A Well-Paid Slave

by Brad Snyder

  159 He criticized: BAA, 5/12/70, 17 (Frank); LAT, 3/16/68, A1 (Willie); BAA, 2/21/67, 13 (Willie); BAA, 3/19/68, 12 (Willie); BAA, 4/2/68, 12 (Willie). See A Well-Paid Slave, 120, 396.

  159 He clashed: LAT, 7/25/69, B10; BAA, 8/5/69, 15; Cosell, Cosell, 73-74.

  159 “I don’t know”: “Where the Negro Goes from Here in Sports,” Sport, 9/66, 57.

  159 “when there’s an issue”: Ibid., 59.

  159 “I think Curt is doing”: Thompson, “Man Who Fights Power Structure of Baseball,” Jet, 2/15/70, 52-53.

  159 A registered independent: Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, 340-41. Rampersad described Robinson as “a Republican at heart, albeit a liberal Republican on the key matter of civil rights.” Ibid., 341.

  160 Iverson thought: Bill Iverson interview.

  160 In July, the company: Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, 420-21, 440.

  160 “It had seemed”: Bill Iverson interview.

  160 “thought Flood”: Marvin Miller interview.

  160 “I was young”: Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, 366.

  161 Even lawyers: Douglas Robinson interview.

  161 “You don’t”; “No”: TT, 192:6-7 (Robinson).

  161 Judge Cooper tried; “Well, sir”: TT, 192:8-19 (Robinson).

  161 “because in my view”: TT, 195:13-18 (Robinson).

  162 After the trade: TT, 195:20-196:9 (Robinson).

  162 $35,000 to 50,000 or more: On December 13, 1956, the Giants sent Robinson a contract for $35,000, but an accompanying letter from Chub Feeney made it clear that the financial terms were open to discussion. Jackie Robinson Papers, Box 2, Folder 16. The amount of the Giants’ final offer, generally believed to be $50,000, varies depending on the source. NYT, 1/10/57, 49 ($50,000 or more); LAT, 1/10/57, C1 ($50,000); WP, 1/10/57, A20 ($70,000); CT, 1/11/57, B3 (“around $50,000”); TSN, 1/16/57, 3, 6 ($50,000); CDEF, 1/19/57, 18 ($50,000); Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, 307 (citing Associated Press source of $65,000); Kahn, The Boys of Summer, 388-89 (initial offer of $40,000 plus two years as a scout at $20,000 per season; then the Giants called to up their offer).

  162 $42,500: NYT, 1/8/57, 35 (reporting $42,500 figure for 1953 and 1957 salary of $33,000); TSN, 1/16/57, 4 ($42,500 in 1952); Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, 245, 255 ($42,000 in 1952 and possibly 1953).

  162 “statement”: TT, 196:5-9 (Robinson).

  162 During the 1949 season: Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, 207.

  162 “[A]nything that is”: TT, 198:3-11, 17-20 (Robinson); NYT, 5/22/70, 22; NYP, 5/21/70, 84, 72; NYP, 5/22/70, 80; NYDN, 5/22/70, 87.

  162 younger players: TT, 198:15-17 (Robinson).

  162 “the reserve clause”: TT, 199:11-13 (Robinson).

  162-63 Robinson discussed; “hurt his chances”: TT, 200:9-20 (Robinson).

  163 “I would like to say”: TT, 202:18-20 (Robinson).

  163 Hughes objected: TT, 202:21 (Hughes).

  163 “that is the issue”: TT, 203:21-22 (Cooper).

  163 On cross-examination; “I am highly”; “I could have said”: TT, 210:2-213:19 (Robinson).

  163 Goldberg finally objected: TT, 213:20-214:21 (Goldberg).

  163 Robinson indicated: TT, 214:22-215:3 (Robinson).

  164 I think they should: TT, 288:6-19 (quoting Organized Professional Team Sports, 85th Cong., 2nd Sess., 295).

  164 “Could I have”: TT, 288:21 (Hughes). Both Hughes and Goldberg failed to discover Robinson’s April 14, 1957, comments about the reserve clause on Meet the Press. In that interview, as in his Senate testimony, Robinson both defended and criticized the reserve clause. At one point, he told moderator Lawrence Spivak: “Mr. Spivak, I don’t know why I’m defending this reserve clause; really I don’t know why I am doing it, so, I will just say here, for the players’ benefit certainly something should be done, but I hope it doesn’t have to be done through the courts. I hope that the baseball owners will think enough of the ballplayers themselves to say, ‘Well, I’m going to do something for the players besides selling them whenever I can—maybe giving them a piece of the money when they are sold.’ I hope it’s done that way rather than through the courts.” Meet the Press transcript, 4/14/57, 9, Lawrence Spivak Papers. Thirteen years later, the only thing that had changed was Robinson’s willingness to stand up in court against the reserve clause.

  164 Robinson had testified: Organized Professional Team Sports, 85th Cong., 2nd Sess., 294-95.

  164 “So I believe”: Ibid., 296.

  164 “It means to me”: TT, 217:11-12 (Robinson).

  164 “after a certain number”: TT, 221:23-24 (Robinson).

  165 “It takes a tremendous”: TT, 222:4-12 (Robinson).

  165 “soliloquy . . . sent chills”: Burns, Baseball, vol. 9 (Flood); Burns/Flood interview, 11.

  165 Instead, Cooper requested: Douglas Robinson interview.

  165 “Mr. Greenberg”: TT, 224:4-5 (Goldberg).

  166 “Stick in there”; “Class tells”: Greenberg, My Life in Baseball, 189-91; NYT, 5/18/47, sec. 5, 5; TSN, 05/28/47, 20; Robinson, My Own Story, 146-47.

  166 Greenberg heard: Greenberg, The Story of My Life, 176.

  166 “Mr. Galbreath”: Ibid., 181.

  167 Greenberg, knowing: Stephen Greenberg interview.

  167 “Greenberg said”: Memo, Gitter and Topkis to Goldberg, 5/7/70, Telephone Logs—1970, Goldberg Papers, Box I:135, Folder 4.

  167 physically imposing: Jay Topkis interview.

  167 calm, reserved, and almost aloof: Bill Iverson interview.

  167 “the reserve clause”: TT, 230:18-19-231:15 (Greenberg).

  167 Judge Cooper asked: TT, 232:5-18 (Cooper and Greenberg).

  167 “[I]t’s a unilateral contract”: TT, 232:22-24 (Greenberg).

  167 “I think”: TT, 235:9-21 (Greenberg).

  167 “That is the kind”: TT, 235:22-24 (Cooper).

  168 Greenberg, who believed: TT, 239-40 (Greenberg).

  168 Greenberg, however, added: TT, 247:18-19 (Greenberg).

  168 Greenberg also admitted: TT, 247:17-18 (Greenberg).

  168 peak form: TT, 243:11-15 (Greenberg).

  168 “I would be perfectly”: TT, 241:12-14 (Greenberg).

  168 Marvin Miller retook: TT, 250-84 (Miller).

  168 “tried too hard”: Brosnan, The Long Season, 224.

  168 “He’s the first pitcher”: WP, 4/19/66, C4.

  169 DeWitt demanded prior: Jim Brosnan interview; TT, 331-33 (Brosnan); Golenbock, The Spirit of St. Louis, 430.

  169 The Player further: Uniform Player Contract, para. 3(c). 169 DeWitt withheld: TT, 332-33 (Brosnan).

  169 “You’re being censored”: SGD, 3/27/63, 3C.

  169 “You can’t write here”: Jim Brosnan interview.

  169 $32,000 to $25,000: LAT, 3/11/64, B1.

  169 “Brosnan can be had”: TT, 323:18 (Brosnan).

  169 Europe: TSN, 12/7/63, 37, 42.

  169 “Situation Sought”; “Free Agent”: TSN, 3/7/64, 21.

  169-70 Only the unconventional; Brent Musburger: Jim Brosnan interview.

  170 The American Civil Liberties Union: NYT, 3/8/64, sec. 5, 3.

  170 Bill Iverson called; “Why am I”: Ibid.; TT, 348-49.

  170 “I didn’t perceive”: Jim Brosnan interview.

  170 Brosnan spent two: Ibid.; TT, 348-49 (Brosnan).

  170 On the day of his testimony: Jim Brosnan interview.

  170 “fiercely racist”: Red Smith interview, 35, Chandler Collection.

  170-71 The two men; Brosnan was eager; “What has”: Jim Brosnan interview.

  171 “He is a large”: WP, 4/19/66, C4.

  171 Brosnan explained: TT, 299:7-301:21.

  171 “My wife threatened”; “She gave”: TT, 301:22-302:11 (Brosnan).

  171 Paul Menking: Jim Brosnan interview; TSN, 6/13/70, 8.

  171 36 cents postage due: TT, 324:3 (Brosnan).

  171 “This is your testimony”: TT, 324:18-24 (Cooper).

  172 On the reserve clause, Brosnan mentioned: TT, 340-43 (Brosnan).r />
  172 “When a ballplayer”: TT, 346:24-347:14 (Brosnan).

  172 Brosnan never; “Why was”; “There’s a time”; “We don’t seem”; “When your”: Jim Brosnan interview.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Page

  173 “blur”: Flood, “The Legacy of Curt Flood,” Sport, 11/77, 38.

  173 He shared a suite: Allan Zerman interview.

  173 Flood also went out for drinks: Max Gitter interview; Bill Iverson interview.

  173 One afternoon: Ibid.; Jay Topkis interview.

  174 If you’re expecting: NYTM, 11/30/69, 134.

  174 Brown even came: Judy Pace Flood interview.

  174 His Warwick Hotel suite: Interview (anon.) by author.

  174 The secretaries at Paul, Weiss: Bill Iverson interview.

  174 Feeling the pressure: Sport, 11/77, 39.

  174 The rest of the trial: Flood, The Way It Is, 204-5.

  175 “Did you ever have”: TT, 511:22-25 (Cooper).

  175 a move that must have: Robert Kheel interview.

  175 “So far as I know”: CST, 6/2/70, 82.

  175 “Some of Curt’s friends”: Ibid.

  175 Flood and Zerman: Allan Zerman interview; SGD, 5/29/70, 2B.

  175 “Curt Flood still likes”: LAT, 5/30/70, C4.

  175 The night before he pitched: Allan Zerman interview.

  176 “I know we talked”: Joe Torre interview.

  176 “[I]f I had it”: Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, 197 (emphasis in original).

  176 “obviously not”; “was free”: TT, 601:2-9, 602-3 (Hughes).

  176 All of Flood’s witnesses: TT, 614:6-11, 616:22-25 (Hughes).

  177 “we are fortunate”: TT, 622:9-25 (Topkis).

  177 it was time for Toolson: TT, 624-25 (Topkis).

  177 insurance companies: TT, 629-31 (Topkis).

  177 “The only difference”: TT, 632:15-24 (Topkis).

  177 “I would ask”: TT, 633:6-11 (Topkis).

  177 “high moral tone”; “I think”: Kuhn, Hardball, 70.

  178 Kuhn acceded: Marvin Miller interview.

  178 “[T]he Lords of Baseball”: NYDN, 5/17/70, 141.

  178 “decorated in Early Authority”: Bouton, Ball Four, 416.

  178 Kuhn tried: Ibid.; Holtzman, “Attendance and Litigation Were Up in 1970,” 302; CST, 6/2/70, 82.

  178 The commissioner viewed: Kuhn, Hardball, 86.

  179 that “baseball as we know it”: TT, 717:17-18 (Kuhn).

  179 “Baseball as we know”; “The only aspect”: NYT, 6/14/70, 3.

  179 Without the reserve clause; “exhibition business”: TT, 717:4-16 (Kuhn).

  179 “chaotic conditions”: TT, 680:20-681:4 (Kuhn).

  179 Topkis countered: TT, 817 (Topkis and Kuhn).

  179 Four teams: TT, 906 (Topkis and Kuhn).

  179 Both Kuhn: TT, 741:16-742:2 (Kuhn); TT, 963:23-24, 984:12-16, 1078-80

  (Feeney).

  179 Feeney raised: TT, 963:22-24 (Feeney).

  180 “the public’s confidence”: TT, 1080:13-18 (Feeney).

  180 Kuhn made an equally: TT, 660:7-8, 693 (Kuhn).

  180 During a routine double play: TSN, 9/24/47, 6; CT, 9/12/47, 32; NYT, 9/12/47, 39; Robinson, My Own Story, 129, 158-59; Tygiel, Baseball’s Great Experiment, 204; Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, 184-85. On the Robinson-Slaughter incident, see A Well-Paid Slave, 52, 377.

  180 “made a crack”: Robinson, My Own Story, 129, 158.

  180 Garagiola spent: Kahn, The Era, 96-98; Allen, Jackie Robinson, 138-39; Garagiola, It’s Anybody’s Ballgame, 160.

  180 Garagiola spelled: NYT, 6/3/70, 35.

  180 “Do you always”: TT, 1176:23-25 (Cooper and Garagiola).

  180 “I wish you”: TT, 1177:12-13 (Garagiola).

  180 “To me”: TT, 1183:17-19 (Garagiola).

  180 Topkis declined: Jay Topkis interview.

  181 “Being traded”: Thorn, et. al., eds., Total Baseball, 6th ed., 2505.

  181 “one of the finest”: TT, 1219:10-19 (Cronin).

  181 “Didn’t he attain”; “That I don’t”: TT, 1220:15-17 (Topkis and Cronin).

  181 “jumped his reserve clause”: TT, 1221:2-3 (Topkis).

  182 Kauffman said $125,000: TT, 1513:6-7, 11-14 (Kauffman).

  182 “How much”; “I don’t know”: TT, 1513:19-22 (Topkis and Kauffman).

  182 “Eddie”: Veeck, Veeck As in Wreck, 14.

  183 “discriminate[d] against”; “a short ballplayer”: Ibid., 21.

  183 As the owner; In Cleveland: Ibid., 60, 159.

  183 “I have tried”: TT, 2037:6-7 (Veeck).

  183 Although disputed: Compare Veeck, Veeck As in Wreck, 171-72, with Jordan et al., “A Baseball Myth Exploded,” 3-13. Historians have given more credence to Veeck’s story with the discovery of more contemporaneous references to his alleged plot to stock the Phillies with black players. Lanctot, Negro League Baseball, 444 n. 41.

  184 “After all”: TT, 1984:6-7 (Veeck).

  184 After Veeck received: TT, 2018-19 (Veeck); Veeck, Veeck As in Wreck, 275-77.

  184 “legally and morally”; “Some very knowledgeable”: NYP, 6/11/70, 91; CST, 6/25/72, 141; NYT, 2/3/81, B18; WP, 5/31/81, D4.

  184 During a three-hour dinner: Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, 365-67.

  184 “I was prepared”: Jay Topkis interview.

  185 Veeck initially agreed: Memo, Gitter and Topkis to Goldberg, 5/7/70, Telephone Logs 1970, Goldberg Papers, Box I:135, Folder 4.

  185 The owners’ lawyers: TT, 919-26.

  185 where they ate salmon: Bill Iverson interview.

  185 Iverson was concerned: Ibid.

  185 Tribute to Bill Veeck: TT, 1959:20-1960:9 (Topkis and Veeck).

  185 The owners: Bill Iverson interview; WP, 5/31/81, D4.

  185 Doctors at the Mayo Clinic: Veeck, Veeck As in Wreck, 378-79.

  186 Miller sat there; “Bill”: Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, 367.

  186 “Well, I presume”: TT, 1959:12-14 (Veeck).

  186 Topkis then read: TT, 1959:15-1960:9 (Veeck).

  186 “he had thought”: Jay Topkis interview.

  186 “wouldn’t dislocate”: TT, 1965:25 (Veeck).

  186 Veeck advocated: TT, 1967:10-11, 1967-69 (Veeck).

  186 “though it grieves me”: TT, 1971:23-1972:3 (Veeck).

  186 “not a question”: TT, 1972:11-13 (Veeck).

  187 “Everyone should once”: TT, 1974:6-13 (Veeck).

  187 He believed that teams: TT, 1977, 1981 (Veeck).

  187 “I think that it would”: TT, 1976:2-4 (Veeck).

  187 “I would say”: TT, 1988:7-8 (Kramer).

  187 Goldberg: TT, 1999-2001 (Goldberg).

  187 Cooper asked; “I know”: TT, 2008:18-20 (Cooper).

  188 “I’m sorry”: TT, 2008:25 (Veeck).

  188 “I find that question”: TT, 2023:24-2024:3 (Veeck).

  188 “I think it is”: TT, 2035:22-23 (Veeck).

  188 “intractable minds”: NYT, 6/11/70, 59.

  188 He walked out: NYP, 6/10/70, 112.

  188 “necessary”: WP, 10/9/70, D2.

  188 15 trial days: Major League Baseball Post-trial Brief, 4 (on file with author).

  188 “leadership”; “exemplary”: TT, 2274:25-2275:2 (Cooper).

  188 “your hair-trigger”: TT, 2275:5-7 (Cooper).

  188 “As to the case”: TT, 2075:16-23 (Cooper).

  189 “The law doesn’t”; “‘Only death’ ”; “‘Much harm’ ”: TT, 2076:6-12 (Cooper), quoting In re J. P. Linahan, 138 F.2d 650, 652, 652-53 (2d Cir. 1943).

  189 “That is the effect”: TT, 2076:13-14 (Cooper).

  189 Flood was not present: NYT, 6/11/70, 59.

  189 Nor was he: WP, 6/9/70, D2; WP, 5/27/70, F3.

  189 “bedding and boozing”: Flood, The Way It Is, 207.

  189 Members of Flood’s legal team: Interview (anon.) by author.

  189 Carter’s 12-year-old son, John: John Carter interview.

  190 The IRS w
as on his tail: SGD, 8/4/70, 3B.

  190 In early August, Marian: Flood, The Way It Is, 207-8.

  190 The failure to file: Letter from Missouri Secretary of State to Allan Zerman, 1/1/71, on file with author.

  190 She never remarried: Marian Jorgensen interview; Judy Pace Flood interview.

  190 He initially checked into: Flood, “The Legacy of Curt Flood,” Sport, 11/77, 39.

  191 He checked out: Ibid.; Flood, The Way It Is, 209.

  191 “In Denmark”: WP, 10/15/70, G1.

  191 In Federal Baseball and Toolson: Flood Post-trial Brief, 58 (on file with author).

  191 “Who is the real”: Owners’ Post-trial Brief, 5-7.

  191 Cooper’s 47-page typewritten: Flood v. Kuhn, 316 F. Supp. 271, 277 (S.D.N.Y. 1970).

  192 He rejected: Ibid., 279-80.

  192 He found: Ibid., 278.

  192 “has the right”: Ibid., 281.

  192 “To the Four Freedoms”: BES, 8/19/70, C4.

  192 Prior to the trial: Flood v. Kuhn, 316 F. Supp., 276.

  192 Cooper also predicted; “the reserve clause”: Ibid., 283-84.

  192 “We are bound”: Ibid., 285.

  192 “I am particularly pleased”; “Judge Cooper only”: NYT, 8/13/70, 53.

  193 Miller chided: NYDN, 8/15/70, 31.

  193 Arthur Goldberg heard the news: NYT, 8/13/70, 23, 53.

  193 He won over a few reporters: NYTM, 11/1/70, 25, 59.

  193 “This is the end”: NYT, 8/13/70, 53.

  193 “wants to come back”: WP, 8/13/70, H1.

  193 On August 31: SPD, 9/1/70, 1C, 2C; SGD, 9/1/70, 3B; PI, 9/1/70, 22; NYT, 9/1/70, 40; WP, 9/1/70, 46. Retrosheet and baseballreference.com place the date of the transaction as August 30.

  193 International Herald Tribune: Flood, “The Legacy of Curt Flood,” Sport, 11/77, 39; BMS, 4/26/81, C10. Compare Flood, The Way It Is, 209 (Flood says he heard about the decision “by mail”).

  193 “permanent home”; He had begun: NYP, 10/29/70, 72.

  193 His only American visitor: Judy Pace Flood interview.

  193 American soldiers: Flood, The Way It Is, 209; NYP, 10/29/70, 72.

  194 “a vacation resort”: Flood, The Way It Is, 209.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Page

  195 Washington Post sportswriter Leonard Shapiro: WP, 10/15/70, G1. The article was written by William Gildea, but he distinctly remembers another Post reporter conducting the initial interview. William Gildea interview. The reporter was almost certainly Shapiro, who remembered calling overseas and interviewing Flood as a young reporter. Leonard Shapiro interview; e-mails from Shapiro to author, November 22 and 23, 2005. Gildea mentioned the phone number in a subsequent article. WP, 11/8/70, 46.