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Posted By: Paul

Actually, Curt Flood was unsuccessful in opening up free agency. He took his case all the way to the Supreme Court and lost (in a decision that was an embarrassment for the Supreme Court).

I'm a little fuzzy on exactly how free agency came about, but I believe that an arbitrator ruled that a player who sat out for a year was relieved of the reserve clause and thus a free agent. Shortly thereafter, the concept of free agency became a part of the collective bargaining agreement and the one year holdout period was eliminated.