{"podcast":{"title":"Planet Money","slug":"planet-money-551334","podcast_index_feed_id":551334,"rss_url":"https://feeds.npr.org/510289/podcast.xml","website_url":"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510289/planet-money","image_url":"https://media.npr.org/assets/img/2022/10/24/pm_new_tile_2022_sq-e543deddd0a46a98be481b46e6a72efa6b52236f.jpg?s=1400&c=66&f=jpg","author":"NPR (podcasts@npr.org)","episode_count":355,"summary":"Wanna see a trick? Give us any topic and we can tie it back to the economy. At Planet Money , we explore the forces that shape our lives and bring you along for the ride. Don't just understand the economy – understand the world. Wanna go deeper? Subscribe to Planet Money+ and get sponsor-free episodes of Planet Money, The Indicator, and Planet Money Summer School. Plus access to bonus content. It's a new way to support the show you love. Learn more at plus.npr.org/planetmoney","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/planet-money-551334"},"episode":{"title":"How we got free agents in baseball","slug":"how-we-got-free-agents-in-baseball","published_at":"2026-05-06T07:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/planet-money-551334/how-we-got-free-agents-in-baseball","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/planet-money-551334","url":"https://www.npr.org/2026/05/06/nx-s1-5812912/baseball-free-agency-curt-flood","audio_url":"https://tracking.swap.fm/track/XvDEoI11TR00olTUO8US/prfx.byspotify.com/e/play.podtrac.com/npr-510289/npr.simplecastaudio.com/43b5acee-463e-4612-95ad-d2596d9dd337/episodes/a3511ba2-5712-446a-9036-9c3aa9fad15b/audio/128/default.mp3?awCollectionId=43b5acee-463e-4612-95ad-d2596d9dd337&awEpisodeId=a3511ba2-5712-446a-9036-9c3aa9fad15b&feed=hvWWWzRv&t=podcast&e=nx-s1-5812912&p=510289&d=1731&size=27704512","summary":"Curt Flood was the best center fielder in baseball and one of the game’s highest paid players. He took the St. Louis Cardinals to the World Series three times. Then he got traded to the Phillies. He didn’t want to go. But baseball’s rules said he had no say in the decision. He could either go to Philly or quit the sport. Instead, Flood took Major League Baseball to court. Flood argued that the league should act like any other business and let workers sell their labor to whichever team they liked. But for decades, courts had ruled in favor of the team owners. Curt’s fight would destroy his career and change the sport forever. If you want to learn more about Curt Flood’s story, check out Business History’s original episode . Our book: Planet Money: A Guide to the Economic Forces That Shape Your Life is in stores now. Support: Planet Money+ Listen free: Apple Podcasts , Spotify , the NPR app or anywhere you get podcasts. Find us on Socials: Facebook / Instagram / TikTok Our weekly Newsletter . This episode was hosted by Jacob Goldstein, Robert Smith and Keith Romer. It was produced and fact-checked by Emma Peaslee. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer. Thanks to Gabriel Hunter Chang and Ryan Dilley at Business History. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy","meta_description":"Curt Flood was the best center fielder in baseball and one of the game’s highest paid players. He took the St. Louis Cardinals to the World Series three t…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1731,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/planet-money-551334/episodes/how-we-got-free-agents-in-baseball/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/planet-money-551334/how-we-got-free-agents-in-baseball.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}