opinion

San Diego Padres pitcher Dylan Cease has signed a seven-year, US$210-million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays.

In 1974, Catfish Hunter became Major League Baseball’s first free agent. True free agency was still a couple of years away and, at that point, not certain, but Hunter broke the ground for all those to come.

The incumbent Cy Young Award winner, Hunter was owed a bonus at season’s end. The owner of his team, the Oakland A’s, refused to pay it. As a result, an arbitrator voided Hunter’s contract. He became the first player of his age, stage and calibre to enter a bidding war.

At the time, the New York Yankees were stuck in their Bronx is Burning phase. George Steinbrenner had just bought the team for nothing – 10-million bucks.

According to Steinbrenner’s biographer

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