There were a lot of changes happening in major league baseball during the 1970s.
Arbitration was a word that was unfamiliar in a baseball sense back then, however, in 1974 that changed.
The name of Dick Woodson may not be well known today, but he became the first player to win a salary arbitration case on Feb. 11, 1974.
There would be 28 others that went through the process with the owners holding a 16-13 edge in the cases, according the 1975 Sporting News Guide.
Woodson was a pitcher for the Minnesota Twins and in 1973 made $18,500. He was asking for $29,000 for the next year, while he was offered $23,000.
In 1973, Woodson was 10-8 with a 3.95 ERA as the Twins finished third in the American League West with an 81-81 record. He started 23 contests with four complete games and a pair of shutouts.
The right hander played professionally from 1965 to 1975. He reached the big leagues with Minnesota in 1969 and pitched in post-season in 1970 as well. His best season may have been 1972 when he posted a 14-14 record with an ERA of 2.72.
Traded to the New York Yankees in May of 1974. He made his final big league appearance a month later. He finished in career a year later pitching in the minors for the Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers.
Two More Twins
With similar 1973 salaries, Woodson was joined in the arbitration process by teammates Steve Braun and Larry Hisle. They both won as well with Braun getting $31,000 and Hisle set to earn $29,000.
The Oakland A’s with the Most Cases
After winning a second straight World Series, nine members of the Oakland A’s wanted pay increases.
Reggie Jackson was the highest profile of the cases as he had been named the American League’s Most Valuable Player in 1973. He led the league with 32 homers and 117 RBI, while being paid $75,000. He wanted $135,000 after he was offered $100,000. His victory gave him a $60,000 raise, which was the largest from this process.
Jackson along with Rollie Fingers, Sal Bando, Ken Holtzman and Darold Knowles all were winners, while their teammates Joe Rudi, Gene Tenace, Ted Kubiak and Jack Heidemann all lost.
Heidemann might have been the worst of all of the cases from a player’s perspective.
Part of a trade after 1973 with Ray Fosse that had them going to the A’s with George Hendrick and Dave Duncan heading to Cleveland, Heidemann was asking for a repeat of his $15,750 salary from 1973. He was offered and received $12,600. His journey didn’t end there as he was purchased by Indians and later traded to the St. Louis Cardinals then shipped to the New York Mets after the season.
Other Winners and Losers
The other players who won in the arbitration process were Darrell Evans (Atlanta Braves), Wayne Granger (New York Yankees), Dave McNally (Baltimore Orioles), Norm Miller (Atlanta Braves) and Bill Sudakis (New York Yankees).
On the owner’s side of things, the clubs won the cases of Stan Bahnsen (Chciago White Sox), Paul Blair (Baltimore Orioles), Ken Brett (Pittsburgh Pirates), Tim Foli (Montreal Expos), Cito Gaston (San Diego Padres), Bobby Grich (Baltimore Orioles), Carlos May (Chicago White Sox), Gene Michael (New York Yankees), Marty Perez (Atlanta Braves), Cookie Rojas (Kansas City Royals), Duke Sims (New York Yankees) and Frank Tepedino (Atlanta Braves).