In December 1969, the MLBPA questioned Flood for two hours at its annual meeting in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Some team representatives, including Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Tom Haller, asked if Flood's case was primarily a race issue, to which Flood responded that his concerns about race were secondary to his belief that there should be a free market of players. Other players worried that Flood was only threatening legal action as a ploy to increase his salary with the Phillies. He assured the union that he was singularly opposed to the reserve clause, promised that he would not drop the case no matter what pressure he received from the owners, and offered to donate any damages he might be awarded to the union. All 25 representatives voted to provide Flood with the funds needed to mount his lawsuit. Despite the unanimous vote, Carl Yastrzemski sent a letter to Miller complaining that his voice had not been heard and fearing legal action would irreparably harm the relationship between owners and players. The day afterwards, baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn met with the players, an opportunity he had asked Miller for. He recalled years later that he was surprised none of them brought up the reserve issue, and only later when he learned of the lawsuit did he surmise (correctly) that Miller had told the players not to bring it up with him as it was "too sensitive". This course of action led Kuhn to believe that Miller had already committed to litigating the issue. Kuhn believed the MLBPA had had its chance at contract negotiations two years earlier and should wait until the next contract to try again rather than get free agency through the courts, which he believed alienated the owners. During this time, Paul A. Porter, one of MLB's top lawyers, met with the Players Association and denied any amendments to the reserve clause. When Jim Bouton asked the league's attorneys if they would consider terminating a player's reservation upon their 65th birthday, long after the player would have retired, Louis Carroll replied, "No, next thing you'll be asking for is a fifty-five limit." Meanwhile, in a final effort to avoid legal action, Flood sent a letter to Kuhn on December 24 petitioning the commissioner to let him become a free agent. Kuhn responded that his contract remained under Philadelphia's control and could not be changed. Shortly after the