Page "Curt Flood" Paragraph 2

Born in Houston, Texas, and raised in Oakland, California, Flood played in the same outfield in West Oakland's McClymonds High School as Vada Pinson and Frank Robinson.

Flood signed with the Cincinnati Redlegs in 1956 and made a handful of appearances for the team in 1956-57 before being traded to the Cardinals in December 1957.

For the next twelve seasons, he became a fixture in center field for St. Louis ; although he struggled at the plate from 1958 to 1960, his defensive skill was apparent.

He had his breakthrough year after Johnny Keane took over as manager in 1961: He batted. 322 and followed by hitting. 296 in 1962 with 12 home runs.

He continued to improve offensively in 1963, hitting. 302 and scoring a career-high 112 runs, third most in the NL ; he also had career bests in doubles ( 34 ), triples ( 9 ) and stolen bases ( 17 ) and collected 200 hits in an NL-leading 662 at bats.

In that year he received the first of his seven consecutive Gold Gloves.