Curt Flood and the HOF

Curt Flood should be in the Hall of Fame. Period. Seeing as though the Lockout of 1976 is strongly correlated with the advent of free agency thanks to Curt Flood, I believe it's only fair to advocate for his inclusion in the HOF prior to continuing with the historical analysis of the labor stoppages.

A quick google search for "worst player in the baseball hall of fame" returns a few possible candidates. Curt Flood's impact on the game is vastly more important than many of these players and certainly no less important. So if we are not going to let Curt Flood into the Hall, here are some people we should probably kick out.

Tommy McCarthy
With apologies to the McCarthy family and McCarthyism enthusiasts of all shapes and sizes, it's hard to argue with Bill James' assessment that Tommy McCarthy's inclusion into the 1946 HOF class makes him the worst player in Cooperstown. Apparently America's obsession with McCarthyism predates Senator Joe's black list of suspected Commies unleashed in 1950. According to baseball reference, McCarthy (the baseball player, not the Red Scare fueling Senator) had a lifetime .292 average with 468 steals over a thirteen year career. His peak season of 1890 included a solid .350BA and 83 steals, carving a niche out as a precursor to a poor man's Vince Coleman. Seeing as though Vince Coleman isn't in the HOF, a player with lessor accomplishments shouldn't either. On pure stats, McCarthy shouldn't be in.

Bill James' cites McCarthy's addition of the hit-n-run and batter to base runner as to why he was held in such high esteem. That's fine. I have no problem rewarding those who come up with new ideas and challenge the conventional thinking. However, if you are going to consider factors outside of statistics, Curt Flood's absence in the HOF is comical. His courage to challenge the owners, risking his name and marketability, singlehandedly created free agency, changed the game forever. For that simple reason, he should be in the Hall.

Final interesting note: Flood's career BA is .293, .001 better than McCarthy's.

The Lockout of 1973

Background:
Following the strike of 1972 in which actual baseball games were lost on account of a labor stoppage for the first time in modern baseball history, the players and owners were at it again. Only this time, no games are lost. (As an aside, apart from the players and owners (and baseball dorks like myself), does anyone really care about a sports labor dispute if no games are lost? Doubtful.) The uncertainty created by Ted Simmons when he refused to sign a contract and threatened to take his salary to an arbitrator after the season for an ex post valuation of his worth surely led to some uneasy owners, who likely decided they wanted to set out some ground rules regarding salary arbitration. As an owner, it would be a scary proposition for a player to have a breakout season and then have an arbitrator decide what the player was worth after the season. This outcome would lead a club to have potentially mass amounts of payroll uncertainty if a player(s) salary was not decided until after the season. While it might seem like a good way to incentivize the player, a club needs to have a ballpark of its payroll in order to decide how much revenue it needs to bring in to cover player expenses.

How long it lasted:
February 8-25. Zero games lost due to stoppage. However, the start of spring training is pushed back. On the bright side, the delay in spring training saves countless players lives due to less time encountering blue-hairs on the roadways in Florida.

The Issues:
1. Salary Arbitration: The owners and players needed to get on the same page regarding salary arbitration.

The Result:
1. Players and owners agree to binding salary arbitration as a part of a 3-year CBA to decide a player’s worth whereby a neutral arbitrator decides between the player’s offer and the team’s offer. Different from traditional arbitration where an arbitrator may reach any presumably equitable result, “baseball arbitration” only permits the arbitrator to pick a side. (Example – The Rays offer B.J. Upton $3MM and B.J. Upton’s agent proposes a salary of $3.3MM, the arbitrator may only pick one of the proposals and can not split the difference.) Allowing salary arbitration ultimately cost the owners because players will earn higher salaries in the years prior to free agency. However, players with production well over the arbitrated salary amount still make less than they would in free agency or in a freely negotiated contract. (See Howard, Ryan). A player’s requirements to reach arbitration (i.e. ‘Super Two’s and other matters) continues refinement to this day and will likely play a large role in the new CBA. More to come on this issue later.

493 days until the CBA expires….