Baltimore Banners

World Team Tennis (1974)

Tombstone

Born: 1973 – World Team Tennis founding franchise
Folded: February 1, 1975¹

First Game: May 8, 1974 (W 35-20 vs. Hawaii Leis)
Last Game: August 18, 1974 (L 25-23 @ Chicago Aces)

World Team Tennis Championships: None

Arena

Baltimore Civic Center
Opened: 1962

Marketing

Team Colors: Red, White & Blue

Ownership

Owners: Howard Fine, Gerald Klauber, Joseph Rivkin & Robert E. Bradley, Jr.

WTT Wear

World Team Tennis
Logo T-Shirt

World Team Tennis has been around in one form or another for nearly fifty years now, but this chill logo tee from our partners at Old School Shirts pays tribute to the original league and its mid-70’s glory days when Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Bjorn Borg and Ilie Nastase suited up for their WTT clubs in between Grand Slam finals at Wimbledon and Flushing Meadows.

Also available in women’s scoop neck and women’s racerback tank styles!

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Background

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.

Jimmy Connors Controversy

Connors’ signing with the Banners was controversial. The International Lawn Tennis Federation viewed WTT as a rogue organization, afraid that the garish American league (which encouraged very un-tennis behavior like heckling and cheerleaders) would lure top pros away from prominent summer tour events such as the Italian and French Opens. The French Tennis Federation retaliated against Connors and WTT by banning him from entering the French Open in 1974. Connors sued unsuccessfully to play and was ultimately excluded. The dispute deprived Connors of the chance to become just the third man to win a Grand Slam, as he won Australia, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open in 1974.

Banners Bust at Box Office

Besides Connors, the co-ed Banners roster also featured Bob Carmichael, Joyce Hume, Kathy Kuykendall, Audrey Morse, Jay Mukerjea and Betty Stove. Aussie Don Candy was the Banners’ coach. The club did not perform well and finished the 1974 season with a 16-28 record. Only four of the league’s sixteen teams fared worse.

The team also fared poorly at the box office – only 761 fans showed up at the 11,000-seat Baltimore Civic Center for the team’s second home match, on a Saturday night in May 1974. The Banners’ final home appearance on August 17, 1974 drew an announced crowd of only 1,065.

“Connors is a superstar, but nobody came to see him,” Banners co-owner Jerry Klauber told Alan Goldstein of the The Baltimore Sun upon the team’s demise in February 1975 (Baltimore Sun 2/2/1975). “How long do you think the Yankees would have kept Joe DiMaggio if he didn’t draw anybody?”

Demise & Aftermath

During the ensuing off season, seven of the original sixteen World Team Tennis franchises went out of business, reducing the league from 16 to 10 franchises for 1975. The Banners were among the casualties.

The original World Team Tennis folded in November 1978. A lower-budget, lower-profile version re-launched in 1981 and continues to play to this day. Jimmy Connors returned to the “new” World Team Tennis in 1991 and 1992 to play for the Los Angeles Strings.