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 Memphis Showboats were a popular entry that drew strong crowds to the Liberty Bowl in the springtime United States Football League in 1984 and 1985. The Showboats are best remembered today for persuading University of Tennessee star defensive end Reggie White to sign with the USFL rather than enter the 1984 NFL draft. After two seasons with Memphis, White joined the NFL in 1985. He is one of four Pro Football Hall-of-Famer players to begin his career in the USFL, alongside Jim Kelly, Steve Young and Gary Zimmerman.
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.
Houston Pro Soccer Yesterday, The Houston Chronicle published photos of the nearly complete $95 million BBVA Compass Stadium in downtown Houston. BBVA opens on May 12th when its primary tenant, the Houston Dynamo, plays D.C. United in a Major League Soccer match. BBVA is simply the latest in a string of increasingly
The Fresno Frenzy were a One-Year Wonder in the small market indoor football league known as Arena Football 2. The Frenzy were an expansion team during AF2’s third season of play in 2002. They joined the 34-franchise league’s West Division, which also included teams in Bakersfield, Hawaii and San Diego. The Frenzy went out of business after one last-place season at Selland Arena. Arena Football 2 returned to Selland Arena two years later in 2004 with a new franchise, the Central Valley Coyotes.
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.
The Sacramento Gold Miners were the first U.S.-based franchise admitted into the Canadian Football League during the CFL’s short-lived American expansion adventure from 1993 to 1995. The Gold Miners weren’t a brand new operation though. Owner Fred Anderson’s team previously played in the NFL-sponsored World League of American Football (WLAF) as the Sacramento Surge in 1991 and 1992. After NFL owners pulled the plug on the WLAF in September 1992, Anderson applied for entry to the CFL. The team retained its color scheme, Head Coach Kay Stephenson and a number of players from the WLAF era, but changed its name upon joining the CFL.
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.
