Stepping Up - The Story of Curt Flood and His Fight for Baseball Player's Rights
Even though it is Jackie Robinson day for Major League Baseball, I always find the story of Curt Flood more compelling. As awful as discrimination of any sort is and as noble as Jackie Robinson's role was, everybody seems to forget the guy who made free agency and multi-million dollar contracts possible. 
Curt Flood took that fight on in the early seventies and was reviled by ownership and players alike. Yet, his struggle, made the game better and helped reverse the reserve clause which more or less legalized slavery in America's pastime.
Curt's story also includes the segregation struggle, racism and the institutional advantage that owner's enjoyed throughout most of the century. Belth writes a compelling story as he follows Flood's early years to his tragic end in the mid nineties. This is a long over due book about baseball's forgotten hero. It's quite sad to realize that no active player attended his funeral. While Major League Baseball probably hasn't matured enough to recognize Flood's contribution, perhaps a movement could start which would consider Flood for the Hall of Fame. His hall of fame career was cut tragically short because he took a noble stand where none had before.