Curt Flood was an All-Star baseball player for the St. Louis Cardinals that did not want to be traded against his wishes to the Philadelphia Phillies. This decision to publicly come out and make this particular statement ultimately started a battle for player liberty and benefits in baseball. This paper will be diving into the ideals and ramifications behind his choice to dispute the sport of baseball, the context of American society around the time of the issue and its relationship, the main events involving Flood’s actions, the labor dispute, Flood v. Kuhn case along with other critical elements in the main body, the progression of this topic in discussion, and a recap of the topic and its significance in relation to contemporary American society in conclusion. This topic represents a time in which athletes, in this case baseball players, did not have a free choice when it came to having the liberty of deciding where they would like to play. The main concepts that will be described within this paper will include the reserve clause, Flood v. Kuhn case, MLBPA, lockouts, or strikes, and free agency. The reserve clause sought to restrict a player’s freedom to move into a contract with another team. Flood v. Kuhn was the huge case where Flood went against the power of baseball’s commissioner and took the case up to the Supreme Court. The MLBPA is important because it is the players union for when they need to come together as one to respond to a case such as Flood v. Kuhn. A
Another impressive aspect of Rogosin’s book is the way he ties the hardships that African American’s faced and baseball together in a seemingly smooth connection. Rogosin realized that although he was writing a book on The Negro Leagues, he also couldn’t neglect the background information that came along with that time period. Rogosin includes stories of how teams remained afloat by scheduling exhibition games whenever possible to make money for the team. Rogosin goes on to say “it was pure economics: white people had more money.”2 Another aspect that is appealing in the book is Rogosin often draws comparisons to The Major Leagues on how the leagues differed and how they were similar. The disparities between the leagues really shocks the reader, and challenges their perspective of the time period the book acknowledges.
I have been playing baseball my whole life, ever since I was three. I admire this game with all of my heart, and I will never give it up.
Credibility is something that takes a lot of time to gain, but can be lost in an instance. When someone or something is credible that means they are easily trusted or believed in because of what they have done in the past. For example Nike lost some credibility when new came out they were producing their products in sweatshops across the world. However since that they have worked on that problem and gained back their credibility, but it took some time. Credibility is a great quality to have, it means you are trustworthy and people respect you. Furthermore Alex Rodriguez is another example that shows why credibility is an important quality and how cheating affects it.
There are many question about how the great game of baseball originally started and how it has grown to become Americas game that so many of us enjoy so much as little kids until till we die. Baseball is one of the only games today where the rules of the game have stayed the same since a guy named Abner Doubleday first evolved the game in 1845. Then he went on to be a Civil War hero shortly after as the game of Baseball became Americas beloved national pastime.
"Baseball as America." Academic Search Premier. Spec. issue of USA Today Magazine 1 Apr. 2002: n. pag. EBSCO. Web. 1 Dec. 2015. The Baseball Hall of Fame is an iconic American landmark, which houses thousands of artifacts from baseball's crude beginnings to its current day glory. This piece is simple, yet it demonstrates what an important aspect of American culture baseball has become. The artifacts demonstrate how far baseball has come, among its highlights are Jackie Robinson's uniform, articles from the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, and even "Shoeless" Joe Jackson's cleats. Pictures accompany the article which adds the needed bit of glamour to illustrate how greatly baseball has influenced American
Jayson Stark, ESPN columnist, presents an interesting argument of the downfall of baseball after free agency. He uses sarcasm and slight humor to introduce the reader to the topic of free agency and uses the argument style of comparison and contrast to predict what today might have held had there been no free agency. But within his column, player agent Tom Reich states, “The people who criticize free agency to easily today don’t realize how bad baseball was twenty-five years ago” (Stark). It is Stark who realizes that the talent of the game has improved, but the overall passion in each player may have decreased.
Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby were very determined to stick with the game they loved and to make a change. Thanks to their performance both on and off the ball field, “other owners began to seek talented black players, and by 1952, there were 150 black players in organized baseball” (Branch). Their “actions had repercussions far beyond the sports world” (Jim). The integration of baseball was an enormous smack in the face to all of segregation. Many racial barriers quickly tumbled down with the integration of baseball; restaurants, hotels, and stores removed their “white only” signs bringing blacks and whites together. Robinson and Doby could not have won the battle against segregation on their own, the press helped to make their struggle to be known throughout the country.
The start of the game of baseball is unknown, but some people believe they know when it started. The game of baseball believes to start in England. The start of baseball was around 1760, the game was called Rounder. Rounder had the same rules as baseball today, but it had its difference. The biggest difference was that a fielder had to throw the ball at the runner to get them out. The game changed in 1845. A group of people got together to talk about the game. They wanted to make the game safer. They changed the rules of the fielder. He would not throw at the baserunner anymore; they must tag the baserunner with the ball. The equipment changed as well when they made the rule change. They started to use a harder ball.
In the racially separated culture of 1919 America, one man stood up to break the color barrier in professional baseball. His name was Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson (Scott). As the first black man drafted to play Major League Baseball he faced frequent personal attacks, game boycotts and even death threats (Scott). But Jackie handled himself with true dignity, never quit and let his talent speak for itself winning several prestigious awards throughout his career (Scott). Jackie lead a race revolution forever changing the game of professional baseball in America and leaving a lasting legacy (History).
However, the clause was challenged in 1976 after two players went to arbitration and won, by a 2 to 1 vote, the right to offer their services to the highest bidder thus killing the reserve clause.
For as long as I have known the game of baseball and learned of our country’s history, there is one man that has always stood out to me. This man was very unique, he contained guts, courage, and a whole lot of drive. Who knew that with so called, “America’s Pastime”, he would play such a huge role and make such an outstanding impact on this great nation. The man’s name is legendary Jackie Robinson. Jackie grew up in unfortunate circumstances that many families dealt with at the time with his dad being a sharecropper. Born in Cairo, Georgia, Jackie was the youngest of five and moved to California with his mother after their husband/father left them. Despite their struggles, Jackie’s main focus was on sports and really pushed him through high school and colleges (Kenny, 34). Although I have also found to make that claim that Jackie Robinson was a good example of someone who grew up, not just with unequal opportunity because of the color of his skin, but also due to his financial situation. Jackie Robinson played a huge role in American History and after my doing my research, I found much that I didn’t know. Not only was Jackie impactful in the game of baseball, but he was a Jewish icon, in the U.S. Military, and played a huge role in Civil Rights Movements. It was quite some journey for Jackie and he managed to live quite the impactful life (Purvis 366).
In the article “ Jackie Robinson : Justice at Last,” it tells the reader a lot about a MLB player who broke the color barrier. Jackie Robinson was a tremendous athlete, intelligent, sensitive, calm, and skillful, perfect for the job. Jackie Robinson agreed to play on the MLB team The Dodgers. He had to agree to many things to play, and he did. He agreed to take abuse, avoid fighting, and be brave. Jackie Robinson was the right man to complete the job.
Baseball has always been known as America's pastime. But America's pastime, along with America's past, have both been saturated with the brutal force of racism. For hundreds of years, from the time of slavery until the middle of the 20th century, African-American children rounded up their friends and headed to the baseball diamond. There, for thousands of young black players, the smell of the grass, the cloud of dust that formed when running the ninety feet between bases, and the feeling of safely sliding into homeplate for a run marked the glimmer of fun and excitement in an otherwise dreary day. However, due to the color of their skin, black children were not awarded these
Between the years of 1945-1956 he looked to gain respect and influence through his baseball career. With this newfound respect, he was able to have a great influence and long lasting legacy within the sport of baseball, and also in the rights of African Americans. Specifically, in 1959, he broke his long silence and became an outspoken advocate for racial equality especially is the south where the major league’s teams’ spring training camps were. At this time, he urged baseball to use its economic and social power to help desegregate the injustice of
The story of the campaign to integrate baseball remained unknown to most whites in the United States. For blacks, it was one of the most important stories involving racial equality in the 1930s and 1940s. Black sportswriters and others framed the campaign to end segregation in baseball in terms of democracy and equal opportunity. To black’s newspaper, if there could be racial equality in baseball, there could be racial equality elsewhere in society. The black sportswriters took their campaign to baseball commissioner. They made their case to baseball executives at their annual meeting. They met individually with a number of team owners who promised tryouts and then canceled the tryouts. Yet the story of the campaign to desegregate baseball remained unknown to most of the United States.