The article commemorates the 50th anniversary of Catfish Hunter's groundbreaking free-agent contract with the New York Yankees, which revolutionized baseball economics and set the stage for the modern era of big-money deals.
Ace pitcher Jim “Catfish” Hunter displays Yankee plaque and a wide grin Tuesday, December 31, 1974, at a news conference at Yankee office in New York. Earlier, the Yankees announced they had signed Hunter to a five year contract, which the Associated Press learned, totaled $3.75 million. The figure makes Hunter the highest-paid player in baseball’s 105-year history.
Ray Kroc pledged to make the Padres a winner when he stepped up in January of 1974 and saved the franchise from moving to Washington, D.C. Kroc’s chance to live up to that promise came 11 months later, when Oakland A’s right-hander Catfish Hunter became baseball’s first free agent. The Padres came within a whisker of pulling it off before the New York Yankees swooped him and swept Hunter away. How might Padres’ fortunes have changed with Hunter atop the rotation with Randy Jones, who went 20-12 in 1975 to become the franchise’s first 20-game winner?The 1975 Padres went 71-91, finishing 37 games behind 108-win Cincinnati’s “Big Red Machine.” Maybe the club wouldn’t have challenged for a championship, but it could have posted the first winning season in Padres history and been positioned for success.Big-money baseball contracts are so common now that fans barely batted an eye when Juan Soto signed with the Mets this year for $765 million or Shohei Ohtani signed with the Dodgers last year for $700 million.Baseball economics forever changed 50 years ago Tuesday, when Hunter signed a five-year, $3.75 million free-agent contract with the New York Yankees.The San Diego Union on Dec. 31, 1974, reported the Padres in the thick of the bidding for Oakland A’s pitcher Catfish Hunter, who had been declared a free agent.“The figures being tossed about boggle the imagination,” San Diego Union columnist Jack Murphy wrote at the time. “Kroc might have to give up his yacht and paddle his own canoe.” The Padres’ highest-paid player in 1975 was Willie McCovey, who earned $110,00
BASEBALL FREE AGENCY CONTRACTS CATFISH HUNTER NEW YORK YANKEES PADRES
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