Curt Flood and a Triumph of the Show Me Spirit

Curt Flood was not a Show Me State native. Born in Houston, Texas, in January 1938, the last of six children, Flood moved as a child with his family to Oakland, California. From early on, Flood "was precociously coordinated." He was able to run, catch, and throw a ball better than much older children. He began playing organized baseball at the age of nine in a police league and knew by the time he was a teen that he might make a living at baseball.

Although he was shorter and lighter than most professional ball players, at the age of eighteen, fresh out of high school, in 1956, Flood signed a $4000 yearly contract with the Cincinnati Reds.