A Well-Paid Slave

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A Well-Paid Slave Page 54

by Brad Snyder


  311 “I would do it”: Harry Blackmun interview with Bill Moyers. See also Blackmun Oral History, 9/18/95, 295 (“I think it was a good opinion. I’m glad that history is there”).

  311 “will always be”: The Federalist no. 78.

  312 “ ‘[A] decision’ ”: Flood v. Kuhn, 407 U.S. 258, 293 n. 4 (1972) (Marshall, J., dissenting), quoting Peter L. Szanton, “Stare Decisis: A Dissenting View,” 10 Hastings L.J. 394, 397 (1959) (internal quotation marks omitted).

  312 “outsiders”: Blackmun Oral History, 9/18/95, 294.

  312 “I think”: Ibid., 12/13/95, 474.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Page

  313 Marvin Miller called Curt: Marvin Miller interview.

  313 “Baby, I gave them”: “A Loss for Curt Flood,” Newsweek, 7/3/72, 67.

  313 “What Flood v. Kuhn really accomplished”: Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, 195. See also ibid., 196.

  313 Even the owners’ chief negotiator: Helyar, Lords of the Realm, 134-35; NYT, 12/22/85, sec. 5, 3.

  313 “After the Flood case”: NYT, 12/22/85, sec. 5, 3.

  314 Now the pressure: Miller, A Whole Different Ball Game, 239.

  314 The servicemen found: TSN, 9/9/72, 6, 8.

  315 He told Bob Sheridan: Bob Sheridan interview; NYT, 7/1/72, 14; WES, 7/1/72, A-14.

  315 “He abstained”: BMS, 1/6/73.

  315 sending him videotapes: Flood, “The Legacy of Curt Flood,” Sport, 11/77, 40; SFC, 9/4/79, 20.

  315 “It’s been three years”; “The problem”: WP, 4/2/73, D4. For similar quotes, see BES, 4/5/73, D11; NYT, 4/2/73, 54; SGD, 4/2/73, 1C.

  315 Off camera; “These are mine”; “[i]n spite of himself”: SFC, 7/18/86, 89.

  316 “I am extremely proud”: Burns, Baseball, vol. 9.

  316 “Jackie, as a figure”: Ibid.; Rampersad, Jackie Robinson, 459-61; NYT, 10/29/72, 61.

  316 “A life”: Burns, Baseball, vol. 9.

  316 Miller believed: Marvin Miller interview; Marvin Miller interview by Gabriel Schechter, 3/24/92, 18.

  316 Six months later: WP, 5/6/70, D3.

  316 In the past: Marvin Miller interview; Marvin Miller interview by Gabriel Schechter, 3/24/92, 18.

  317 On Catfish Hunter: Helyar, Lords of the Realm, 141-59.

  317 “the Club shall have the right”: TT, 25A.

  317 In 1967, a California judge: NYT, 8/9/67, 31.

  317-18 On Simmons, Lyle, and Tolan: Helyar, Lords of the Realm, 130-36.

  318-19 On Messersmith and McNally: Ibid., 162-80; Rovell, “The Early Days of Free Agency”; Stark, “The Decision That Changed the Game”; WP, 6/10/75, D1; NYT, 10/26/75, 221; LAT, 11/20/75, E1.

  318 The owners attacked: Lou Hoynes interview.

  319 “I can’t help but think”: Marvin Miller interview.

  319 Miller and Moss wanted: TSN, 4/16/77, 8.

  320 The six years: Flood, “The Legacy of Curt Flood,” Sport, 11/77, 40.

  320 Having lost his only: Karen Brecher interview.

  320 Flood packed up; “Super Hermit”: “Ebbing Flood,” SI, 8/11/75, 6, 8.

  320 His possessions: Rickie Riley interview.

  320 “He is said”: “Ebbing Flood,” SI, 8/11/75, 6, 8.

  320 “There have been reports”: State Department Document E1, from American Consulate in Barcelona to Secretary of State, 10/2/75.

  320 Two days later; “was drunk”: State Department Document E2, ibid., 10/3/75.

  320 About 10 days later: State Department Document E3, ibid., 10/29/75.

  321 In early November 1975: State Department Document E4, from Secretary of State to American Consulate in Barcelona, 11/3/75. Flood’s half sister, Rickie Riley, said she paid for his flight home. Rickie Riley interview.

  321 Curt believed the resulting bad: Karen Brecher interview.

  321 In 1974, he presented: SPD, 9/5/74. 321 The following year: SFC, 5/4/76, 10.

  321 Curt detested: Karen Brecher interview.

  321 In 1980, he wrote: Ibid.; OT, 7/4/80, D-12.

  322 While Curt was in Spain; His family says: Rickie Riley interview.

  322 “a couple”; “They gave me”; Flood smoked cigarettes; “It’s a little difficult”; Ideally, he wanted; “Don’t get picked”: NYT, 9/9/76, 55.

  322 Although he denied it: OT, 10/28/76, 39.

  323 “The things that I did”; “cool”; “These guys”: NYT, 9/9/76, 55.

  323 “[T]here was no way”: Flood, “The Legacy of Curt Flood,” Sport, 11/77, 39.

  323 Flood healed; Karen wrote; Bob Feller; Flood missed: Karen Brecher interview. Feller, according to biographer John Sickels, fell on hard times and drove around the country in his 1974 Ford Maverick selling memorabilia. “At times, his attempts to bring in money and regain financial stability,” Sickels wrote, “took on overtones, that depending on your point of view, were either unsavory or tragic.” Sickels, Bob Feller, 263.

  324 He coauthored: Flood, “The Legacy of Curt Flood,” Sport, 11/77, 34, 37-40.

  324 Howard Cosell conducted: SPD, 1/22/78, ed. *3, 6G.

  324 It was the weekend: Karen Brecher interview.

  324 Richard Reeves spent; “Maybe you should”: Reeves, “The Last Angry Men,” Esquire, 3/1/78, 41.

  324 Please, please don’t come: Ibid., 42.

  324 Flood relented: BS, 1/27/97, 9A.

  324-25 Reeves admired; “He was about”: Richard Reeves interview; BS, 1/27/97, 9A.

  325 “portraits by Curt Flood”: E. Bercovich and Sons Advertisement (on file with author).

  325 “whipping out”; “I decided”: Letter from Flood to Williams, 1/9/78 (on file with author).

  325 “You should do”: Telegram from Williams to Flood, 1/10/78 (on file with author).

  325 Williams would blow: Barbara Williams interview.

  325 “Is there any”; “Do you know”: Letter from Flood to Williams, 3/2/78 (on file with author).

  325 Karen once: Karen Brecher interview.

  326 “Sam Bercovich”; Morgan started to cry: Sam Bercovich interview.

  326 But Flood had stopped: Karen Brecher interview.

  326 In the fall of 1977, Flood: SPD, 10/16/77, ed. *3, 4F; Flood, “The Legacy of Curt Flood,” Sport, 11/77, 40.

  326 The bat that Flood: OT, 10/29/76, 47.

  326 As a supposed prelude: Sam Bercovich interview; TSN, 12/9/78, 34.

  326 One month into the season: NYT, 4/29/78, 17; OT, 5/4/78, 43; LAT, 5/7/78, pt. III, 1, 6.

  326 “Oh, Curt Flood”; “Just think”; “Hired”: Larry Baer interview.

  327 “You’ll never hear”: OT, 6/12/78.

  327 Flood’s first night: NYT, 4/28/78, 17; OT, 5/4/78, 43; LAT, 5/7/78, pt. III, 1, 6.

  327 At the ballpark, the writers: Ron Bergman interview.

  327 His friends warned him: Jethro McIntyre interview.

  327 One night in New York: Larry Baer interview; Ed Bercovich interview; Karen Brecher interview.

  327 At a pregame party; “I bet”; “Well, I suppose”; “But you were wrong”: Kuhn, Hardball, 90.

  328 Two Supreme Court justices: Ibid., 373, 376.

  328 Against the advice: Lou Hoynes interview.

  328 Under the name: NYT, 5/12/91, sec. 8, 3; NSD, 9/12/90, 6-7; NYT, 2/25/90, F6; NYT, 2/9/90, D1, D12; Brill, “How Could Anyone Have Believed Them?” The American Lawyer, 11/89, 34-35.

  328 In 2005, he served as the chairman: NYT, 11/4/05, A16.

  328 said he’d had no choice: “Curt Flood,” ESPN SportsCentury.

  328-29 “I don’t think”; In Burger’s: Bowie Kuhn interview.

  329 To the Chief Justice: Kuhn, Hardball (signed copy) (on file with author).

  329 In May, Cardinals general manager: OT, 6/12/78.

  329 “You were always”: Karen Brecher interview.

  329 Flood donned: SPD, 6/10/78, 1B; SPD, 6/11/78, 3F; OT, 6/12/78.

  330 Gibson playfully pinched: SPD, 6/11/78, 3F.

  330 The two old friends; Flood spent: Karen Brecher interview.<
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  330 One afternoon; “A lot of people”: Larry Baer interview.

  330 The best thing: Karen Brecher interview.

  330 Flood tried to earn: Ibid.; CE, 12/7/78, D-1.

  331 “I guess”: CE, 12/7/78, D-1.

  331 Without his $300; “not that altruistic”: Karen Brecher interview.

  331 “[O]ver the past seven years”: Flood, “The Legacy of Curt Flood,” Sport, 11/77, 40.

  331 “I wanted to bring”: NYT, 3/1/79, B9; “Thanks, Curt,” SI, 3/12/79, 13; SFC, 3/19/79, 50.

  331 “All around”; “bitter”: “Thanks, Curt,” SI, 3/12/79, 13.

  331 “There’s a negative undertone”: SFE, 5/11/80, B1.

  331 “Curt Flood got you”: SFC, 3/8/80, 44.

  332 “When I started my case”: “Baseball’s Forgotten Man,” Newsweek, 4/2/79, 18.

  332 Before the 1980 season; “that if anything”: SFC, 3/8/80, 44.

  332 “I think people”: TSN, 4/5/80, 32.

  332 Flood’s biggest disappointment: Karen Brecher interview; Jesse Gonder interview.

  332-33 Flood’s consumption; With Karen’s help: Karen Brecher interview.

  333 Flood’s sobriety: Bill Patterson interview.

  333 “I’m the Bowie”: “Whatever Happened to . . . Curt Flood,” Ebony, 3/81, 56.

  333 His job as youth baseball commissioner: NYT, 5/26/81, B9, B12; OT, 6/14/81, D1, D4; SGD, 5/26/82, 6D; “Whatever Happened to . . . Curt Flood,” Ebony, 3/81, 56.

  333 The Bay Area Life Membership: OT, 3/9/80, A-3.

  334 The Oakland Public Schools: Tribute book (on file with author).

  334 “If they backslide”: SFE, 5/11/80, B1.

  334 “I lived”: SFC, 9/4/79, 20.

  334-35 “I’ll never forget”; “I saw Bill White”; “Times”: Letter from Gibson to Flood, 1/12/81 (on file with author).

  335 “Some people”; “that opened”; “So today”: TSN, 4/24/82, 8; Newsweek, 10/11/82, 85.

  335 Flood rationalized: Utica Press, 8/2/82, 19.

  335 Cutty Sark donated: Ibid.; NYDN, 1/8/82, C32.

  335 Karen knew that Curt: Karen Brecher interview.

  335 “lack of blacks”; “It is time”: OT, 3/9/80, A-3.

  336 A few weeks before: Utica Press, 8/2/82, 19.

  336 Flood paid his own way: Karen Brecher interview.

  336 “If Curt Flood”: Frank Robinson Hall of Fame speech transcript, 33, Baseball Hall of Fame; for variations of this quote, see Utica Press, 8/2/82, 15; NYT, 8/2/82, C7.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Page

  337 A friend of Flood’s: Judy Pace Flood interview.

  337 The movie plans: SFE, 9/1/87, F7; Craft, “Curt Flood,” Baseball Cards, 9/88, 74.

  337 “I wasn’t going”: SFE, 9/1/87, F7.

  337 with a public push: SFC, 7/18/86, 89.

  338 Curt Jr., who bears: Newark Star-Ledger, 8/7/2002, 49.

  338 Flood rejected: NYT, 5/26/81, B9; SPD, 10/30/89, 3C; SFC, 2/14/95, D1.

  338 “Don’t make my life”: OT, 7/10/94, B-1.

  338 “the central fact”: Sport, 12/86, 106.

  338 “I did it because”: SFC, 2/14/95, D1.

  338 “I certainly hope”: OT, 6/14/81, D-1.

  338 “jealousy”; “prejudice”; “The good old boys”: Whitford, “Curt Flood,” Sport, 12/86, 106.

  338 “I have never felt”: SFC, 2/14/95, D1.

  338-39 “I am bitter now”; he understood why Hank Aaron; “guilty by association”: Burns/Flood interview transcript, 10.

  339 Cosell wrote: SFC, 7/18/86, 89. In 1986, only one former player worked for the Players Association: Former Baltimore Orioles shortstop and union executive board member Mark Belanger was hired at the behest of the players when he retired after the 1982 season. In 1993, former second baseman Tony Bernazard was hired to help the association communicate with Latin players. Belanger and Bernazard were the only two former players hired by the union during Flood’s lifetime. Interview (anon.) by author.

  339 “as a traitor”: Seattle Times, 2/3/86, C3.

  339 “One of the reasons”: OT, 6/5/94, B-9.

  339 “we’ve only”: TSN, 2/17/86, 41.

  339 “may not have some”: NYT, 4/8/87, B10.

  339 Black former major leaguers: BMS, 11/10/87, 3G; Robinson, Extra Innings, 1-22.

  339 Flood was among: NYT, 12/8/87, D25.

  339 “I had written”: CT, 6/30/87, sec. 4, 4.

  340 In November 1987, Flood and 60: BMS, 11/10/87, 3G; BG, 11/28/87, 25; LAT, 12/9/87, S3.

  340 “Forty years”; owner: BMS, 11/10/87, 3G.

  340 designed a piece: Jim “Mudcat” Grant interview.

  340 Flood came close; Maxvill flew out; During the interview: Dal Maxvill interview.

  341 At the NAACP’s Image Awards: Craft and Owens, Redbird Revisited, 81-82; Craft, “Curt Flood,” Baseball Cards, 9/88, 74; SPT, 12/15/87, 2D.

  341 That same year: OT, 9/3/87, D-4; SFE, 9/1/87, F7.

  341 Two years later: OT, 10/27/89, F-6.

  341 “Thanks for all”: SFC, 5/24/84, 78; Dickey, “Curt Flood,” Inside Sports, 8/85, 77.

  341 “I thought”: TSN, 6/19/89, 10.

  341 He drew sports cartoons: Curran, “Curt Flood and the Baseball Revolution,” LA Weekly, 4/1-7/94, 27.

  341 He also started: Ibid.; OT, 2/4/94, B-8.

  342 He surprised: Marge Brans interview.

  342 “he was part”; “I didn’t appreciate”: Ibid. (quoting Memorial Service video).

  342 Karen had been: Mailgram, 1/30/81, Karen Brecher to Toastmaster, California Coaches’ Association (on file with author).

  342 The person who had recommended: Joe Garagiola interview; Jim Morley interview.

  342 Garagiola apologized: Whitford, Extra Innings, 83.

  342 “I thought if the”: NYT, 1/21/97, B10; PDN, 1/22/97, 72.

  342 Flood’s job: Jim Morley interview; NYP, 6/1/89, 85.

  342 At Opening Day in Pompano Beach: Paul Casanova interview.

  343 He deferred: Orlando Sentinel, 7/9/89, C13; TSN, 9/18/89, 25.

  343 As a cost-cutting measure: Jim Morley interview.

  343 Some people speculated: Golenbock, The Forever Boys, xi.

  343 Don Fehr honored Miller; Miller’s admiration: Marvin Miller interview.

  343 “It may be”: Blackmun Oral History, 4/24/95, 185.

  344 Flood, wearing: PT, 12/13/94, 7C.

  344 “Don’t let them”: NYP, 1/21/97, 75.

  344 “Curt Flood remains”: CT, 12/7/94, S3. For similar quotes see PI, 12/7/94, D6; USA Today, 12/7/94, 6C.

  344 “I’m entering”: Flood, “A New Idea,” Sport, 4/95, 43.

  345 Tim McCarver watched: Tim McCarver interview.

  345 “I am in the process”: 1994 Christmas Letter, 2 (on file with author).

  345 The fairy-tale ending; “sounded like”; doctors discovered: OT, 2/16/96, B-2.

  345 Word leaked out: CT, 10/25/95, sec. 4, 3; “Curt Flood, Featured in Ebony’s 50th Anniversary Issue, Battles Cancer,” Jet, 11/13/95, 51; OT, 2/15/96, B-2; OT, 2/16/96, B-2; SFC, 2/15/96, E3.

  345 The union dipped: Marvin Miller interview; interview (anon.) by author.

  346 The Baseball Assistance Team: Marvin Miller interview; Joe Garagiola interview.

  346 In 1993, Rawlings: USA Today, 11/18/93, 2C; SPD, 11/19/93, 2D.

  346 After Flood could no longer speak: Earl Robinson interview.

  346 Marvin Miller: Marvin Miller interview.

  346 He communicated: USA Today, 1/31/97, 2C; Lee, “The Curt Flood Story,” Real Sports, 3/10/97.

  346 “mixed feelings”; “Start counting”; “Say this”: 1995 Christmas Card (on file with author); NYT, 1/21/87, B10.

  347 “Curt’s 9th Inning”: Funeral Program (on file with author); LAT, 1/28/97, B- 1; SPD, 1/28/97, 1C.

  347 “My name is”; “I think I knew”; “Curt had a way”; “I’ve been sad”: SPD, 1/28/97, 1C.

  347 Flood never forgot: Dick Moss interview.

/>   347 In his eulogy, Will: George Will eulogy (on file with author).

  347 “It was one of those”: George Will interview.

  347 Jackson’s voice rose; “Don’t cry”; Jackson called: Lee, “The Curt Flood Story,” Real Sports, 3/10/97.

  348 Leonard Koppett: OT, 12/14/94, B-2.

  348 “You would think”: NYT, 3/3/05, D1.

  348 Jackson also called for the Players Association: Lee, “The Curt Flood Story,” Real Sports, 3/10/97.

  348 Joe Black, Orlando Cepeda: Funeral Program.

  348 Both Black and Newcombe had carried: NYT, 10/28/72, 25.

  348 Union reps David Cone: NYP, 1/21/97, 75.

  349 “Baseball didn’t change”: SPD, 1/28/97, 1C.

  349 Players shift teams: Stark, “Part III: Player Movement Part of Life” (showing that in 1975 only 15 players had been playing for the same team for 10 consecutive years and in 2000 only 15 players had been playing for the same team for 10 consecutive years).

  349 The average major league: www.baseball-almanac.com/charts/salary/major_league_salaries.shtml.

  350 $18 million: Winfield’s contract was originally thought to be worth $23 million or $24 million because of confusion over the cost-of-living increase in the deal. The contract, however, was ultimately worth $18 million. NYT, 5/17/90, B13.

  350 “Sylvester Stallone”: SPD, 9/30/89, 3C. For a similar quote, see OS, 2/27/89, D5.

  350 “If the owners”: OT, 6/5/94, B-9.

  350 “We may not want”: HC, 10/25/05.

  351 “What about freedom”: OT, 3/9/80, A-3.

  351 “Republicans buy”: Smith, Second Coming, xix; NYT, 10/31/99, sec. 8, 3; Robert Lipsyte interview.

  351 Of everything Flood had accomplished in baseball: TW, 3/15/93, B1.

  351 Sport magazine asked: “Flooding the Market,” Sport, 1/94, 12.

  351 “I just want players”: Joe Torre interview.

  351 “How can anybody”: Barkley, I May Be Wrong but I Doubt It, 159.

  351 In 1999, Time magazine: Okrent, “The 10 Most Influential Athletes of the Century,” Time, 6/14/99, 93.

  BIBLIOGRAPHY

  MANUSCRIPT COLLECTIONS

  Harry A. Blackmun Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

  William J. Brennan Papers, Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

 

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