Episode 391 - Catfish Wriggles Off the Line

Aside from "The Babe," there's probably no more recognizable nickname in baseball than "Catfish." But Jim Hunter proved easy to catch and hard to keep for Athletics owner Charlie Finley 51 years ago this week, when Finley's negligence led to an arbitration decision that freed Hunter from his contract with Oakland. As baseball's first modern free agent, Hunter served as an excellent test case for ballplayers who were eager to see what their prices were on the open market, and the answer to that was: a lot! Mike and Bill look back at Hunter's career and the mistake that was an important mile marker on the road to the modern free agent era. Plus, happy birthday to John Anderson and Adolfo Phillips! And farewell to Carlos Lezcano, Terry Ley, Brian Dayett and Jim Marshall.