Charlie Finley might not have been loved by players or fellow owners, but he understood baseball economics more than most in his field, and his idea for free agency was like many of his other ideas: innovative if not whacky.
The flamboyant A’s owner, as free agency was entering the fold in the ’70s, suggested that every player should become a free agent every year. In other words, sign a one-year deal with any team and return to the open market the following winter.
On the surface, that greatly would have benefited the players, right?