The story of the Seattle Pilots is one of the most fascinating in the history of Major League Baseball (MLB). It began years before the team’s 1969 debut, and is tale filled with hope, excitement, money (and lack thereof), franchise relocations, and political influence.
The Portland Loggers were a One-Year Wonder in the minor Continental Football League during the autumn of 1969. The Loggers formed in August 1969, with less than three weeks to get organized before their home opener at Civic Stadium on August 24th. The Loggers inherited the contracts of the CoFL’s defunct Orange County Ramblers club. The Ramblers had played in the league’s championship game in both the 1967 and 1968 seasons. The Loggers’ last-minute formation showed when a puny gathering of just 2,316 fans turned out for the team’s Portland debut victory. The Loggers would win just two more games all season, en route to a 3-9 last place finish.
The Seattle Steelheads were members of the West Coast Negro Baseball Association (WCNBA) in that circuit’s only season, 1946. The team was actually the Harlem Globetrotters baseball club and returned to barnstorming when the WCNBA ceased operations.
The Cincinnati Stingers hockey team began life in the upstart World Hockey Association in the winter of 1975-76. Owners Bill DeWitt Jr. and Brian Heekin originally sought to land an NHL expansion club for the Queen City, failed, and then accepted the first expansion franchise awarded by the fledgling WHA as a fallback option in May 1973.
The Havana Sugar Kings were a minor league AAA baseball team based in Havana, Cuba. The team moved up to the International League in 1954 and stayed on the island nation until being forced to flea to New Jersey following the Cuban Revolution in the middle of the 1960 season.
Independent (1993) United States Interregional Soccer League (1994) USISL Pro League (1995) USISL Select League (1996) USISL A-League (1997-1998) USL A-League (1999-2002) Born: 1993 Folded: January 2003 First Game: Last Game: A-League Champions: 1997 & 2002 Stadia: 1994: Hart Park 1994: Brown Deer High School 1995-2000: Uihlein Soccer Park (5,500) 2001-2002: Milwaukee
The New Haven Ninjas were a One-Year Wonder that were part of Arena Football 2, a small-market offshoot of the original Arena Football League (1987-2008). The Ninjas went 6-10 in their only season of operation in 2002 before arena problems left the team homeless. The Ninjas’ season-ending victory over the Rochester Brigade on July 27th, 2002 before an announced crowd of 4,588 was the final professional team sporting event played at the New Haven Coliseum.
The American Basketball Association (ABA) was formed in 1967 as a competitor to the established National Basketball Association (NBA). It started with 11 teams, and within a few years was angling for a merger with the older league. In 1976, the NBA took in four ABA teams, while three other surviving teams disbanded.
Yes, strange as it sounds, but the small, poverty-stricken city of Shreveport, Louisiana once had its very own Canadian Football League franchise: the Shreveport Pirates. The Pirates’ shambolic leadership made a series of head-scratching personnel moves, including the signings of troubled over-the-hill NFL stars Dexter Manley and Mark Duper, and fired the team’s first head coach before taking a regular season snap. Meanwhile the team staggered to a two-year record of 8-28 in the CFL before going out of business at the end of the 1995 season.
Fun While it Lasted presents the Jersey of the Week, brought to you by Royal Retros. Each week, we feature a historic uniform. Click to learn more about the team that wore this classic gear.
