April 10, 2009

From 1969 to Opening Day 2009

It has been close to forty years since the St. Louis Cardinals traded Curt Flood to the Philadelphia Phillies. This forty year period has seen a dramatic change in the salary structure of baseball. In 1969, the average salary for a major league player was slightly under $25,000.00. At the start of the 2008 Major League season, the average salary of a Major League player was at $3,150,000.00

How much of this staggering increase over forty years can be attributed to Curt Flood and his fight to end the reserve clause? The MLB Players Association’s own website had this to say about Curt Flood’s fight:

So Curt Flood was no doubt a great pioneer for the players in starting the struggle to get rid of the reserve clause, and eventually pitchers Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally broke the door down. Was there anyone at that time who could foresee such a dramatic rise in player salaries? Actually one name comes to mind - former Oakland A’s owner Charlie Finley, who attempted to sell three of his top players Joe Rudi, Rollie Fingers and Vida Blue to other clubs during the 1976 season because of their impending free agency. Once again Commissioner Kuhn became involved vetoing the sale of the players and setting the way for another famous baseball lawsuit- Finley v. Kuhn.

Former union executive and baseball player agent Dick Moss was quoted in USA TODAY some years back with this to say about the Seitz ruling. "I knew it would be meaningful to the players, but I wasn't sure it would be this meaningful. In terms of economic impact, it was perhaps the biggest labor arbitration case in history. You can express the difference between winning and losing that case in terms of tens of billions of dollars.”

However, Moss does say that most of what's happening now in terms of high salaries “...is the product of revenues. They're so vast in baseball, and salaries reflect that. The industry keeps growing."

As another baseball season opens, player such as Mark Texiera, AJ Burnett, and CC Sabathia owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to Curt Flood, whose landmark struggle heavily influenced the subsequent Seitz ruling of 1975.

CC Sabathia

Summing up: I think it fair to say that the offices of the MLB players union should prominently display Curt Flood’s jersey. Every current and former player should carry the iconic Flood’s baseball card in his wallet.