Philadelphia Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies appear in How we got free agents in baseball as the team to which the St. Louis Cardinals traded Curt Flood in 1969. The source says Flood did not want to go to Philadelphia because of the team’s performance and because Black players had been treated badly by Phillies fans.

The Phillies matter here less as a team-history subject than as the destination that exposed how little choice the reserve clause left a player once MLB clubs controlled assignment rights.

Connections

• Curt Flood, St. Louis Cardinals, and Major League Baseball - trade context.
• Baseball Reserve Clause, Labor Monopsony, and Sports Player Autonomy - labor-market concepts made visible by the trade.