Tag: 1st Mariner Arena

1986-87 Baltimore Blast Yearbook from the Major Indoor Soccer League

Baltimore Blast (1980-1992)

March 14, 2015

The original Baltimore Blast indoor soccer team (1980-1992) was the Charm City’s most important fall/winter pro sports franchise following the departure of the NFL’s Baltimore Colts in early 1984. Unlike most other Major Indoor Soccer League clubs, the Blast enjoyed Major League treatment from the local media. At their peak during the 1983-84 season, the Blast won their first (and only) MISL title and sold out the 10,000-seat Baltimore Civic Center for 17 of 31 matches. The Blast name was revived by a separate indoor soccer franchise in 1998. The latter-day version of the Blast continues to play today albeit with a distinctly minor league profile.

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Baltimore Skipjacks American Hockey League

Baltimore Skipjacks

October 4, 2014

The Baltimore Skipjacks were a minor league hockey club that served as a farm team to the Boston Bruins (1982-1983), Pittsburgh Penguins (1982-1987) and Washington Capitals (1988-1993).  Prior to the Skipjacks, Baltimore had a long and checkered history with pro hockey.  Going back to the World War II era, all of Baltimore’s previous minor league clubs were named the “Clippers”.

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Baltimore Clippers

Baltimore Clippers (1979-1981)

September 9, 2014

The Baltimore Clippers name was used by several minor league hockey clubs operating in various different leagues from 1944 until 1981.  The longest tenured and most successful of these teams were the Clippers of the American Hockey League (1962-1975).  But the Clips fell on hard times in the mid-1970’s, shifting leagues and folding several times amidst the market upheaval caused by the NHL-WHA competition and the overall hard times for the  minor league hockey business in the 1970’s. This 1979-1981 incarnation was the final attempt to restore the Clippers name. Read more…

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1999-00 Baltimore BayRunners Program from the International Basketball League

Baltimore BayRunners

September 1, 2013

The Baltimore BayRunners were one of eight founding franchises in the International Basketball League in the fall of 1999. The IBL was a nationwide minor league. It was similar in nature to the rival Continental Basketball Association, with whom the IBL would merge after both leagues encountered financial problems in early 2001. But by that time the BayRunners franchise would already be in the ground.

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1974 Baltimore Banners Ticket Brochure from World Team Tennis

Baltimore Banners

February 1, 2013

The Baltimore Banners were a One-Year Wonder that played during the inaugural season of World Team Tennis during the summer of 1974.  The Banners were notable primarily for signing American tennis bad boy Jimmy Connors to a $100,000 contract to appear in 22 of Baltimore’s 44 scheduled matches.

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