Jim "Catfish" Hunter 1974 - CBS News Coverage of Hunter's 12/31/1974 Yankee Signing
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- Опубликовано: 30 дек 2014
- YanksAtShea is proud to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Jim "Catfish" Hunter's free agent signing with the NY Yankees (then tenants at Shea Stadium) the evening of December 31, 1974 at the Yankees' offices in the Parks Administration Building in Queens County, NYC. This is the next day's CBS News report on the signing (w/Ed Bradley). It's been called the deal that changed everything and indeed it did (and for the Yankees too). Between this acquisition, Thurman's maturing into an MVP, the April 1974 Chambliss trade, the March 1972 Sparky Lyle trade, and the late 1975 trades for Rivers, Randolph, and Figueroa the Yankees were AL champs by October 1976. Long live the memory of the great Jim "Catfish" Hunter.
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Catfish was one of the ALL-TIME greats!!
I saw him pitch in high school and followed his career thereafter. Wasn't crazy that he chose the Yankees but was happy for him. His loss to ALS was tragic. His hometown still honors him every year. A good man, lost too soon but a legend. Great to see the video of baseball's first free agent.
He was an awesome hitter as well!
Not crazy al all! Oakland A's Owner Charlie O. Finley screwed Catfish Hunter over on half of his 1974 Salary of $100,000 by not fulfilling his end of an agreement he had with him. That's why Catfish left the A's!
A superlative human being who never let fame go to his head. A player universally liked by everyone he played with both on the A’s and the Yankees.
I'm a Mets fan, but I saw a lot of Yankee games in the late 1970's and sadly I never saw the "real" Catfish Hunter pitch for them - by the time I saw him he was running on fumes - but he was a terrific pitcher in his prime. Thanks for posting this
Great post thank you
Not a Yankees fan, but Catfish Hunter was a class act all the way.
Sixto44 I'm from hertford I live here it's a small town but it's a nice place
Almighty Joker Official I followed Hunter his whole career & admired Catfish a lot. He died way too soon. R.I.P.
far too soon.
Correct..
Ironic, that winter Hunter was so busy that he didn't get to go hunting until that day 1/1/75
Catfish hunter was one of the greatest for sure.
1. losing catfish was the beginning of the end for the oakland a's (they lost the alcs in '75)
2. when jack benny died i remember seeing a newspaper article entitled something like "jack benny dead at 39." and there was a photo of him and i remember seeing it and thinking to myself, "he looks a lot older than 39."
3. i wish i had an afro like 1974 ed bradley.
IT SERVED THE A'S RIGHT! Charley O. Finley was supposed to have deposited 1/2 of Catfish Hunter's 1974 Salary for $100,000 to an Insurance Annuity, that's what both Catfish and Finley agreed on, $50,000 paid directly to Hunter and the other $50,000 to the Annuity. At the end of the Season when Hunter saw that no deposits were made on that Annuity, that's what enraged him to leave the A's altogether after filing a grievance with The Players Union and he was granted the right to sell his services to The Highest Bidder among the other 23 Teams in Major League Baseball. So, he signed with the Yankees for some Big Bucks! $3.75 Million over 5 years, plus a Signing Bonus of One Million Dollars, which makes his 1974 Salary with the Oakland A's looking more and more like Chicken Feed.
I didn't follow baseball back then, but I do remember ack Benny's death (late December '74).
This was all Charlie Finley's fault. He failed to meet the terms of Catfish's contract, thereby voiding it. We lost him for 1975 and with it, any chance at a 4-peat.
I live in hertford
I didn't start to follow baseball until 1975. I am an Oakland Athletics fan. This was only one part of a tradition of former Athletics players, going on to play for the New York Yankees. In 1977 Jim Hunter's former teammate Reggie Jackson would join him.
Starting pitcher Ken Holtzman also pitched Yankees.
He was great with Yankees, awesome catcher, ironically he passed from the same disease that claimed fellow Yankee Lou Gherig.
Steinbrenner wanted to win, Finley wanted a clown show!