With major offseason moves happening in the Hot Stove League from December to February, professional baseball has become a year-round affair. The news and activities keep coming all winter as a flurry of free agent signings and related trades dominate the MLB conversation.
It wasn’t always like this, however. In 1974 there was no free agency and far less player movement. And then, by a combination of fluke and hubris, the concept of free agency was born.
Jim Catfish Hunter
By 1974, the Oakland Athletics were in the midst of their dynasty in which they would win three consecutive World Series and win the AL West Division five straight years. A big reason for the A’s dynasty was a country boy from Hertford, N.C. named Jim Hunter.
Shortly before singing with the Kansas City A’s. Hunter was bestowed the nickname Catfish by owner Charles O. Finley. Finley told him to make up a story about how he used to carry a string of catfish as a boy. The name became quite catchy as Hunter developed into one of the premier pitchers in the game in a Hall of Fame career. He threw a perfect game in 1968 and by 1974 he was, by all accounts, the best money pitcher in the game.
Charlie O
Finley was a maverick owner that had been the catalyst for many changes in the game that resonate today. The A’s were the first team to wear flashy and colorful uniforms, not to mention white shoes. He was a proponent of the designated hitter rule and night time World Series games. Despite the A’s success, they were not a big draw at the gate and Finley was struggling with the loss of major insurance contracts that helped bankroll his team.
By 1974, the strain of running the A’s as their general manager and keeping his insurance business afloat proved to be too much. Finley was also coming off a 1973 heart attack. In his contract negotiations with Hunter he missed the fact that Hunter wanted to be paid in an annuity for tax break reasons. Compensating Hunter in this manner would be costly to Finley. He should have known better but there was very little haggling and the deal was signed. Finley could be brutal at contract negotiations, not to mention how notoriously petty and cheap he was.
Hunter played him like a violin in 1974. Finley then put the contract in his safe where it began to tick.
Missed Payment
Finley failed to pay the first portion of the annuity in August of 1974. It was a combination of hubris and being too cheap to hire a competent staff that could pay attention to such details. Finley then tried to write Hunter a check, which the pitcher refused. He demanded to be paid the annuity. The fact that Finley was late was a breach of contract. Hunter would soon be declared the first free agent in history.
The First Free Agent
Hunter was outstanding as always in the 1974 World Series in which Oakland defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers four games to one. He just completed his fourth consecutive 20-win season. With his mild mannered ways, phenomenal record of success, and big game reputation he was going to enter a period of courtship never before seen in Major League Baseball.
As the 1974 Pitcher of the Year and Cy Young Award Winner, he would mean wins and box office for the team that could land him. Only the San Francisco Giants, who were suffering from severe financial problems, failed to make a run at Hunter. The San Diego Padres and Kansas City Royals backed up the truck with the best offers. But Hunter also got a huge offer from the New York Yankees. The combination of their grass playing surface, team history, and proximity to Hunter’s North Carolina farm made the difference. Hunter became a Yankee. The pinstripes would win three American League pennants in a row from 1976 through 1978 with Catfish as a major contributor.
Legacy
A year later the courts blew up Major League Baseball’s reserve clause and free agency has become a regular part of the winter months. Catfish Hunter made history as the first big-money free agent ever. And Major League Baseball has never been the same since.
