The dawn of free agency

John Montgomery Ward

Long before Curt Flood – like seven decades before – New York Giants infielder John Montgomery Ward pushes for his rights to free agency.

After sitting out the 1895 season, Ward believes the Giants no longer hold his rights under the so-called reserve clause that ties a player to one team in perpetuity.

With that, Ward asks National League owners 128 years ago today to set him free.

His appeal will be upheld a month later, in February 1896, but the decision is more symbolic than anything else as the 35-year-old Ward never again plays or manages in organized baseball.

Instead, Ward – the pride of Bellefonte, Pa, and The Pennsylvania State University – concentrates on his law practice.

He retires after 17 seasons, including eight in which he is a player-manager.

Ward’s final numbers include a .275 batting average over 1,827 career games with 540 stolen bases and two championships.

He also establishes the game’s first players’ union in 1885.

Ward eventually is elected to the Hall of Fame in 1964 – 39 years after he passes away at the age of 65.

At the time of John Ward’s election to the Hall of Fame, Curt Flood is halfway through his 12-year tenure as the St. Louis Cardinals’ Glove Glove-winning center fielder.

Curt Flood

At the end of the 1969 season, the Cardinals trade Flood to Philadelphia, triggering in Flood an apoplectic reaction that leads him to challenge the reserve clause by asking Major League Baseball to declare him a free agent.

Flood’s request is rejected first by commissioner Bowie Kuhn and later the United States Supreme Court.

While Flood never achieves the free agency he seeks – and that Ward wins for himself in February 1896 – his stand after the 1969 season eventually leads to the free agency that players enjoy today.

Coincidentally, Ward’s decision to challenge the system also comes 42 years before Flood is born on this day in 1938.