Flood v. Kuhn

St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Curt Flood (plaintiff) was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies without his consent; rather than accept the trade or a $100,000 raise, he declared himself a free agent and sued baseball commissioner Kuhn (defendant), challenging the sport's "reserve clause" -- which bound a player to his club indefinitely -- as a violation of federal and state antitrust law and the Thirteenth Amendment's ban on involuntary servitude. The district court and court of appeals rejected Flood's claims, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.