Curt Flood

I just finished a book by Brad Snyder called A Well-paid Slave, which is about Curt Flood's battle against baseball's anti-trust exemption and use of the reserve clause. Curt was the star centerfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals in the 1960's and winner of a number of World Series with the team. However, after years of all-star caliber performance the club traded him without the slightest bit of notice. They didn't even tell him about it; the newspaper did. Curt took on baseball's ownership of players rights in the legal arena, battling all the way to the U.S. Supreme court, which ultimately ruled against him (primarily the result of politics and distraction from simultaneous abortion-rights cases). The lawsuit ruined his baseball career, however, it opened the eyes of baseball players and set precedent for them to start standing up against the owners. Great read for baseball fans.