Category: North American Soccer League

Winston Earle on the cover of a 1968 Baltimore Bays program from the North American Soccer League

Baltimore Bays (1967-1969)

August 5, 2014

The original Baltimore Bays were a short-lived pro soccer team that was owned and operated by the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball. The team played at Memorial Stadium in 1967 and 1968 and Kirk Field in 1969. The Bays played for NPSL championship in 1967, losing a two-leg series to the Oakland Clippers. The original Bays went out of business after three seasons. A separate club revived the name briefly in the early 1970’s for a series of international exhibition matches and competition in the lower-vision American Soccer League.

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1980 Houston Hurricane Media Guide from the North American Soccer League

Houston Hurricane

August 2, 2014

The Houston Hurricane languished in a nearly empty Astrodome for three summers before being euthanized in the autumn of 1980.  Houston was the sixth and final new club added to the North American Soccer League during a euphoric expansion orgy during the winter of 1977-78.  The addition of Houston brought the NASL membership to an all-time peak of 24 clubs.  However, none of the six clubs added in 1978 would survive beyond 1980.  The expansion misfires of 1978 would later be cited by NASL observers and insiders as a factor in the league downward spiral in the early 1980’s and eventual closure in 1985.

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1975 Tampa Bay Rowdies Media Guide from the North American Soccer League

Tampa Bay Rowdies (1975-1993)

July 29, 2014

North American Soccer League (1975-1984) American Indoor Soccer Association (1986-1987) American Soccer League (1988-1989) American Professional Soccer League (1990-1993) Born: 1974 – NASL expansion franchise

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1979 Philadelphia Fury media guide from the North American Soccer League

Philadelphia Fury

July 3, 2014

The Philadelphia Fury marked the second go round for the North American Soccer League in the City of Brotherly Love.  The Fury followed on the heels of the Philadelphia Atoms (1973-1976), who won the league championship as an expansion team in 1973 and became the first NASL team featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. A handful of popular players from the Atoms era returned, including goalkeeper Bob Rigby and defender Bobby Smith.

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Roman Rosul Oakland Stompers

Oakland Stompers

June 22, 2014

The Oakland Stompers were a One-Year Wonder in the North American Soccer League in 1978.  Club founder Milan Mandaric previously started up the NASL’s other Bay Area franchise, the popular San Jose Earthquakes, in 1974. In late 1977 he divested himself of the Earthquakes and bought the league’s struggling Connecticut Bicentennials club and moved it across the country to the Oakland Coliseum.  It was bold move considering that many at the time wondered if the Bay Area could even support its two Major League Baseball franchises.  But the NASL was riding at a peak of investor enthusiasm in 1978 amidst the belief that pro soccer would be the Sport of the 80’s.

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