How we got free agents in baseball
Planet Money
- Published
- May 6, 2026
- Duration
- 28:51
- Summary source
- description
- Last updated
- Jun 10, 2026
Discusses Curt Flood was the best center fielder in baseball and one of the game’s highest paid players. He to…
Summary
Curt Flood was the best center fielder in baseball and one of the game’s highest paid players. He took the St. Louis Cardinals to the World Series three times. Then he got traded to the Phillies. He didn’t want to go. But baseball’s rules said he had no say in the decision. He could either go to Philly or quit the sport. Instead, Flood took Major League B…
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Show notes
Curt Flood was the best center fielder in baseball and one of the game’s highest paid players. He took the St. Louis Cardinals to the World Series three times. Then he got traded to the Phillies. He didn’t want to go. But baseball’s rules said he had no say in the decision. He could either go to Philly or quit the sport. Instead, Flood took Major League Baseball to court.Flood argued that the league should act like any other business and let workers sell their labor to whichever team they liked.