The Curious Case of Curt Flood

[mr2686]

Has anyone watched this documentary on HBO? I saw it last night and was really surprised how much stuff I didn't know about him as a player or in his personal life. I think it's worth a look if you get the chance.

[danc]

It is one of those docs where you can't figure out why film was wasted on a man and you come out of it going 'wow, that was incredible'. I felt so bad for Flood throughout. His stance was ignored, he hurt himself with his wild lifestyle, was broke throoughout (despite making $100k) and played for money not love at the end out of shape and he handled his affairs by escaping. And it was revealed that he was a fraud of a painter, that even his daughter went into denial about. It is well worth watching.

DanC

[ChiefBenderForever]

Looking forward to it, was gonna watch it a couple nights ago but ended up watching 'Bobby Fischer against the world' instead and what crazy doc that was, can't wait to see Flood as he changed MLB forever.

[slidekellyslide]

It was an incredible documentary...award winning if you ask me. I'd like to see some more evidence that the paintings were all frauds...there are some people who have made incredible impacts on the game in ways other than statistics, but will never be in the Hall of Fame and that's too bad.

[mr2686]

Some of the things that really surprised me were the painting fraud, the fact that he would just take off and disappear from friends and family, and how much he was making as a ball player. Considering how much the major league minimum was back then, and how much someone like Mantle was making, I would have thought Flood was making around $15k - $20K.

[prewarsports]

Maybe this sounds bad, but I watched it and actually came out thinking less of the man. He was a good ballplayer who took a stance on behalf of others which was cool, but the other stuff was worse than I had originally thought. Just my two cents worth but that is how I felt when watching it. Sort of like when I went to watch my idol Jose Canseco as a kid and wished I hadn't afterwards for the way he treated me at the ballpark when I asked for his autograph (1987), I sort of wish I had not watched it but sometimes life is ugly when you have addictions and issues such as Flood.