Stepping Up
The Story of Curt Flood and His Fight fo Baseball Players' Rights
Alex Belth

With a Foreword by Tim McCarver

Stepping Up is the first-ever biography of Curt Flood, the All-Star with a conscience who stood up to Major League Baseball. Flood was a fixture for the championship Cardinals teams of the 1960s. He had survived a hard road to stardom and was a hero in St. Louis. He had given his heart and soul to the city, and had made a life there. Then, suddenly, in 1969, Flood was traded to the Philadelphia Phillies. He was crushed. But instead of accepting the trade as generations of players before him had done, he shocked baseball by suing the sport over its unfair reserve system. Flood’s courageous case went to the Supreme Court and paved the way for free agency, a major advance in players’ rights that changed the face of the game forever.

“Alex Belth’s stirring and hugely readable Stepping Up plugs a significant gap in the history of baseball's turbulent 1960s and early 1970s.”
—Allen Barra, Chicago Tribune

“Stepping Up, a wonderful tale about Curt Flood, is a splendid reminder that once upon a time, athletes really did stand for more than the bottom line of their contract.”
—Mike Vaccaro, New York Post

“The first biography of the gifted centerfielder who challenged the reserve clause.… A fine read on a pioneer in baseball and African American history.”
—Library Journal (starred review)

Alex Belth is the editor of The Best Sports Writing of Pat Jordan. He lives in the Bronx.

Hardcover / $22.95 (Can $30.00) / ISBN 978-0-89255-321-1 / 228 pages / Biography