Many New Yorkers and Dodger’s fans think that Ebbets Field should be considered and proclaimed as holy ground. I liked baseball better when the players played for the love of the game. It was also better back then because for most players, the team that they started with, usually was the team they retired with. My boyhood hero back then was Richie Ashburn of the Phillies. His uniform number was ‘1.’ During his time, he was the best clutch hitter in the game.
Of course, some trades and sales did go on, but when Curt Flood challenged the “no free agency” clause in all of the contracts that were written back in those days and the SCOTUS upheld his claim, that’s when baseball changed forever.
I remember this whole story of how this came about and I can also remember star sportscaster, Mel Allen made the comment that if Curt Flood’s challenge is agreed on by the courts, we will see baseball, as we know it today, will be changed. He was right!
I think that every baseball fan should watch the movie, “Field Of Dreams.” Very inspiring and it shows how one man loved the game so much that he was willing to bet his entire farm on his dream.