Flood: “If I don’t get it after the year I had, I never will”).

  6 “If you don’t pay me”: TT, 69:11-12 (Flood); SPD, 3/2/69, 1F; TSN, 3/15/69, 8 (reporting that one player threatened to quit, believing it to be Flood).

  6 “At this moment”: SGD, 3/3/69, 1B. For similar quotes, see SPD, 2/27/69, 1C (reporting that Flood is asking for $100,000); SGD, 2/27/69, 1D (“If Lou [Brock] gets $100,000, there will be three of us,” Flood said. Gibson was already making more than $100,000. Brock settled for $88,000); Flood, The Way It Is, 172 (Flood incorrectly later wrote that he demanded $90,000, not $100,000).

  6 Devine explained: SPD, 3/4/69, 1C; TT, 69:2-14 (Flood).

  6 “I’m making $90,000 now”: NYP, 3/20/69, 104.

  6 The ball sailed: SPD, 10/11/68, 1B, 2B; SGD, 10/11/68, 1B, 2B; PI, 10/11/68, 34; WP, 10/11/68, E1, E2; TSN, 10/26/68, 8. Flood lost a ball in the white shirts earlier in the Series, breaking late in Game 2 on Dick McAuliffe’s sinking bases-loaded liner. The ball went off Flood’s glove and two runs scored. SPD, 10/4/68, 6C; TSN, 10/19/68, 7, 8.

  6 Flood accepted full responsibility: SPD, 10/11/68, 1B; SGD, 10/11/68, 1B, 2B; PI, 10/11/68, 34.

  7 During spring training: Flood, The Way It Is, App. B, 228-36; SPD, 3/23/69, 1A, 9A, 1B; SGD, 3/24/69, 1B; SGD, 3/25/69, 3B; SPD, 3/24/69, 2C; TSN, 4/5/69, 3.

  7 Busch’s favorite player: SPD, 5/21/65, 4B; Hernon and Ganey, Under the Influence , 244.

  7 In May 1969: TT, 41:8-14, 23-25 (Flood); SGD, 4/26-27/69, 6H; Flood, The Way It Is, 85-86; Flood, “Why I Am Challenging Baseball,” Sport, 3/70, 10, in Thorn, ed., The Armchair Book of Baseball, 127-28.

  7 His bat orders; He discovered; “Something is happening”; “They’re either going”; “Yes”: Jim “Mudcat” Grant interview.

  7 In May 1969, the newspapers: SPD, 5/21/69, 4C; SGD, 5/22/69, 1D; BES, 5/21/69, D2.

  7 anonymous comments: SGD, 9/9/69, 1C.

  7 Devine responded: SGD, 9/10/69, 2B; Flood, The Way It Is, 184.

  7 “If they trade me”: PEB, 10/9/69, 29; PI, 11/14/69, 37.

  7 the same mental and physical: TT, 1135:6-14 (Devine); SPD, 10/9/69, 6D.

  7 “shot me down”: TT, 1136:23-25, 1137:2-18 (Devine).

  7 “emotional reaction”: TT, 1135:16-24 (Devine).

  7 The Cardinals general manager believed: TT, 1135:25-1136:13 (Devine).

  8 “Well, there’s not much use”: TT, 1136:3-4 (Devine).

  8 He then offhandedly: TT, 1136:11-17 (Devine).

  8 Flood sat in a chair: Flood, The Way It Is, 185-86.

  8 Quinn called: PDN, 10/9/69, 67.

  8 “comes as a surprise”; “For the past two years”; “I then told”: SPD, 10/8/69, 4E; SPD, 10/9/69, 6D.

  9 “unless he’s better”: SPD, 10/12/69, 7B. For variations of this quote, see SPD, 1/4/70, 3D; WP, 1/2/70, D6.

  9 In March 1967, he had presented: SPD, 3/10/67, 1E; SGD, 3/10/67, 1B.

  9 Busch was so enamored: SPD, 3/10/67, 1E; SPD, 10/1/67, 29J.

  9 the governors of Illinois and Missouri: SGD, 2/22/68, 1D (Illinois); SGD, 9/26/68, 8D (Missouri); SGD, 8/22/69, 3B (Pope).

  9 Leukemia Guild of Missouri: SPD, 12/21/67, 9C; “Oil in the Outfield,” Sport, 3/68, 8; SPD, 9/6/68, 2D.

  9 he had made an extra $15,000: “Oil in the Outfield,” Sport, 3/68, 8.

  9 “Rembrandt”: SGD Magazine, 3/31/68, 4, in TSN, 4/20/68, 9; Gross, “Curt Flood—Ballplayer and Artist,” SGD Sunday Magazine, 3/31/68, 4, reprinted in TSN, 4/20/68, 9, and Ebony, 7/68, 70.

  9 Today show: Flood, The Way It Is, 130.

  9 above her desk: King, “Martin’s Legacy,” Ebony, 1/86, 108 (photograph).

  9 “Your painting”: SPD, 9/6/68, 2D.

  9 White House: NYT, 1/22/02, A15; WP, 1/22/02, A2; Judy Pace Flood interview.

  9 Yes, he had been drawing: SPD, 9/11/67, 2D; Gross, “Curt Flood—Ballplayer and Artist,” SGD Sunday Magazine, 3/31/68, 4, reprinted in TSN, 4/20/68, 9, and Ebony, 7/68, 70; Flood, The Way It Is, 21, 30.

  9 During the fall of 1959: TSN, 4/20/68, 9; Gross, “Curt Flood—Ballplayer and Artist,” SGD Sunday Magazine, 3/31/68, 4, reprinted in TSN, 4/20/68, 9, and Ebony, 7/68, 70.

  10 His sketches of teammate: SPD, 9/8/63, 4F; TSN, 9/7/63, 4.

  10 watched him unpack the paintings: Bill Jones interview.

  10 The day after the trade: Flood, The Way It Is, 185-86, 188.

  10 “Notice to player number 614”; “Best of luck”: TT, 48-49 (Flood).

  10 “If I had been”: Flood, The Way It Is, 187.

  10 Flood was so depressed: Ibid., 189.

  10 Few people understood; “that white lady”: Ibid., 124.

  10 mother hen: Marian Jorgensen interview; Jim “Mudcat” Grant interview.

  10 Mean and sometimes Machiavellian: Marian Jorgensen interview; Bil
l Jones interview.

  10 Flood met Marian: Flood, The Way It Is, 113-19.

  11 “humanists”: Ibid., 115.

  11 The Jorgensens became: Ibid., 113-19.

  11 The owner of an Oakland engraving: Ibid., 118-19.

  11 the Lord’s Prayer: Stump, “Curt Flood in the Midnight League,” Sport, 3/65, 79.

  11 Johnny made Curt a partner: TSN, 9/14/63, 7; TSN, 1/25/64, 9.

  11 Johnny was stabbed: OT, 12/15/66; OT, 12/16/66, 1, 8; OT, 12/17/66, 25; Ancestry.com California Death Index, 1940-1997.

  11 Oakland police detectives: Jack Richardson interview; OT, 12/20/66, 16; Flood, The Way It Is, 122.

  11 In 1967, Curt begged Marian: Flood, The Way It Is, 122-24.

  11 Marian had taken: Ibid., 125-29.

  -12 Carl had begun pocketing: Karen Brecher interview.

  12 $300-a-day: SGD, 3/18/69, 1A, 8A; SPD, 3/17/69, 1A, 5A. Flood claimed that Carl was addicted to morphine, not heroin. Flood, The Way It Is, 131.

  12 Carl and a convicted: SGD, 3/18/69, 1A, 8A; SPD, 3/17/69, 1A, 5A; Flood, The Way It Is, 131-32.

  12 Carl’s arrest: SPD, 4/8/69, 2C.

  12 she could drink, swear: Allan Zerman interview.

  12 Some people thought: Bill Jones interview; Rickie Riley interview.

  12 Two days after the trade: Flood, The Way It Is, 189.

  12 Even before his trade: Katz, “Life with the Cardinals,” Sport, 7/68, 57; SPT, 4/25/68, 1-C; Olsen, “In the Back of the Bus,” SI, 7/22/68, 34 (anonymous quotes criticizing reserve clause which appear to be from Flood, who was quoted earlier in the article).

  12 Curt pondered: Flood, The Way It Is, 189.

  12 “I went to Europe”: NYP, 3/20/69, 104.

  12 Club 6: Ibid.; Footwear, 5/1/69, 27, Independent, 3/6/69, in Curt Flood TSN file; SPD, 3/2/69.

  13 Even in Copenhagen: PI, 10/13/69, 25; TSN, 11/1/69, 17; TT, 56:3-57:9 (Flood); Flood, The Way It Is, 189.

  13 Flood reiterated: PI, 10/13/69, 25; TT, 57:2-9 (Flood).

  13 On November 7: TT, 57:19-58:18 (Flood); PDN, 11/8/69, 29; PEB, 11/9/69, sec. 3, 5.

  13 They treated their players; “northernmost southern city”: Flood, The Way It Is, 188.

  13 “the nigger here”: Parrott, The Lords of Baseball, 242. Parrott, the Dodgers’ traveling secretary and publicist, is the only source for this allegation. He claims to have been on the phone with Branch Rickey during Rickey’s conversation with Pennock.

  13 Phillies owner Bob Carpenter: Robinson, “A Kentucky Colonel kept me in baseball,” Look, 2/8/55, 86.

  13 Philadelphia manager Ben Chapman: Robinson, Jackie Robinson: My Own Story, 128, 145; Robinson, “A Kentucky Colonel kept me in baseball,” Look, 2/8/55, 86-87.

  13 The Ben Franklin: Parrott, The Lords of Baseball, 243-45; Robinson, “A Kentucky Colonel kept me in baseball,” Look, 2/8/55, 87.

  14 Quinn explained: PDN, 11/8/69, 29; PEB, 11/9/69, sec. 3, 5; TT, 57:19-58:18 (Flood).

  14 Flood insisted: PDN, 11/8/69, 29; PEB, 11/9/69, sec. 3, 5; TT, 57:19-58:18 (Flood).

  14 “It may be”: PEB, 11/9/69, sec. 3, 5; TSN, 11/29/69, 30.

  14 “keep an open mind”: PEB, 11/9/69, sec. 3, 5.

  14 “I don’t think”: TT, 58:15-16 (Flood).

  14 “Curt Nearly a Phil”: PDN, 11/8/69, 29.

  14 if he had $1,000: PEB, 11/9/68, sec. 3, 5.

  14 Two of Flood’s former teammates; “the money”: PDN, 11/19/69, 61.

  14 Flood liked Quinn: Flood, The Way It Is, 189-90; PDN, 11/19/69, 61.

  14 Soon after he had returned: Allan Zerman interview; Flood, The Way It Is, 190.

  15 Zerman had never seen: Allan Zerman interview.

  15 “There is one other alternative”: Flood, “Why I Am Challenging Baseball,” Sport, 3/70, 10, in Thorn, ed., The Armchair Book of Baseball, 130.

  15 Flood was startled: Ibid.; Allan Zerman interview.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Page

  16 Marvin Miller was not expecting: Marvin Miller interview; PEB, 1/6/70, 49, in TSN, 1/24/70, 38; Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, 169, 173-74.

  16 Miller did not know: Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, 170-71; Marvin Miller interview; BAA, 2/25/69, 14.

  16 Miller could tell: Marvin Miller interview; Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, 173-74.

  16 “wouldn’t bet”: Marvin Miller interview.

  16 Flood asked Miller: PEB, 1/6/70, 49, in TSN, 1/24/70, 38; Flood, The Way It Is, 190; Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, 169.

  17 “J.C.” or “Don Quixote”; “He likes the impossible”: NYP, 2/26/69, 93.

  17 The son of a ladies’ garment: Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, 11-18.

  17 Giants public relations man: Ibid., 51-52; Boyle, “This Miller Admits He’s a Grind,” SI, 3/11/74, 23. For the best profile of Miller, see Fimrik, “Marvin Miller,” SI, 3/3/80, 56-70.

  17 He then began taking prelaw: Marvin Miller interview.

  17 Miller spent the first 12 years: Ibid.; Boyle, “This Miller Admits He’s a Grind,” SI, 3/11/74, 23, 25; Helyar, Lords of the Realm, 17-18; Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, 19-21.

  17 rudderless: Helyar, Lords of the Realm, 18.

  18 Steelworkers Union: Its official name is the United Steelworkers of America, but it is commonly referred to as the Steelworkers Union.

  18 For years: For the early history of the union, see Korr, The End of Baseball As We Knew It, 15-34; Lowenfish, The Imperfect Diamond, 139-53, 183-92; Helyar, Lords of the Realm, 9-14; Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, 6-7, 40.

  18 Miller came: Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, 4, 31; Roberts, “The Game Deserves the Best,” SI, 2/24/69, 45-46.

  18 “a strong man”: Boyle, “This Miller Admits He’s a Grind,” SI, 3/11/74, 25.

  18 Cannon balked: Dolson, Jim Bunning, 104-9; Korr, The End of Baseball As We Knew It, 28-31; Helyar, Lords of the Realm, 17.

  18 “pencil-thin”; “shimmering blue”: Fimrik, “Marvin Miller,” SI, 3/3/80, 64.

  18 Roberts begged: Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, 40-41.

  18 Miller denied: Marvin Miller interview.

  18 the players voted, 489-136: The voters also included 120 coaches, managers, and trainers, who were not part of the association but were included in the pension plan. Ibid.

  18 The player representatives informed Miller: Ibid.; Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, 68-72; Korr, The End of Baseball As We Knew It, 47-50.

  18 $344 in annual union dues: Prior to Miller’s election, the players had been paying $344 a year to fund the pension plan until the owners agreed to fund it for them. The annual pension contribution became the players’ union dues. The union dues were tax deductible, but the pension contribution was not, so Miller ended up saving the players money on the deal. Marvin Miller interview.

  19 The 49-year-old Miller: Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, 143.

  19 He tackled issues: Ibid., 95-97; Helyar, Lords of the Realm, 29, 36; Korr, The End of Baseball As We Knew It, 68-75; “At Last, Professional Bargaining in Baseball,” Sport, 10/67, 98.

  19 he showed the players: Helyar, Lords of the Realm, 91-101; Korr, The End of Baseball As We Knew It, 75-76; Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, 99-101. 19 The promanagement sporting press: The leaders of the anti-Miller faction were the Atlanta Journal’s Furman Bisher and the New York Daily News’s Dick Young. See AJ, 2/25/69, 1-C; NYDN, 4/14/72, 81; Korr, The End of Baseball As We Knew It, 43-45. They later led the charge against Flood’s lawsuit.

  19 Miller’s mission: Marvin Miller interview; Allan Zerman interview; Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, 174-81.

  19 Flood began: Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, 174-75.

  20 “[e]very contract, combination”; “trade or commerce”: 15 U.S.C. sec. 1. The Sherman Act also provides for triple damages and attorneys’ fees. 15 U.S.C. sec. 15. In 1924, Congress supplemented the enforcement of the Sherman Act with the Clayton Act. 29 U.S.C. sec. 52.

  20 The U.S. Constitution: This is kno
wn as the “Commerce Clause.” U.S. Const., art. I, sec. 8, cl. 3.

  20 A District of Columbia jury: The jury verdict was $80,000. The jury also awarded the owners of the Baltimore Terrapins $24,000 in attorneys’ fees. See Supreme Court Brief on Behalf of Plaintiff in Error in Federal Baseball, 2.

  20 A federal appeals court: For the best explanation of the appeals court’s decision, see White, Creating the National Pastime, 71-81.

  20 “The business is giving”: Federal Baseball Club of Baltimore, Inc. v. National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, 259 U.S. 200, 208 (1922). For additional facts about Federal Baseball, see Supreme Court Records and Briefs for Federal Baseball (on file with author); 269 F. 681 (D.C. Cir. 1921) (Court of Appeals decision).

  20 The Court said that the transportation: Federal Baseball, 259 U.S., 208-9.

  21 “loathe[d] and despise[d]”; “foolish law”: Howe, ed., Holmes-Laski Letters, 249, 719.

  21 A bookish, unathletic child: White, Creating the National Pastime, 80. A Holmes biographer described him as a “thin and awkward” child who “shrank from new things” and “did not learn how to skate or to ride.” Novick, Honorable Justice, 13. Another biographer said that Holmes “rowed ‘a good deal,’ swam, shot, and fished.” Baker, The Justice from Beacon Hill, 56.

  21 In Holmes’s defense: McDonald, “Antitrust and Baseball: Stealing Holmes,” J. of Sct. Hist., vol. 2 (1998), 107-15. McDonald’s article is the best defense of Holmes.

  21 a 29-year-old pitcher: LAT, 5/2/51, C2; NYT, 12/6/51, 56; NYT, 5/26/53, 1, 25; NYT, 10/11/53, E10; NYT, 10/14/53, 37; NYT, 11/10/53, 1, 40; TSN, 12/14/87, 60; Toolson v. New York Yankees, Inc., 101 F. Supp. 90 (D.C. Cal. 1951); 200 F.2d 198 (9th Cir. 1952); 346 U.S. 356 (1953).

  21 Toolson had signed: SFC, 2/16/70, 46.

  21 ineligible list: 101 F. Supp., 93.

  21 two other unsuccessful: NYT, 10/11/53, E10; TSN, 10/14/53, 21; Kowalski v. Chandler, 202 F.3d 413 (6th Cir. 1953); Corbett v. Chandler, 202 F.2d 428 (6th Cir. 1953).

  22 “underlying issues”: Toolson, 346 U.S., 357.