Nearly half a century ago on October 30, 1974, Catfish Hunter won the American League Cy Young Award. He had just completed a 25-win season and been part of the Oakland Athletics’ World Series three-peat. Throughout that season, however, contractual disputes wore on between Hunter and Athletics’ owner Charlie Finley, devolving to the point that MLBPA head Marvin Miller got involved.
In the end, an arbitrator sided with Hunter and the union. The former A’s ace was now a free agent — baseball’s first. Later that off-season, Catfish signed a five-year deal with the Yankees.