The 1971 Washington Senators were an embarrassingly bad baseball team.
After owner/general manager Bob Short traded the core of his team, pitcher Joe Coleman, third baseman Aurelio Rodriguez and shortstop Eddie Brinkman, to the Detroit Tigers for over-the-hill pitcher Denny McLain and a bunch of guys named Joe, there were more holes in the lineup than players to fill them.
I’ve always believed that the idea behind the movie “Major League,” where a cynical owner stripped her team of all talent in hopes of lowering attendance as a justification to move the franchise, was based on Short.
He had made noises about facing financial ruin for more than a year, and it was obvious that he wanted out of Washington, D.C. very badly. Remember, he was the owner of the Minneapolis Lakers in 1959 when the team moved to Los Angeles, California.
Short, needing bodies (but not good ones) to fill the uniforms, contacted the Philadelphia Phillies about outfielder Curt Flood, who was traded to the Phillies from St. Louis the year before, but did not report.
It wasn’t too long before Short traded Greg Goosen , Jeff Terpko , and Gene Martin to the Phillies for the rights to Flood .
Flood, who was traded to the Phillies the previous offseason along with Byron Browne , Joe Hoerner , and Tim McCarver , for Jerry Johnson , Dick (Don't call me Richie!) Allen and Cookie Rojas , never reported to Philadelphia.
"I've spent the last eleven years of my life in St. Louis," Flood told the Sporting News. "My home, my car, my friends, they're all there. I shouldn't have to move unless I want to, and I don't want to!"
He sued Major League Baseball and its reserve clause, asserting that he had the right to play anywhere he chose, that a person working at a local grocery store didn’t have to get permission to move across the street to the competition.
Of course, he lost the fight in the court house, but ultimately won the war on the playing field.
But Short wasn't making a statement by obtaining Flood, and Flood wasn't any less angry about the way baseball had treated him when he agreed to play in Washington.
After sitting out the 1970 season, he simply needed the money. Flood's 1970 salary was $110,000, second highest on the team, behind only Frank Howard's $120,000 contract.
There were some who believed that, at 33, Flood wouldn't be able to return to form as one of baseball's premier center fielders.
He didn't look particularly good during spring training, but manager Ted Williams said publicly that his time spent at Pompano Beach was more about reintroducing himself to the game of baseball then about producing hits or driving in runs.
However, in his book “A Well Paid Slave,” author Brad Snyder wrote that Williams never wanted Flood on his team in the first place, and told friends privately that it was obvious that the outfielder had lost—to a great degree—his baseball skills.
I was at that last opening day at RFK in 1971 when the Senators opened against the Oakland Athletics, a game the Senators won 8-0.
Flood went 1-3 with a bunt single, but he looked so desperately slow in the outfield. Sadly, that was the highlight of his season. Flood played in just 13 games, batting .200 with just seven hits, all singles.
Then one day, he was gone. He just got on a plane and flew to Barcelona, Spain.
On the night that Flood left the team, Ron Menchine, one of the team's radio announcers, read Flood's statement on the radio, in essence saying that while he tried as hard as he could, the year layoff hurt him more than he anticipated, and he was going to retire rather than play at such a low level.
In reality, Flood was near a breakdown. He was so difficult to get along with that he was the only player on the team not to share a room on the road. He would close the door after returning from the ballpark and would drink a pint or more of vodka every night.
Flood's short stint with the Senators in 1971 is but a footnote in team history, but his tireless work in bringing down the reserve clause makes him one of baseball's most important figures.
His efforts paid off when pitchers Andy Messersmith and Dave McNally became baseball's first free agents four years later, the result of an arbitrator's decision that ruled the reserve clause illegal.
I was saddened when Flood left the team in 1971. I firmly believed that he had it within him to not only come back, but to come back with a vengeance, and with a better frame of mind, perhaps he could have.
But it's very hard to go back into the system that you sued, that you said was wrong, and that you likened to slavery. He likely felt hypocritical, and so he left with no regrets.
Flood died at the young age of 59 in 1997, taken from us by throat cancer. At least he had the chance to see firsthand what his efforts brought to the next generation of major league baseball players.
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