Spotlight

St. Louis Steamers MISL

St. Louis Steamers (1979-1988)

May 7, 2015 2 Comments

The original St. Louis Steamers of the Major Indoor Soccer League were one of the most popular indoor soccer teams of all time. In the early 1980’s, the Steamers drew massive crowds to the St. Louis Arena, attracted by the team’s home grown American talent and exciting game production. At their peak during the 1981-82 season, the Steamers averaged 17,107 fans per game – the highest average in the sport’s history. By comparison, the National Hockey League’s St. Louis Blues drew 14,433 fans per night in the same building that winter. Declining on-field performance and a pair sales of the team to progressively weaker owners led to the Steamers’ sad decline in the latter half of the decade and eventual closure in 1988.

Read More »

historic Football

Southern California Sun World Football League

Southern California Sun

April 19, 2011 13 Comments

The Southern California Sun was an Anaheim-based franchise in the World Football League of the 1970’s. The Sun were known for their psychedelic (by the prevailing standards of pro football) magenta and orange uniforms and for signing top-flight USC stars Anthony Davis and Pat Haden.

Read More »

Honoring the Negro Leagues

Seattle Steelheads barnstorming poster

Seattle Steelheads

April 21, 2025 No Comments

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.

Read More »

Retro Hockey

Birmingham Bulls WHA

Birmingham Bulls (1976-1981)

May 16, 2014 No Comments

The Birmingham Bulls of the World Hockey Association were one of the first major pro hockey teams to make their home in the Deep South, sharing that distinction with the slightly older Atlanta Flames of the National Hockey League. The Bulls never posted a winning record and made the playoffs only once in three WHA seasons. But the team did make news for its controversial “Baby Bulls” youth movement that saw the team sign a parade of teenage stars from the junior ranks who would later go on to NHL stardom, including Ken Linseman, Michel Goulet, Rick Vaive, Pat Riggin and others. Read more…

Read More »

baseball History

Houston Colt 45s Program

Houston Colt .45s (1962-1964)

May 9, 2025 3 Comments

Houston’s dreams of landing a Major League Baseball team go back at least as far as the 1950s. The threat of a third major league, the proposed Continental League, yielded Houston a National League expansion franchise that was known as the Houston Colt .45s for its first three seasons.

Read More »

Soccer Indoor and outdoor

Lehigh Valley Steam logo larger

Lehigh Valley Steam

March 26, 2021 No Comments

This doomed 2nd division men’s club was part of the disastrous Lehigh Valley Multi-Purpose Stadium project, intended to bring minor league baseball and pro soccer to the Easton/Allentown region of Pennsylvania during the late 1990’s. The Steam would be the region’s first outdoor pro soccer team since the Pennsylvania Stoners, who played out of Allentown and Bethlehem, folded in 1984. When the stadium project failed to come to fruition, the Steam embarked on a single, futile season in the USL A-League during the summer of 1999, cobbling together a schedule of “home” matches in various sites around Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Steam officially disbanded in December 1999.

Read More »

Arena Football

2007 Mahoning Valley Thunder Media Guide from Arena Football 2

Mahoning Valley Thunder

October 22, 2021 No Comments

The Mahoning Valley Thunder were a Youngstown, Ohio-based indoor football team that competed in Arena Football 2 (AF2) for that league’s final three seasons from 2007 until 2009. The team never found its competitive footing, posting three losing seasons and an overall record of 12-36.

Read More »

Pro Basketball

1970-71 Sporting News American Basketball Association Guide

American Basketball Association (1967-1976)

March 25, 2012 1 Comment

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.

Read More »

Canadian Football League

1994 Sacramento Gold Miners media guide from the Canadian Football League

Sacramento Gold Miners

March 5, 2019 3 Comments

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.

Read More »

HISTORIC UNIFORMS

Chicago Sting NASL jersey

Jersey of the Week

July 16, 2026 No Comments

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.

Read More »