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 Providence Steamroller were one of six founding teams in the Atlantic Coast Football League in 1962. The ACFL franchise adopted the “Steamroller” name used by several Providence football teams of the past dating back to 1916. Most notably, Providence had an entry known as the Steamrollers in the very early days of the National Football League from 1925 until 1931.
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
“This isn’t just about high-speed, in-your-face football action, it’s about saving an entire generation of Minnesota’s game fish from becoming shore lunch.” – Minnesota Fighting Pike President Tom Scallen describing – obliquely – his Arena Football team’s offbeat nickname in November 1995. I love this name and logo, but not nearly as much as I love Tom Scallen’s nonsensical explanation for it.
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.
