[packs]

Curt Flood gets my vote.

The question is hard to answer. I think to be truly influential you need to have changed the game of baseball forever. I think that Foster falls into the category of influential to African Americans, but he did not have a lot impact on Major League baseball. The players who would play in the Negro League certainly did, but Foster was far removed by that time. Though I of course understand there is no Negro League without him.

I choose Curt Flood because he influenced baseball at large, just like Jackie Robinson did when he broke the color barrier. After Curt Flood the game would never be the same, which is the same influence Robinson had on it.